Adiga: GBOUNE

Adiga: GBOUNE

GBOUNE

Caleb Zadok

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Cultures differ from tribe to tribe, from clan to clan especially in Africa. There are a lot of things Africans share in common, and of them is ‘Gboune’ (Play mate).

While it differs from one ethnic background to the other, I want to narrow this to the Bachama ethnic group. ‘Gboune’ is a word for ‘Play mate’, this, does not only apply to those within the Bachama fold, but also other tribes. For example, The Mumuye, Chamba, or Jukun, all these are play mates to Bachama people. Even as far as Kogi State i.e. the Igala.

WHAT GOES AROUND

Do to others what you want them do to you.

For what goes around comes around.

Need happiness? Make someone happy:

Need companionship Visit someone;

For what goes around, comes around.

Help someone today, tomorrow it may be you.

It cost nothing to smile, smile at someone and

You’ll get it back.

Shout at someone, and you’ll have the same.

Life is an echo, for whatever you give, you get back:

What goes around comes around.

Caleb Zadok 

07034655913

CORRUPTION

Corruption; how cruel you are!

You suck our resources dry,

Leaving the people hungry.

Fathers could no longer bring food,

Mothers could no longer feed their young.

Our hospitals lay waste.

When the young and old die helplessly.

Yet water tanks are filled with stench,

Stench of ill gotten wealth.

Excreta protests taking over of the soak aways,

Corruption, you monster!

Have you not done enough havoc?

See the waste lands!

Yet, a nation so blessed.

Under you, thieves are glorified,

The innocent oppressed,

the guilty walks free;

Justice on sale,

The highest bidder takes it.

Corruption, with brutal force you fight back

Yet in vain.

Your benefactors let off the hook.

Yet posterity shall judge!

Justice shall prevail,

We shall prevail;

We shall defeat you Corruption,

And put you where you belong.

Caleb Zadok

07034655913

FWAKATO

Caleb Zadok

07034655913

Fwakato is an interesting word! This activity is done mainly by young ladies, i.e. young girls. Though the elderly does it but unless if there are special occasions.

The young girls would arrange themselves in a line and will be singing while one or more will be in the middle jumping and throwing themselves at them and they too will be throwing her up. At times they will be mentioning names of boys they admire in their songs (In most cases the admiration ends there). This also, is part of transition from being a young girl to being a woman.

They can do this either in the day or in the night depending on the mood or circumstance; but it was mostly done in the night, and at times in sandy area or around the riverside especially under the moonlight.

Unfortunately, just like any other, this has faded away and sadly, the young ones both born and unborn may not or never know about this part of culture not to talk of having a taste of it unless something is done about it. 

BRING BACK OUR VALUES

Caleb Zadok

07034655913

 Do you know?

That in those days, when a child goes to a provision store to buy a thing with one naira in his hand, the owner of the shop will enquire of their house and will leave the shop in the care of a neighbor and follow the child home, ask questions to find out if truly that one naira belonged to the child or not.

GUMBA - UPDATED VERSION

This is an updated version of the earlier one posted

Gumba otherwise known as ‘Wuro Gumba’ is a special kind of dance that takes place during yuletide season i.e Christmas. Musicians (Song Composers) known as ‘Waniye’ would compose new songs. During this period, the new songs would be learnt village by village; hamlet by hamlet, ward by ward etc. Barely a month to the Christmas, there will be drumming and dancing signaling the approaching of the Christmas day: This is not just any dance but a special and unique one.

GBAMITO

Gbamito (Singular), Gbamiye (Plural) are folk tales told especially at night under the moon. It was a time when the entire family sits after supper and the story being told usually by the eldest. Sometimes, it is rotated among members of the family; these folktales were used to teach lessons, children were expected to learn morals and values from such tales. At times the stories were told around night fire especially during harmattam.

Gbamiye were considered very important part of the lives of the Bachama a.ka Bwatiye people because their lives sometimes are shaped around the tales. The stories mostly talks of their ancestors and their way of live while here on earth: Some of these ancestors were believed to have found the places where you find the Bwatiye people. Among them are:

Bolki Byemti, Farei, Bosso, to mention a few.

THE IMPACT OF CHRISTIANITY ON BWATIYE TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE

The people called “Bwatiye” popularly known as “Bachama” just like any other ethnic group have their customs and traditions which serve as norms in their day to day activities.

Custom is said to be a set of agreed, stipulated or generally accepted rules, norms, standards or criteria, often taking the form of a custom according to Wikipedia Dictionary.

Having understood what custom is, we can now see that the people called Bwatiye have their set of rules or standards by which they live their lives. The word Bwatiye actually was coined from the word ‘Bwara’ or ‘Bwata’ singular, meaning human, while Bwatiye plural means humans or people. A Bwata man regard himself as ‘human’ due to his way of behavior which means there are certain behaviors that you exhibit and he will look at you and say, you are not human. While a Bwata man calls himself Bwara; he sees and call other people ‘Nzo kwasome’ singular or ‘Ji Kwasomye’ plural meaning person or people with different dialect or language. Bwatiye people bear another name which had come to become popular which is “Bachama”, meaning to glean, gather or adopt, hence the adoption of cluster ethnic groups into the Bwatiye.  For more on this, please refer to An Overview of Bachama History from https://adigaproductions.wordpress.com.

Occupation:

The main occupation of the Bwatiye people are fishing, farming and hunting and later civil service and military service.

Marriage:

Just like any ethnic group, the Bwatiyes have their way of conducting marriages, the do’s and don’ts. Even though with the globalization and influence of civilization, all this have changed. In this discussion, we will not go deep into the traditional marriage but we will just touch some aspects for the purpose of our study. However, in our subsequent publications, we will bring the full details of the Bwatiye traditional marriage; just follow us as we move on.

In Africa generally, marriage is preceded by so many rituals without which the marriage would not be seen as legal or valid: the defaulters may even be threatened just because they fail to meet some traditional obligations ranging from barrenness to failure of the marriage. In order to run away from such, you are forced in one way or the other to do the ritual despite your new belief and the so called civilization. As a young man of marriageable age, when you see a girl that you would like to marry, tradition demands that you first talk to your parents about her; your parents in turn will conduct an investigation on her and her people. This investigation is important for the following reasons:

1.     Whether she is from a good family.

2.     Whether they are witches and wizards in their family.

3.     Whether they have thieves in their family.

4.     Whether they are wayward and so on.

This is done in order not to corrupt the lineage and also that their son marries from a very good home that they can be proud of. Having done that and satisfied, they will immediately notify their son and give their approval of which they will take a step and inform the parents of the girl in question. They too will conduct their investigation, and when satisfied, they will inform their daughter to know whether she will consent. Upon acceptance, they will begin what is known as courtship. During this period, they are not to be seen alone. She doesn’t visit him but rather he does the visiting in her parents’ house and they can only sit meters away from her father and have their discussion while he keeps an eye on them: When it is time for him to leave, she only sees him off to the gate and cannot go further than that. This is done to ensure transparency.

Engagement: This is a period where a suitor takes a step further to show his level of commitment by bringing items that will be required of him by the parents of the bride to be which of course is three mats and some token and also some wrappers. One mat is for the father, one for the mother and the bigger mat goes to the girl in question.  Same thing goes with the token the man brings; the lion share goes to the girl, part of which she will use to buy what she will use to serve the suitor whenever he come visiting. It is important to note here that the mat that goes to the girl, no one else in that family is permitted to sit on that mat except the girl. This is what the man sits on whenever he come visiting. The next step is to arrange on the bride price; meanwhile, the suitor is expected to be helping his would be father in-law in his farm and to also build a hut for his father in-law. Once the bride price is settled, they immediately begin preparation towards their traditional marriage. This was the only marriage rites known to Bachama people then before the advent of Christianity. The girl is not expected to be seen with any other man other than her suitor and the payment of the bride price will give her the right to visit her suitor’s home, this is called “Na hwodiye”, literally to see the house. After which they can go ahead and marry.

Before the woman finally go to her husband’s house, she will get all the necessary items like cooking utensils, foodstuffs, items with which to decorate the house and others depending on the capability of her parents and relations: Relations and neighbors also contribute in one way or the other to ensure she doesn’t starve in her husband’s house. Haven prepared all these, then the bride and her friends and other relations will help her convey these items with the view to escort her to her husband’s house, while on their way, they would have to branch to see some elders who will give her wise counsel on how she should live her life with her husband and neighbors before finally going to the husband’s house; this is called “Lamato.” One of the important things which the women mostly consider is to part of walking round the village with all the items with the bride and her friends well dressed. This is done to show how much she has and is going to her husband’s house with. During this period, a cow that the father of the bride gave her will be slaughtered and the blood will be collected and cooked, which will be eaten by those present. It is important to state here that, after the lokai (wedding), the bride is not supposed to be seen in the market for a very long time because of the foodstuff she had taken to her husband’s house.

Please note that, I took the pains to write some of these details in order for you to see how greatly Christianity affected the Bwatiye people in respect to some of these practices.

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