Some Disgusting traditions of my country.

As much as I know African tradition and also love to know about the traditions of my people by virtue of the fact that I studied History. There are some traditions I still find it difficult to come to terms with.

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Firstly, what is tradition? Let's say that traditions are our customs and beliefs. These beliefs are transferred from one generation to another. The tradition we came to see wasn't originated by us, we inherited from our parents as they also inherited from their own parents.

Shortly, I want us to look into the traditions of my people. Specifically, the ones practised around Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.

I don't believe in all the traditions of my country or those of my people. As much as I respect the tradition, it doesn't mean that I love it or believe in it. For instance, the tradition of having to make some certain sacrifice in some parts of my state, not particularly to mine, is just too annoying.

As I have been told, when a father of a soon-to-be bride is dead, the would-be husband must slaughter a goat in honour of the late father or mother. And there's a particular one that there must be a certain sacrifice made before you can marry their first daughter. For me, that's obnoxious. Who made this tradition? Who says it must be that way and shouldn't be changed?

The fact is that I personally don't like or come to agreement with any tradition that has to do with any form of sacrifice or spilling of any form of blood.

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• I've mentioned above that I don't like the tradition of blood sacrifice of any kind. The instances why I don't agree with that have been mentioned above.

• The tradition of demanding so many items and money as dowries is so annoying. I remember a case of a man sometime ago who went to marry from a certain place in Akwa Ibom State. The supposed would-be father-in-law asked that his to-be son-in-law build a house for him before he marries his daughter. The man left the place, went back to the city and never picked up the lady's calls again. That ended that relationship. I mean the lady in question told me that, it's not a "hear say" story.

I can go on and on with the nonsense tradition related to marriage which I don't like. I am not against marriage or dowries, but against the obnoxious collection of items is what I'm totally against.

• Another tradition which I don't like is the issue of marrying a dead woman. This happens that when a man takes in a woman into his house without paying dowries, when the woman dies while still living with the man, he must go and pay the woman's dowries even in her dead. If eventually the man dies without paying the woman's dowries, if they had children together, his children must pay on the man's behalf. If not, the female children's dowries would not be paid to the man's family. This is deep, that I'll not be able to dig deep into the matter here.

Many of them are still held in high esteem. Just like the ongoing display of the people's tradition in my state called "ukapa isua" at the Christmas village. I mean you could see some displays and wonder if they're still in existence.

The ones that some people held so much to which I was privileged to listen to a certain interview was the strong belief in the African Traditional Religion (ATR). I wasn't surprised, but I thought that it was practised at minimum not as far as I see them display on Facebook.

On the other hand, there are those in my village that are not in practice any more. There used to be this festival where there was usually display of masquerades and initiation into different African native cults. All of a sudden, those displays and initiation were stopped.

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During this festival, there'll have to do some certain rituals before people can eat their yams. So, when I came to the city, I asked my mother if she could bring yams for me. She said no, that the people hadn't done their rituals yet. I told her ok, just get it for me and that I'd keep it till when they did their rituals I would eat. She said ok.

Long story cut short. She brought the yam. I ate it without telling her. The following year, my mother told me they hadn't done any ritual and that it was announced that people should eat their yams because the people who usually do the ritual were dead and no one was willing to take over such roles. And so, today in my community, such tradition has been rolled away. People plant and harvest their yams and eat without any ritual.

Those occasions are;

1. Marriages: Like I mentioned, a particular place where a certain sacrifice must be made before their first daughters are married.

2. Burials: There are certain places where they must do some certain traditional rites before they bury their corpses, especially if they were traditional chiefs.

3. Coronation: During coronation of any traditional kings, the tradition must be followed accordingly to appease the gods Accord to them.

4. Festivals: Lastly, some places in Nigeria must follow all the traditional rituals in all their festivals. As they believe their ancestors did that and so, they must do it accordingly to avoid the wrath of the ancestors on them

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The only thing I love in my tradition is usually marriage ceremonies. I love from the introduction to the main marriage especially when it's an open one. I love the display of the local dishes etc. Apart from that, I'm not sure I love any tradition. Maybe it's because of modernisation and Christianity.

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