Life in Southern Nigeria by Percy Amaury Talbot

Author:Percy Amaury Talbot [Talbot, Percy Amaury]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780714617268
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 3318394
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 1967-04-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHIEF INAW OF IKOTOBO, WEARING THE CROWN OF THE FAMOUS IDIONG SOCIETY.

PALM-LEAF HUT, IN WHICH SITS THE “MOTHER” OF EKONG DURING THE CELEBRATION OF HIS RITES.

Over the fence thus formed each of the younger members of Ekong must spring before being allowed to take his seat on the farther side among those who have made good their claim to a place of honour. Young girls who have been confined to the Fatting-house for the last months parade before the barrier, robed in their finest, “for it is to the warriors that such maidens should first show themselves, at harvest-time.” While these walk up and down, a member of the society, chosen on account of his sweet voice, sits singing in the little arbour of palm leaves. He is clothed in woman’s garments, and represents the Mother of Ekong, “for unless the latter be present at such a ceremony, no blessing can be expected during the coming year.”

So far as could be ascertained, Ekong, like Akpan ’Njawhaw and Obumo himself, had no father, but sprang, in full strength, from beneath the heart of a virgin. Until quite lately, human victims were offered to the war god at the time of the feast of the first fruits, and, even now, it is hardly probable that the utmost vigilance has succeeded in thoroughly stamping out this practice.

Just before the new yam harvest, mysterious crimes, the victims of which are usually decapitated, still occur, and it was reported that, upon the beaches of a neighbouring District, headless corpses are washed up by the tide, in greater numbers than usual, at this time of the year. The market value of the skull alone is enough to account for the fact that head-hunting is not yet a thing of the past!

In the Isong Society may be found a survival of the cult of Gaia, pure and simple, and, of all the deities in the Ibibio pantheon, Mother Earth is, in a way, nearest and dearest. “When anything wrong happens in a town, throughout the land,” so we were told, “the people of that place go at once to the Isong shrine to discover the cause of the trouble. When the oracle has spoken, the chiefs judge the palaver and inflict a fine, in goats or manillas, upon the wrong-doer. Should the latter be unable to pay, or refuse to do so, the members of the society go in a body to his house and tear off the roof, carrying it away to the Isong shed. The full name of the cult is Ekkpo ’Ndemm Isong, i.e. the Spirits of the Earth Juju.” Women and non-members may never see any of the sacred plays, and in old days the transgressor, witting or unwitting, of such a tabu was slain. The Idemm symbol or image consists of palm-leaves tied seven times and surmounted by a skull.

The chief play is given at the time of new yams. During processions, most of the members hold tortoise-shells, which they beat with a short stick.

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