More allurements from
Vandeikya
By MAURICE ARCHIBONG
Thursday,
September 27, 2007
|
•View
of Vandeikya’s main road. PHOTOS: MAURICE ARCHIBONG
|
|
Today translates as "Nyian" in the Tiv tongue.
And we have decided to remain in Vandeikya to shed more light
on the Tiv, using the Kunav (natives of Vandeikya) as our
reference point. Did you know that Christianity has had a
telling impact on these people? In ancient times, a Tiv could
easily transform into a snake and what have you: This traditional
magic was commonplace until Christianity came along. Would
you believe the Tiv of Vandeikya normally do not chase a skunk
from their home? Furthermore, the Tiv say that rat dies after
crossing any asphalt-coated road: Imagine!
And some bachelors may need this information: What does it
take to marry a Tiv lady? And what informed choice of names
in these climes before Christianity swept this Tiv settlement?
We have all of that here, and more, not to talk of the rue
of an Igbo chief who revealed: "But for the Nigerian
civil war, I would have married a Tiv woman." Join us
in Vandeikya for a second helping.
Myths and mysteries from Vandeikya
A typical Tiv settlement, Vandeikya throws up many myths and
mysteries. One of the many fables here has to do with the
skunk. "Jiwen" is the Tiv word for that malodourous
rodent, which the Efik call "Usine" and is known
as "Nkaku" or "Asin" in Igbo and Yoruba
languages respectively. The Tiv say the "jiwen"
is bound to die, if it crossed an asphalt-coated motorway.
This is embedded in a local adage, "The skunk does not
cross an asphalted road." It dies in the attempt, they
insist, even though it is hard to authenticate the veracity
of this claim.
Another curio in this Tiv land is that the natives do not
chase "jiwen" from their home, despite that creature’s
foul smell. The aborigines of Vandeikya harbour the skunk
because that animal scares off mice and other rodents from
the environment. Chief Terwase Agbo, Overseer of Vandeikya
Market, also corroborated Tivs’ attitude toward "jiwen"
the skunk.
Bride price and getting married
The bride price for marrying ("Eren") a Vandeikya
Tiv maiden should be less than N5, 000. Thus, taking a Tiv
"Kwase" (woman) for wife shouldn’t be too
expensive. However, some prospective fathers-in-law are wont
to tax the suitor’s financial muscle. According to the
Paramount Ruler of Vandeikya, HRH David Dyako Atser, Ter-Kunav
I, some bride’s parents set high prices for a groom
to test his capability of being well off enough to take good
care of their daughter.
In many cases, however, the level of the girl’s education
also affects the cost; and where the groom is "Shagbaor"
(a wealthy man), he was expected to pay more. But whether
the bride price itself is less than N5, 000 or runs into hundreds
of thousands of naira, where the girl holds a university degree,
"eren" (marrying) is never an easy affair in these
climes. In fact, "Aveem," the initial phase leading
to the payment of bride price proper, sometimes gulps more
money than the formal fee put on the maiden’s head.
"Aveem" is a ceremony involving the distribution
of presents to the girl’s immediate relations, after
her family had provisionally approved of the suitor’s
request for the hand of their girl (Wankwase) in marriage.
Whether the groom’s pocket is deep or shallow, he must
present cloths to the girl’s father ("Ter")
and cash for two categories of drinks. The amount of money
required for these drinks is usually arrived at by both families,
after due consideration of the groom’s financial wherewithal.
The payment of the main bride price would follow, where the
preliminary phase of "Aveem" was successfully carried
out.
However, it is worth noting that payment of the bride price
does not mean that the groom could immediately carry his "wife"
home. To be allowed to do so, he had one more hurdle to scale:
This involves providing choice presents to his mother-in-law
and the womenfolk in the bride’s community. This tax
includes "igo" the pig, cloth and an umbrella for
the girl’s grandmother, a chair for the girl’s
mother ("Ngom"), salt, palm-oil as well as spoon
("Ahua" or "Chokoli," a Hausa word for
spoon also commonly used across Tiv land) and measure, with
which the women could share the booty! Where the suitor was
able to scale the three phases successfully, the girl was
considered his wedded wife for life.
On both sides, the parents usually provide kola nuts (gogh),
goat (ivo), chicken (ikyegh) and the almighty pig (igo).
At some stage, the process takes on a festive mood involving
singing, dancing and general merry-making. The singing and
dancing as well as eventual street procession, when the bride
is led to her new home, is interspersed with eating of plenty
of food (Kwayang) and quaffing of huge volumes of "burukutu,"
palm wine (ito) and what-have-you.
Thus, it should be noted that the parents, immediate relations
and sometimes the entire clan of the bride is also taxed,
somewhat, wherever a man comes to pick a wife from any part
of Tiv land.
The girl’s community is usually forced to part with
many resources, not to talk of sacrifice of precious time
that would have been spent on the farm. Usually, the girl’s
parents are obliged to host the groom and his delegation for
at least one night, during which both families are supposed
to gain better understanding of each other.
During that night, the guests would be treated to a sumptuous
meal, including the symbolic "ikyegh" (chicken).
On this night, alcoholic drinks are avoided; apparently to
keep loose tongues in check and encourage everyone to remain
sober, for two young people were about to embark on the longest
journey of their lives.
At the break of dawn, the guests are given chewing sticks
to clean the mouth and water to wash the face or bathe with,
after which breakfast, usually warmed left-over of the previous
night’s dinner, is served. Subsequently, other processes
are observed before the bride is led to the husband’s
house.
After the new couple begins consummation of their marriage,
a baby should normally arrive. So, when does children naming
take place, and how is a name arrived at in Tiv tradition?
Tiv names
Yoruba tradition prescribes that a newborn child be named
eight days after birth. However, the tradition in other Nigerian
ethnic groups is very different. While the naming ceremony
of a child takes place on the baby’s 40th day on earth
in some societies, for the Tiv, the event sometimes holds
almost immediately after the baby entered this world, according
to the paramount ruler of Vandeikya.
The Igbo, Ngas, Yoruba and Nigerians of some other ethnic
groups consider twin children special. Such is the importance
attached to twin children in some cultures that different
names were coined to distinguish the first-born from the baby
that came second. In fact, the Ngas even went further by having
names to distinguish the first-born boy from the first baby
girl and so on. But the Tiv apparently attached no significance
to multiple births. However, the first child of the family
is known as "Nwa-Yune." Interestingly, "Nwa"
(child) means the same thing in the Igbo language. "Yune"
apparently stands for first, which is why "Kwase"
(wife)-Yune" translates as first wife. This probably
means that polygamy was acceptable in ancient Tiv society.
But "Christianity has changed a lot of things, now,"
as the paramount ruler put it.
Christianity has not only almost wiped out polygamy, it has
also affected the choice of names in Tiv land, where "Aondo"
or "Ter" is now rampant as prefix of numerous epithets.
The Tiv are not alone in this, as could be gleaned from Bassey
(Abasi), Olu, Chi or Chukwu, which stand for God in Efik/Ibibio,
Yoruba and Igbo tongues. Aondo is the Tiv word for God or
Ter (father) and Aondodave translates as Chidi or Chukwudi
(There is God), while "Terwase" means God help.
It is important to note, however, that pre-Christianity Tiv
communities had very telling names. One of these was "Tyozenda"
(The community has driven me away). Such an epithet could
be foisted on a child borne by a parent, who was on exile
or sent out of the community because he/she was afflicted
with infectious disease. Other suggestive names include Tyorumun"
(The clan agreed with me) and the opposite "Tyovenda"
(The clan disagreed with me).
"Tyozenda" and "Tyovenda" could arise
from expulsion from the community not only due to infection
but also for unsavoury practices. One of the reasons could
be "Mba – Tsav." "Mba" means person
or people, while "Tsav" stands for witchcraft or
wizardly. Thus, "Mba-Tsav" means a witch or wizard.
Truly, "Christianity has changed a lot of things in Tiv
land," where "Ikpindi" (occultic practices)
were once very rampant. Those days, when "Ikpinde"
and "Tsav" were commonplace, a human could, viola!
Transform into a snake and strike another person dead or people
could carry out all sorts of magical exercises, just to show
how "gifted" they were.
Thankfully, with Christianity having captured at least "95
per cent of Vandeikya LGA," as his royal highness told
"Travels," Ikpindi and "Tsav" exercises
are now obsolescent. Thanks to early Christian missionaries,
who took Christ’s salvation to Vandeikya. Inhabitants
said the first Church in Vandeikya was Christ the King Catholic
Church. Although another Christian mission, NKST, quickly
followed by opening a second church in Vandeikya, the Roman
Catholic Mission is also on record as founder of the first
school in this settlement. Like Agbo Market (the town’s
oldest mart) and Christ the King Church, that institution,
RCM Primary School, stands in the Agbo area of Vandeikya.
Reminiscence of Eze Ndi-Igbo
Chief John Chibuogwu is the incumbent "Eze Ndi-Igbo"
(Traditional Ruler of Igbo people in Vandeikya. Furthermore,
he was, for more than 15 years, also Patron of Igbo Community
in this Tiv town. This "Eze Ndi-Igbo" said the Igbo
population in this Tiv settlement is much larger than the
picture painted by the 250, who are up-to-date fee-paying
and registered members of Igbo Community in Vandeikya.
The Igbo-born man, who speaks Tiv eloquently having lived
among the locals for almost 50 years, said he would have married
a Tiv woman but for the Nigerian civil war (1967-’70),
which forced him to flee to his hometown of Awka in Anambra
State. He recalled with nostalgia how the Tiv saved his life
upon the outbreak of hostilities.
"Initially, some of my friends, we were actually like
family, took me into hiding in their homes. They probably
thought that after a few days, the conflict would end. Unfortunately,
rather than end, the war intensified. They hid me in a village
for five days, and fearing for my life, as the war intensified,
my Tiv brothers and sisters sneaked me out of their village
and walked with me for more than 14km to Garkem, where we
found a truck heading to Obudu in northern Cross River State.
It was from there that I continued my journey toward Igbo
land.
It wasn’t a comfortable journey, but at least I got
home in one piece. But life among the Tiv seemed to be the
only one the Igbo man wanted, for he could hardly wait for
the war to end, when he fled back there. Barely two months
after January 15, 1970, when the war ended, John Chibuogwu
was back in Vandeikya. It is possible that this man might
never have contemplated making home in this Tiv land but fate
led him here.
Although trading brought Chief Chibuogwu back to Vandeikya,
the Igbo chief, who started as a provisions store entrepreneur,
had earlier lived in Ama-Oboni in Igalla-land for four years.
The chief recalled he had to leave Igalla land because there
was no school, whatsoever that area in 1952/53. His elder
brother Michael Chibuogwu, a Nigerian Railway Corporation
(NRC) worker at Zaria, took little John to the ancient seat
of Queen Amina for education at Catholic Mission School in
Zaria. But the younger sibling would only enjoy education
in Zaria for a year.
Little John had to move again, when his brother was transferred
to Minna, capital of today’s Niger State. There, the
lad had again resumed his education only for it to be again
interrupted within two years because Michael was re-deployed
to Bakoji, a Nupe Town also in Niger State. In Bakoji, John
said his education was suspended, again, because that Nupe
town had no school. Interestingly, what could have proved
a breather for John; another transfer of his elder brother,
which might have landed the boy in a settlement with a school,
fell through because the Bakoji community allegedly resisted
Michael’s posting out of their village.
The villagers, John narrated, insisted Michael must remain
with them because of his good conduct and excellent relations
with the locals. After another year in Bakoji, with no redeployment
in sight, Michael subsequently resigned from NRC and went
to Ado Ekiti, where he entered the buying-and-selling business.
That is how John ended up in the care of an uncle, Mr. Benedict
Nwokoye. It was Mr. Nwokoye, who originally brought John to
Vandeikya. John again: "My uncle, Mr. Nwokoye, was the
first Igbo man to wed his wife at Agbo Catholic Church in
Vandeikya." That historic nuptial in this Tiv Town took
place in 1959.
The Igbo leader had an advice to other Igbos planning to relocate
to his current home: "Immediately you arrive, after a
month or two, ensure you go and introduce yourself at your
state meeting. The State meeting would advise you to register
with the umbrella body, Igbo Community as a whole. According
to the Igbo chief, the registration fee is N1, 500, while
every member is expected to subsequently pay an Annual Due
of N100 every year. |
