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All over the World, marriages are the most celebrated events in every family. In Igbo Nation, marriages  are  the most important test  of a man’s integrity, wisdom, maturity and economic well being. Also, it is a barometer  to gauge  a female’s  upbringing, humility and morality because  Ndigbo do not believe that attractive  physical beauty alone should be  the single  yardstick for a  female to be married. According to them, beauty resides in the heart and popularly expressed as  "nma di n'obi" and/or "ugwu nwanyi bụ di"- marriage is a lady's pride".

Ndigbo, vehemently believe  that all attributes centered around sound moral character are the requisite ingredients for a worthwhile marriage. Consequently,  a female who possesses   attractive physical beauty laced with noticeable and tested  moral probity over time becomes a hot marital magnet and asset for the entire community.

That explains why traditional Igbo marriages are serious business because the entire community is involved before any marriage takes place. When a man is ready  to marry an Igbo woman, his immediate family takes part in search of a “near perfect fit”  for the family. The would-be groom is  prepared   by his entire family to brace for overwhelming navigation  of the marriage terrain spiked  with ceremonial intrigues,  stages and processes. These  include thorough research and investigations on family background of both families. The intensity of the background research tends to be higher for highly educated beautiful ladies from  far away Igbo cultures outside  the man’s immediate locale. 

Typically, there are many main stages and processes in traditional Igbo marriages in Igbo land. On Saturday, March 27, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia,  Dr. Nkasiobi Ifeadike of Abagana in Anambra State, Nigeria  and US Navy Airman, Mazi Ogbonna of Agbo Nkokoro, Umuchioba Obayi Ovim, Isuikwuatọ LGA, Abia State Nigeria scaled the important semi-compressed "Traditional Marriage Terrain in Igbo land that included the popular "Ime- Ego" in Anambra parlance or "Ikwụ Ugwọ Akụ Nwanyi" (Bridal Pride [BP]) in Abia State, Nigeria. In Ala-Igbo (Igbo Nation), BP does not literally connote any form of trade. However,  it is a symbolic gesture/ceremony  for a bride's family to proudly gauge and amplify the worth of their beautiful, well behaved, and academically trained daughter. Measured by any exponent, the Chieloka and Ụlọma Ifeadike of Abagana invested mightily in their daughter's overall upbringing and academic excellence which will be very tough  for any honest money making man, much less a starting young man like Mazi Ogbonna to financially afford. Thus the words, BP is a pure misnomer.  It's a  celebration for entrusting a daughter into the care of a responsible and worthy man for  enduring "Ọgọ Ngọkata" -  Union of two families for immeasurable family  growth and expansion. 

The entire Ogbonna's family of Ovim  and entire Okorie immediate and extended family from  Ihie, Ahaba. Imenyi as well as Ndi Isuikwuatọ proudly and whole heartily accept our newest wife, Dr. Mrs. Nkasiobi Ogbonna and her entire Ifeadike immediate and extended family of Abagana. God will be the Rock of Ages for Nkasiobi and Mazi to have a blissful and exemplary marriage of love, respect and unity as well the blessing of children and grand children and more. 

We await many more invites in the near future. Congrats to Nkasiobi and Mazi. May God grant you many Happy milestones in future!!!!

 

 

الثلاثاء, 09 آذار/مارس 2021 23:15

African food from Ghana is yummy

The Big Oxmox advised her not to do so, because there were thousands of bad Commas, wild Question but the Text didn’t listen her seven versalia, put her initial into.

الثلاثاء, 09 آذار/مارس 2021 22:25

Supreme Court dismisses case related to Trump era 'public charge' rule

The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a case concerning a controversial Trump-era rule that makes it more difficult for immigrants to obtain legal status if they use certain public

The number of unaccompanied migrant children in US Border Patrol facilities intended for adults climbed on Tuesday, surpassing record highs from the previous day, according to new figures reviewed by CNN.

الثلاثاء, 09 آذار/مارس 2021 21:48

Covid relief package marks a shift in US battle against poverty

President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion Covid rescue plan that is expected to win final passage in the House on Wednesday is not just aimed at ending the pandemic -- it represents the most sweeping direct attempt to tackle endemic poverty in America in years.

Trump critic Rep. Kinzinger hopes to be 'good part of history' 04:25
 
Channahon, Illinois (CNN)Rep. Adam Kinzinger wants to save the Republican Party from Donald Trump. His first challenge: Convincing the party it needs to be saved.
"That, I think, is the question," said Kinzinger, who is beginning his sixth term as an Illinois congressman. "If it doesn't want to be changed, that's a decision Republicans get to make. If that's the case long-term, I think we will lose elections and will be a regional party that won't compete on the national stage."As he settles into his role as one of the fiercest Republican critics of the former president, Kinzinger is embracing the political risks he's facing by openly confronting Trump and his loyal base of supporters. It's the latest front in the simmering GOP civil war that threatens to divide the party.
He knows that his outspokenness could cost him his congressional seat. He's already drawing a handful of potential GOP primary rivals who are making plans to challenge him, even as he faces a new district boundaries before 2022.
 
He insists the risks were a price worth paying.
"It could be a kamikaze mission," said Kinzinger, 43, who joined the Air Force after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and still flies as a pilot in the National Guard. "But it could be the thing that saves the Republican Party."

'I think I'll survive'

The Republican Party is at a crossroads, yet it's still Trump country in this stretch of Illinois, where flags are still spotted waving in support of the former President. More than four months after the election, the Trump signs still on display in some front yards make clear that not all Republicans are searching for a new vision for the party.
Elected to Congress a decade ago with the rise of the Tea Party, Kinzinger is now at odds -- and increasingly out of step -- with the driving movement of his party.
He backed Trump in November, he said, a vote that he began to regret after Trump intensified his false claims that the election was fraudulent. By January 6, when the US Capitol was attacked and Kinzinger was among the members of Congress whose life was threatened, his regret had immensely deepened.
"Knowing what I know now?" Kinsinger said. "If I could go back in time, I wouldn't vote for him."
Of the 17 Republicans who supported impeachment in the House and Senate, Kinzinger stands alone as trying to use that vote as a rallying cry to persuade others to join him in turning the page from the Trump era. He is the face of a new super PAC, Americans Keeping Country First, which his allies formed to help other Republicans stand against Trump in the midterm elections.
So far, his phone isn't exactly ringing off the hook. Yet he insists the journey is not as lonely as it may appear.
"There's a lot of people on board. They're not just super public -- especially in my business," Kinzinger said. "I think a lot of folks are waiting to see where it goes. I don't blame them."
Here in the sprawling Illinois 16th Congressional District, which stretches across 14 counties from the Wisconsin border, far beyond the western Chicago suburbs and back towards the Indiana line, Kinzinger outperformed Trump by 8 percentage points last fall.
Illinois is poised to lose at least one congressional seat when district lines are redrawn later this year, raising the question of whether Kinzinger is going to be squeezed by state Republicans who have voiced their displeasure at his criticism of Trump. But even as he undoubtedly loses support among loyal Trump followers, he could be gaining a new look from other more moderate voters if his district is redrawn to include more of the suburbs near Chicago.
The calculation of his re-election, he insists, is not why he's waging a very public fight for the future of the Republican Party.
"Even if I don't survive long in this job, the reality is, I will have been part of history," Kinzinger said. "Like in warfare, until you're willing to put your life on the line -- when you're willing to put your job on the line, then you're free."
He paused for a moment, before adding: "I think I'll survive. But if I don't, I don't, and I'm at peace. But only in that understanding can you actually operate in truth."
His congressional district includes the town of Dixon, the boyhood home of former President Ronald Reagan, who inspired a young Kinzinger.
"That optimistic, powerful, moral clarity that he had," Kinzinger said. "It's that kind of stuff that I think Americans are desperate for."

'I was a little surprised with Kinzinger'

Conversations with people in downtown Dixon on a recent morning were mixed.
One business owner said he was furious at Kinzinger, whom he called "a showoff." He declined to be identified because he said he feared it would hurt his business. A half-block away, another business owner took the opposite view and praised the congressman for standing up to Trump. He, too, feared being named because he said too many of his customers are diehard Trump admirers.
Interviews with voters across the district, including here in his hometown about an hour southwest of Chicago, made clear that Kinzinger is making a name for himself -- in ways good and bad.
"When he went along with the impeachment of Trump, I thought, what is this guy thinking?" said Dick Tyler, a retiree who was having a late-afternoon beer, who voted for Trump. "But I'm glad there is somebody like an Adam Kinzinger who has the courage to speak out. I know it's from his heart."
Some people here described his vote -- and his criticism of Trump -- as brave. Others question out loud whether it was politically calculated.
"I was a little surprised with Kinzinger," said Jeff Phelps, as he left breakfast the other morning. "I feel like you should be loyal to your party."
His wife, Angie, added: "I believe he's looking out for political gain for himself."
Rick Cunningham, a science teacher who typically votes Republican, said he was proud that Kinzinger stood up to Trump and wishes more Republicans would follow suit.
"He did what needed to be done. He took a stand for the Republican Party," Cunningham said. "I just don't think anybody deserves to have 100 percent allegiance. There's got to be accountability for what Trump has done."
A divide has emerged here among Republican officials, too.
The LaSalle County Republican Party voted last month to censure Kinzinger, following a long list of local GOP organizations seeking to rein in their members of Congress who supported impeachment.
"If Adam wants to be a Republican, then act and talk like one be a team player," Larry Smith, the county GOP chairman, said in an interview. "I think he's seriously misjudged the nature of his district and the state in general."
Yet in neighboring Grundy County, party chairman Aren Hansen and his committee rejected an attempt to rebuke the congressman.
"We're not going to get anywhere as a party in Illinois if we have a party purity test at every turn. It's okay to disagree," Hansen said in an interview at the bar he owns, Honest Abe's Tap & Grill, which decorated to pay homage to one of the state's favorite Republican sons, Abraham Lincoln. "I don't agree with his impeachment vote, but I'll get over it."
Yet Trump loyalties here -- and in red districts and states across the country -- run deep. And many Republicans don't believe their party is broken at all, a challenge that Kinzinger and others are confronting.
"I think part of saving the Republican Party is just being really clear about what the Republican Party has become," Kinzinger said, noting the legacies of Reagan and Lincoln in his state of Illinois. "We have such a great history, I think, but now we're off the rails"
 
Crled from CNN 
 
 
الأربعاء, 30 تشرين1/أكتوير 2019 01:05

Iwa Oji In Isuikwuatọ (Breaking of Kola nuts in Isuikwuatọ)

 

 

        We started this year with the reviews of the extent we went with this topic last year:

We heard why, of the 3 Clans, the smallest boy in Imenyi is senior to the oldest person in other clans, and may have to Bless Kola Nut; why the smallest male in Oguduasaa shares it; and why the presenter of the platter of the kola nuts takes shares after every body else!

 

For further details: -

a]. in the effort of our wise Ancestors to discover the Dos-&-Don’t of our Maker, Obasi di n’elu, they, among other things instituted the ceremony of Prayer over the Kola Nuts, apparently following the injunction “where 2 or 3 are gathered in His name…., and since the Finger Nail is there, a Smallest Kola nut can de shared to reach the all-and-sundry there ….”!

b]. let’s view the Kola Nuts ceremony in 2-scenarios, taking Amawu as an example:

Scenario 1:

 

If Amawu has invited Isu3, say, for a traditional Title Investiture, the eldest man of Amawu presents their  platter of kola Nuts through the occasion’s Chairman/M.C. who directs this to the traditional Head [who’s not necessarily the oldest man] in Imenyi. This person has to come from the oldest compound in Amiyi in Ahaba. It’s when such a person is absent that a deputy will be sought from other communities, -in order, Ovim who is from same mother with Ahaba, then Ezere. If no body comes from these areas, it means that the main gathering is not truly of Isuikwuato! -and should disband!

 

In scenario 2:

 

Let a family in Amawu Clan be inviting Isuikwuato for a wedding. It would first have invited Amawu Clan so that when the gathering is called to starting order it is this Amawu elder that will proffer the kola platter to the Isuikwuato traditional elder that happens to come from Imenyi.

 

c]. Blessing the Kola Nut: i].

 

God and the Ancestors are invoked; the lives; all goings & returning of all-&-sundry, even those absent at this occasion, are handed over to the care of God in the prayer!

ii]. the overall elder breaks [one of] the nuts, extracts the heart [obi oji] that is the germinal cell, and gives it to the presenter of the nuts to giver to the God & Ancestors because it is assumed that he alone knows where they are, -at the nearest shrine! –[My father used to eat it and tells the God & Ancestors that he would be bringing it to them when he returns to them soon!].

 

iii]. the same over-all elder pieces one cotyledon, and from it takes a share that is to be taken Home to Imenyi elders, to tell them where he went to. This ceremony is called “oji rue ulo ya akaa nga osi”

 

Every other traditional elder takes a share for his home elders too; and in doing this, each would add a simple prayer to the original blessing prayer, or simply say that he concurs to that originally said! A whole nut, instead of pieces from a cotyledon, are taken if there are enough nuts!.

 

c]. the Sharing: while in other Ibo Regions the sharing may be by an elder; and the presenter may bless the kola, -[which they call ‘Oji Ezi dikwa Eze na-aka …’, it is the youngest male of the youngest community in a gathering of Isuikwuato that shares it!

So, in this case, Ogoduasaa will appoint the young male that share it.

 

d]..How shares are taken: The 3-traditional leaders of the various Clans will take it in order of seniority; every other person takes, then the sharer/s take before the presenter [and his household] take together with their platter.

However, the presenter/s usually pieces further any remaining shares for late-comers to still taste of the kola of the occasion!

______________________________________________________________________

 

NB: Remember the fundamental saying “Igbo E nweghi Eze”!

 

What Ndi Igbo have is [or are] High Priests to their Shrines of God, -obasi di e’elu. These, [in Ovum], are called Obi, and he heads the Oha n’Uke, to form the parliament. They are God appointed.

Any investiture that is not favored by the entire Community and this Parliament is null & void!

 

Though the Government of today has imposed Ndi Ezes on the Communities, but the selection of some are fairly good in that the communities followed much of the customary procedure. But it should be noted that they are appointed by ‘man’, -not ‘God’ as in the case of the Obi [of Ovum especially].   

 

The case of Chiefs may not be compromised because, since Ndi Igbo e nweghi Eze, how can they have Chiefs?, and these Chiefs were even single-handedly appointed by the Ezes?

-[This is why some people of Ahaba rose against the Eze in those years when he appointed some Chiefs by himself alone].

 

Obasi di n’elu alone has prepared the way of our traditional ruler-ship such that it’s controlled by constitution prepared by a democratic parliament that represent all the people [also through the OCL in Ovum] to create a governance that is free from despotism!

 

I feel that the Ezeship could be acceptable traditionally if an Eze allows the Community to direct him into the Culture of the people.

But the Chiefs that an Eze appointed single-handedly [i..e: in absence of the entire Community & her Parliament] is void! Such Chiefs should not speak in real traditional gathering of Isuikwuato, nay, the Igbo Communities!

 

By the way, how is an Eze going to be replaced when he dies??

 

 

By Acho Ukwu.                

الجمعة, 25 تشرين1/أكتوير 2019 16:19

Ajọnkwụ Masquerade of Ovim, Isuikwuatọ

     Cultural elements excitingly unify a given community. Such is how Ajonkwu Masquerade unifies Ovim people of Isuikwuatọ in Abia State Nigeria.

The  most typical elements  in Ovum's Ajonkwu festival are  guns (Egbe), Shield (Ọpia) and Sword (Ọta). Without these, the Masquerade is regarded  as fake and generally referred as 'nduru ajonkwu'. The real Ajonkwu masquerade is called Oke Ekpe and is distinctive for its brisk and majesty in performance and fearless attributes against anybody that dares it. A proper   'oke ekpe', wears the mask-head facing the sky, dignified with two eagle feathers ('abara ugo abuo'). A proper  Oke Ekpe is titled killer without repercussion ( 'Ogbuo abughi ochu), Fearless Warrior with two Eagle feathers ( Dike uge labu'). These important attributes  qualify  an Ajonkwu to the highest traditional recognition  to any 'Ikoro' in Imenyi.

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