fbpx
The Significance Maidens Outing Ceremony in Igbo Land

The Significance of Maidens Outing Ceremony in Igbo Land

The Significance Maidens Outing Ceremony in Igbo Land

do you think Maidens’s outing ceremony has any significance in the past?  have you ever been curious about the way things were usually done in the past?. Yes, I’ve asked myself a few questions about the modus operandi of getting married in the past, from 500 to 1000 years ago. And I found out something that’s going to blow your mind.

My findings show that back in the days of our ancestors. Marriage has never been a choice but a necessity for the human race. Marriage was seen as a way of life, and something worth preparing for.

culture is a social fact, no matter how hard we try, one can not exist outside one’s culture. The Maidens Outing Ceremony is a celebration of a culture that engenders the continuity of mankind. it was practiced among the Igbos of South Eastern Nigeria. they call it Ahia Mbibi 

Ahia mbibi  implies coming of age and preparation for womanhood in Igbo society. this was practiced among the core Igbo tribe in Eastern Nigeria.

In the old days, once a girl is of marriageable age, say 12-14 years. Note that our forefathers have a different way to calculate their years.  they Use the local  Igbo calendar, which represents four market days in Igboland. Once the child has reached the age mentioned above, she will be taken to the fattening room.

The fattening room is a place to train them for a future task. Those maidens who are kept in the fattening room do not undertake any homework,  they do not go to the stream or visit the farm. they are required to stay indoor until they are done with the training.

During this important training, the girls are educated on.

  • Their future roles as mothers and wives,
  • How to prepare delicious dishes,
  • Their conduct before their husbands and mother-in-laws
  • How to run their home as wives and mothers
  • How to feed and raise a baby
  • They are taught techniques/applications of make-up and esthetics, e.g. Uli-ogu, Ufie, Oga-alor Nkasiana, and these were ornaments of adornment accessible in those days.

On the last day of training. all the maidens decorate themselves with ornaments such as ufie, uli, uli-ogu, nkasiana, and oga-alo. They put on an odu [elephant tusk bangle] mostly in the shape of a sash. it hangs down respectively on their breasts, and lays on to there hips, as seen in the picture.

They often decorate themselves with Nja [metal spiral], which appears to cover their legs to their lower thigh. They put a waist bead around their waist to conceal their nakedness. How rich a parent is, can easily be noticed through both the elephants’ tusk bangle and metal spiral that their children wore.

After they must have finished decorating their body. They pick up their ceremonial baskets and start heading to the marketplace for the main event. On that very day, the people who came across them, are meant to offer them whatever they have as custom demands.

also On this very day, single men who are ready to marry, come out to look for a wife, too.

sometimes when a man wants to get married, his family might tell him to wait for the next Maiden Outing Ceremony. This is due to a lack of maidens to get married to. Not as if the number of men is greater than the number of women. But because they couldn’t find the right wife for him.  there is this belief among them, that maidens who were not able to get married after the ceremony are not marriable enough. though not everybody goes by this belief.

This belief makes the ceremony an interesting and competitive one since there are usually a pretty good number of men waiting in line for newly trained girls.

The significance of the maiden outing ceremony in Igbo Land is that, it is an official means of  telling prospective husbands that those maidens are ready for marriage.  that the maiden has passed through training under close monitorship and she is set to take up the task of womanhood.

One thing is for sure, this culture ensures that women, who are the backbone of the family, can completely understand what it’s all about to have and make a family.

This outing ceremony may have gone into extinction, but it is now being practiced indirectly.  for example,  Some people actually found their wives at festivals or on special occasions that bring people together in villages.

 

 

14 thoughts on “The Significance of Maidens Outing Ceremony in Igbo Land

  1. Wow, love this… This somehow resembles the culture of Ugep people in Cross River State. They have similar culture and outfit for their maidens but don’t think it’s related to marriage. You did a great research here

  2. Please this culture should be revived oh. Lol. I love this. Thanks Choco for feeding me with this amazing piece of history

  3. Simply want to say your article is as astounding. The clearness in your post is simply nice and i can assume you are an expert on this subject. Well with your permission allow me to grab your RSS feed to keep up to date with forthcoming post. Thanks a million and please carry on the enjoyable work.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

error

Enjoy this blog? Please share...

Follow ChocoNaija
Subscribe
LinkedIn
Follow by Email