University of Nigeria Virtual Library

Serial No.

Author 1

ANIGBO Osmund A.C

Author 2

Author 3

Title

Commensality, the Kola Nut and the Strangers in an Igbo

Community

Keywords

Description

Commensality, the Kola Nut and the Strangers in an Igbo

Community

Category Sociology and Anthropology

Publisher

Publication Date

Signature

o Vol. 1 No. 6 NOVEMBER, 1988

J

I t

HIGHLIGHTS

Masking-Encounters with the Dcud .

-4

Form and Conceptual Background of Igbo Traditional Sculpture.

Kolanut and the Stranger I I

i

i Omaba Festival

Bride Price in Igboland

1 e&.!L :

I lich it sation ! else

N o t or the Wives culars unity. rencea ion of m w , , fm ! have tafcm- h o f a k

man, orjcd ceivra

3r al ,Jar to der ie

Commensality, the Kola Nut and the Stranger. in ' 1 an lgbo Community

A mony ~ h c lgbo of Nigeria, BY . I

comrnensality or the sharing of O.A.C. Anigbo This article, though very brief, is food car) be pursued in two distinct Deportntrnt of Socialogy/ nonetheless complicated because lt ways. '1 he first refers to commen- Anthropology

deals with verioua conwpts in- sal~ty which must take place at set un jvpldty oj Nigeria, Nsukka 'Iuding tho 6trm@* which hu times or seasonally. Such meals are Anambra State, Nigeria. many shades o f meaning. organized to reflect the social and Moreover, even for .the lgbo wbo economic needs of the farming corn- live very close together, people m munity. Meals shared at set times still behave to each other as are breakfast (in [he morning), trade in it and carry on stiff business strangers in a specific situation. The lunch fin the afternno~r) and ruppar campetition arnlrad i t (am Allend C O R C ~ English m ~ t i o n a ~ , ffor a- at nighl. 'I f esc meals are expocted and Hertz, 1967: 8; Cohen, 1966: ample, urplains the word str4UlgQ IU

to be served to a definite group nor- 18-35; Uchendu: 74). "foreigner", a person in a country mally the household units. Seasonal kola nut serves many for or town or company that he d~ meals can bc regarded as traditional the I&J. ~t can constitute a system not belong to, apetaon unknown to festivals organwd tamark different of recognizing rigks. This is another, a person entirely U--

cycles of farm work. They indicate especially applicable t q what is customed to some fm of p r d & the unity of the descent group or generally known as kola tenancies or ex~erience. reunion wrth tiierlds (see Anlgbu (9- ~ e c k , 1957). Kola tenancy In lbagwa Aka, there are WY 1980: 159-229). Rules connected refers to the occupation and use of categories of residents, Some of with the cooking, serving and eating land conferr#l by lineages or other them officially des imted strang-. lood on both crroaiona must be Jrnd-ownhng units by virtue of some Thisl article is not ~0natrnod with obe&l: for failure to respect them token payments which takethe form then'. 'They are regarded as can arouse suspicions within the of ceremonial gifts of nuts by strangers not because they are not group and may become the m a n s the grantee to the grantor, H i ~ l t t s to known: they are stmgcra becuu~ rhrough which an existing tension is the use of such lands can be revoked they are ' n ~ ~ - n a t l ~ e S ' . In fact they ctmrnunicated. But meals can still should the original owners require have all the appearances of the be scrvcd outside lhr: set period$. the land for their own uhe. members of the traditional corn. These are tire informal occenions Kola nuts can be used to q*'ure munity. They can inter-marry with marked by (he arr~vul ol a guest or a loans, whether of money, good or the natives, llve in the village u long slranger al the door. services. The prcscntation of he as they like provided their activities

Hut the lgbo rnake n o fuss about kola nut can also indicate that peace do not threaten the internal Peace of $ha1 lrkg f oc)d WI th ail)orie, csyeclally and unity exists between friends. the village a whole. %me of thcm those present when i t is served N H ~ W U summarlses the lgbo fel- have actually lived in lba~wa Aka (IJchendu. 1965: 73) even where ines about the kola nut in the all their lives and produccdchildrcn iuch ale total btrangers. However, following 1in-Z and grand ch~ldrm who, like them, here 15 a food ltem, namely the kola have remaineds strangers. Their nut, the sharing of which has dif- "Amone kola Is a highly valued future descendbts m y forever &O f e ~ en1 krnds ot c o n i r r w d ~rnplica- and indispensable product It commands

our rcspecl in a way no other prtducl has remain strangers in the community

tions. In his article, the significance done, It is one of the 89 long as the pattern of Land owner- of cornmensality in the context of vwtablc products seen in Ni8erla, it ship and Igbo trrcditiond rdigiOfJ host/stranaer relationship is ex- represents, In our roclety, a ntal symbol continues to apply in society. Thae amined . of friendhp, the proper offerinp at people are strangna bemuse t w

The fruit o f the kola tree (chiefly ~ " , i ~ t i ~ ~ o r ~ ~ ~ t F:: at; cannot h a r e the hd and whUt it cola nitida cola acuminatu) is a large of hospitality which any implies in the community. S

ranging in colour from dark red to p l a w it costs only a pnny." - - - - - -

7fi nyt, the size of a Brazilian nut, among us can show, even though In some land in the lgbo context m w r s U - - - -

ing on the land and formally prrrctifi. creamy-white. Very many peoplein - - - c ~ ~ ~ l ~ l a 7 ~ e d ~ - - - i n g thedifforenf kinds of t r r d l t h d - - - - tropical West Africa make use of it, a, 1964: 16s) relidous worship connected with it.

31 '

PeqAc who cannot rrwn their -try in the village wbae they live cannot worship their ancestors tbae. This is because ancestor wor- Pbip canied out on a Laad can sug- gert land o~norship of that par- ' ticulu land (A*, 1990: 83). Wburc an individual str-er falls m of favour with rana maabets of the host communities, his designa- tion chsngcs accordingly, and from then on he is regarded asmblo mbio. Mbio mbiu has v a y unfavourable cannotations or nuances, and can only apply to a stranger who is pdtively hostile to some interests of his host.

There is no occasion for commen- aality between Ibagwa citizms and these different categwies of strangers. This is ,because there ie nothing between them to celebrate. There is no property the ownership of which might unite them or divide them, as the case may be. Their village communities lie outside of Ibagwa Aka and they have come there to settle as individuals. They pursue different kinds of business concerns and can be affiliated to aorrle untonx not hccewe they arc strangers but because the interest of their busmess may demand ~ t . 'They may also belong to different kinds of religious g~oups in the village. Moreover, they do not live in a separate quarter set apart for them by their host communities. Only a very small proportion of the Haura/Yoruba elementb still twupy a separate quarter allocated to them early in the century. Therefore, the host/stranger residential set-up en- visaged by Cohen for the Hausa ele- ment in Sabo, Idaban, Nigeria, is not really verified (ea Cohen, 1969).

H& the implication of having to share the kola nut with different kinds of strangerr in a specific situa- tibn b examined. Who the stranger

is cau be known in the praars of sharing the kola nut. Let me deal with the total stranger first. Total strangers can be regarded as men who d o not Live in a particular tcr- ritory and are aot known there. They arc mvallers rimplicita who can be tcnmd ndl lie in the lgbo language. Wi iEr LiWly means those on tho move or people walking in an alien t emtay . The singular term of the expramon is onye ye which mcaaa a traveller. But the Ig- bo prefers the plural form ndi iji. The p r e f m n a may have something t o do with the way the Igbo make their journeys. They can be regard- ed as travellers only in a limited sen*. Thw, Ottenberg claims that the lgbo is not a traveller can be supported ( ~ t t e n b e r ~ f 1958: 206). A similar idea is found in Leith-Ross, where she says the Igbo may regard a compatriot living in another village only a few miles away and unrelated to him by tles of kinship as a foreigner and capable of the darkest crimes (Leith-Ross, 1937: W).

There i s no contradiction between the claim thlat the lgbo I$ not a traveller and the expression 'ndr rie' - travellers as understood cannot mean the same thing as European explorers of medieval times who travelled the globe. For the Igbo. anyone who has left his village and walked a distance beyond which he cannot make a return journy the same day before he is overtaken by darkness thereby becomes a traveller. Before colonialism toak roots, distant travels would hardly be undertaken in sub-Saharan Africa (prothero, 1957: 254). because of slavery which was either engineered for domestic use or for shipment overseas (Meek, 1937: 5). But this does not mean that the Igbo never travelled.

The Igbo travel in guest of suitable fm land and when there in need to seek experts in the field of

medicine or chonas W, 1971 : 81) Moreover. ritual e m s ma 1 sometimes be found only outaide confines of one's tenitmy, tJn~&$ encouraging p q d c who d theit services to trad out t o t h ~ . Thir may be one of the renrtr in which Uchardu r d m to the Jgbo as travellers (U&ndu, 1 . ~ 3 : n). Anyone who had need to trawl on those days must &omc a amp.- niod - ayrlibo - for mutual s u p port, hence the justif~catim for the plural form 'Ndi &', tku the I@J say ofu o n p bu aro - a lane traveller often disagpaus.

When travellers an ref& to ss ndi (je, it can mean that tbey are total strangers unknown to the, speaker and not related to him either by ties of friendship or kin 11 1 ship. Relatives who have ban ab- sent from home for a long time can also be termed ndi lie when thy come home. Important guests visiting their old friende can also k classified as ndi &. What deter- mines the differences between LhOm categories of travellers is the mae tion of the people they am mwU1111 in lhe house. 'Through ccrtalr~ com- r~lenssl pracesvcs they demonstrate the worth of the traveller in an ac- tual situation.

What hour a traveller arrives in the house can influence the type of reception accorded him. If it la daylight, people can pick him out easily and tell on sight whether he is a relative visitin4 home after a pro- longed absence, or an impartant guest visiting and old friend, or just someone unknown. The reaction of the people at this particular moment will show the difference between those categories of travellers.'

111 q, ' l i In the commudty. a$ soon as a, I

wellknown guest is seen ap- ' 1 "'

proaching the house, or a member of the family return8 home, all tborc present Mll go our to fneut Mm, He

rage of words of welcome. Children may take his walking stick, others his-hat, if he is wearing one, and the more able will help him with his

* load. The long stream of words of greetng will continue to flow from all sides - ulurr, uluakwa, deju - welcome, welcome. you are really welcome in our midst. Uchendu, who discusses the Igbo generally says that such gratings seem to be endlur (Uchendu, I%$, 72). But even by normal Igbo standards, other people visiting the community wftl be flabbergasted by the amount of words of welcome poured out to guests in Ibagwa village community. Ibagwa people say that the greater the repetition, the greater the assurance of welcome and intimacy (see also Firth, 1W3: 29).

By now everyone has found k scat, with the guest or vWtor oonr- pyinp a most conspicuous position in the houlre. What follow8 next is the presentation of the kola nut. It is this that dividcn the strengm and the guest from each other and can also establish who is a member of the household unit from a mere guest. A member of the family coming home after a long absence 1s received with cxclnniat~ons o f joy, but is not offered the kola nut. To offer the kola nut lo u brother in such cir- cumvrsaces can be regarded as misplaced, far i t may suggest that differences exist bet ween the two brolher5. However , food is prepared lor h t n ~ immediately I'ollow~r~g I I I \ . t i r~va l , althougl~ i f he indicates that he is not hungry, no offence may be taken.

Only the wellknown guest can be acclaimed and also offered the kola nut. Three nuts, at Ieasr, must be presented to an important guest to mark the solemnity of the occasion. He bags two of the nuts and returns home with them when his mission is over. This 1s for him to proclaim to

Ma 6wn people that he has bcen well received by his host. The Igbo sey: ojt Isn uno, okuo ebe osili bia - when the kola nut reaches home with someone who has been a guest of someone, it will explain that he has been received with dignity and respbct by his host. The remaining nut is shared amon4 those presknt, foflowina the custom of the people.

With the conclusion of the kola

presantr to take home with hlm. It must have been such a experJmoe t ha t enab le Mar loghae ahd Ferguson to write in the f o l l o w i ~ style:

"Throughout the country there are dose. ly sirnllar aacrcd traditions, whlch remiqds us o f what people in,Europdrrve lost. The universal wclcomo 10 ~ t r ~ ~ g t and the glowing hospitality u e h a r t wu- ming. One of UI went with a Nigdm to visit his home village. and cune brL

hospitality, the host may go on to looded down with gifts, whioh It would k --e other food or drink. 1f food is d ~ O ~ r t ~ O ~ lo W~UJC - ud

chicken, d nnd tmolw, dried fib .ad cooked alrerdy, it is served first, drlaJ kn vrsmb,, because the Igbo do not like drink- pottery .nd

to eomethrng similar to thelfictitious character In Camus' novel Tke Out- sider, where he records an account of an unfortupate Czech traveller who, after he had made a fortune, returned to his mother and sister, lodged w~th them, disclosed his wealth without revding his identi- ty, and was killed (Camus, 1961: 82). Where such people seek tem- porary accommodation for the night, they simply become lodgers - ndi UP.

I now proceed to assess the rela- tionship of commensdity between such people and the family that pro- vide themi with accommodatjon for the night. Such people are not the aune as guests in lgbo language; a guest is known as onye obia while a lodger is known aa ndi lie. Ndi ije c c ~ n be greeted with the term nno nu, but not withaluo. A h a and nno can be rendered into English as welcome. but alua signifies intimacy or cordiality. (set dso Beattie, 1958: 198). Such travellers can even be aakcd to a meal if one is in progress at the time of their arrival. But that is dl. The inmates of the houw can- not rush out to prepare meals for so- meone whom they do not know. Above all they must not offer them the kola nut, for the presentation of the kola nut signifies intimacy, cor- dially or Face. But it is impossible for the hcjst to establish the objec- tive of people he does not even know.

Therefore, in contrast to the travellers, the inmates of the house can rcgard themselves and justifiably so, as peaceful, friendly, while the travellets can be seen as in- tuders and therefore provocative. T h i ~ is because who they are or what their mission is has not been disclos- ecl, They can be thieves, armed rob- bers, passers-by sedcing shdter FOF the night, or they may have come for specific purpose which has not yet been named.

They can also leave as they came

without saying anything about the object of their visit. But whether they succeed, to go away may de- pend on who are in the premises when such travellers arrive. However, if they go away, they can- not complain that they are not pro- perly treated in the home. People do not normally complain that so- meone they do not know has not of- fered them food or drink or apologised for not offering them kola nuts,

On the other hand, if they choose to remain, it a for them to break the deadlock by explainiw the motive behind their visit. They can say i t in a Pew words. But if their visit is to bc conaidwed a serious affair, they have to take the initiative themselves and present their host, who must be a man, with the kola nut, at the same time rxplainrng the motive behind the presentation. If they are travellers pure and sirnple. and seek- ing shelter for the night, the host will accept the nuts from them and thank them for the presentation. The normal method of passing the Lola nut around to declare the iden- tity and status of those around is eliminated. (k Anigbo, 1972).

But before the kola nut can be shared, the host will ask for the names of the travellers, the names of their ancestors, and the territory of the11 ongn. This corrstitutrd their formal identification. The host then proceeds to offer prayers to his own ancestors and to the goddess of the land, asL~ng them to share kola nut with them and ensure their safe- ty especiatlv in dangerous utua- t~ons. He abks them 1 1 1 protect the strangers who have come to lodge with them. Smiler prayers 816 ~ l a a said to the ancestors of the strangers asking them that the inmates of his huuse should not come to grief for having sheltered members of their group -- a form of prayer which ~ d r l

be summarked in the following lgbo saying - obiulu he onye clbiagbtne

I

yu, onuwukwu nkpunkpu aka asugbune ya - A host should not come to harm for having sheltered travellers. and when the visitors depart, let them return home safely. Having expressed those sentiments together, they can then share the kola nut. ....

Thus, a new tie of social relation- ship is formed. It can be strengthen- ed or terminated. Nevertheless a significant beginning has been made between the parties. For from the moment of kola nut exchange, the lodger or the traveller has altered his status before the host and on future visits will no longer be classified as a total stranger - someone unknown. When he comes again. he will be regarded as onye obia and will no longer be expected to present the I I

kola nut on subsequent visits. The situation has completely changed. 11, 1 Should he come back again the burden of having to present the kola I

nut falls on the host. If he docs not do so then he must apologise for it. If he does not do that much, then there is something hanging between them.

v For an individual to present the

kola nut ro his ttost can si~nify dl sorts of things. This is mainly because the standdrd pattern of using the nut is for a host to present it to his guests a sign that they are really welcohe. But wherever this rule is reversed, i t demands some' explana- tions. It does not matter who reverses the rule. Whether the rever- sal is the act of a brother. or a friend, or even an enemy, they must have some reason to justify tht con- duct, Sltch reversal automallcally declares the donor a tyw of stranger in a specific context. What is implies is that the donor has somethin& in mind which-hemust - - - - - - - - - - - - comrnunicatll):11 to his host. In other words, the k 0 1 q r nut repr-esents an idea in the mind ' which has not yet been corn-

municated. In such a situation, the kola nut cannot be shared until the idea which it represents is disclosed.

When. therefore, a man in* that category presents the kola nut to his host, the host may accept it but in- variably would ask "kedu ijt! oji?" - why is the nut travelling? - im- plying that he wants to know why the kola nut is bemg presented in the reversed order - which means a simple invitation to explain the motive behind the presentation of the kola nut. If the host accepts the explanation given and allows the kola nut to be shared according to custom, it implies commensality. This means an agreement on a specific issue, otherwise refusal means that the explanation has been rejected. Therefore the kola nut wiU not be shared. Hence there is no agreement on a epecif'ic ilraue represented in the presentation of the kola nut.

Instances reflecting such occa- sjons where the kola nut cul be presented to the host are many in social life. For example, p a c e can be restorcd to individuals or.groups who may have been friends but for one reason or the other have h o m e hostile or enemiee. Normally for friendship to be restored there must be a condition for peace. Where this is assured, the standard practice is that the party that wronged the other (the weaker or inferior party) should present the kola nut to the injured party (the stronger or superior party). Sometimes the oc- casion may require extra food or drinks depending on the gravity of the breaches and the personalities involved in the dispute. The two parties must, however, share the kola nut, thus signifying that the breaches between them have b a n healed. In this kind of situation, commensality symbolised in the sharing of the kola nut means peace, or at least the absence of hostility.

An outsider taking the kola nut to

a household can mean he is seeking an agreement on a specifice issue. Such cases can be many, but mar- riage may be taken as the most significant example. It also fits the example of the host-stranger situa- tion in the lgbo context. This is because, for the Igbo, marriage is exogamous. A man cannot marry a woman from a lineage with whose

tority before real negotiat~ons can even be started. Such questions con.1 cern the status of the man and woman as well. as their identity 1 within the general scheme of descenl ' links in the society as a whole. I

Therefore oji ajuju can be presented, but sharing it refused. Where oji qituu is presented and sharing refused can mean at least

lineage members he shares full corn- one of three things. It can mean that mensal relationship. This means he the possible bride and groom are cannot marry a woman of the same linked somewhere by blood relation- major lineage, different kinds of ship. In that case refusal to share the property may be inherited across the kdla nut in the context means unity line including women. Were mar- and agreement. Everyone in the , ria$e tolerated in any degree for group is satisfied that the relation- '

men and women of ' the same ship is so close that marriage should lineage, onb could end up inheriting not be allowed to result. But it can his sister. This is not worked out by also happen that those involved , the Igbo, but they heve a saying have examined the issue, found that ' which implies such possibility. They a certain amount of linkage exists say 'mcdu ada anu nwanns ya' - and decide toda somethin$ about It. dl 1 meaning that human beings should This is the case where the elders , not marry their kinsmen or kinswoman as the case may be. But nwa nne in the Igbo context can in- clude all cognatic ties of father and mother. This is because of the bilateral system of reckoning des- c a t , especially in matters relating to marriage,

have judged that marriage can take ' place despite the clear case of blood relationship. Normally when this obtains, certain forms of sacrifice may be offered to the ancestors, asking them to ignore the ties of relationship. After the sacrifice, the kola nut can be exchange. Here

Where a man is about to marry in sharing the kola nut marks unity, Igboland, it is for the members of 3greement as well as division or the man's lineage to go out in search segmentation. of a potential wife. Kola nut must But it is also possible for the shar- be used for this (adams, 1934: U S ) . ing of the kola nut to be refused for Where, therefore, an outsider an entirely different reason uncon- presents the kola nut to a man who nected with blood relationship. Kola has an unmarried daughter, that act nut in this case investigates the can be analysed as seeking agree- ment on a vital issue of marriage. Whether the party of this potential bride lives next door to the potential groom d m not cancel the use of the kola nut in the way specifled. In that context the kola nut is known as oji qj4u - meaning the kola nut that asla so many questions.

Among the Igbo, marriage is not an individual affair and different kinds of questions must be raised

status of the proposed bride and groom. The investigation airPss at establishing whether the bride or groom happens to be an mu or slave. Where either of the partica happens to be osu, the kola nut mav be presented but it is certain to be rejected (see Anigbo 1972: Mkpo, 1952: 20; Achobe 1960; 74-75).1~],, 1 Refusal to share the kola nut in such a situation does not imply hostility' I '. or disharmony. Here i t suggests a-

and settled objectively and satisfac- clusion or avoidance.

In certam circumstance the father or Ule guardian of a potentikl bride may refuse a priori to have anything to do with ojr ajuju presented on behalf of one of his daughters and dam so without any apparent dological reasoning. Such rejec- tion experienced in that context has m y implications. It shows that dfferent meanings can be found in the presentation of the kola nut. The inquiry does not suggest that the marriage must take place bet- ween the two partka, The prmnta- don and acceptance of the kola nu1 r t tJu bsginninp of a murlrgs only shows that the members of the two lineages concerned can sit down together and discuss serious issues affecting them with a view to com- ing to some agreement. Therefore, In a s i t u a t h whore the guardian of a potential bride has refused oji q/u- ju without offering an explanation, it may imply enmity, hostility, sWus or power.

From the few casca of rcfiwls observed followiryl the pramtation of the kola nut in marriage contexte, one learns that it can be g rwly in- adequate to attach only one man- ing to a word in cornmendty. Refusal can mean unity, avoidance, rejection - depending on the con- text in the mar~lage. This shows the usefulness 0 1 commensal~ty in being able to be applied lo different aspects of social life. Social behavlour 1s variable and cannot be committed lo niernory or made to conform to a mathematical for- mula.

In I bagwa %ka, OJI ajup is rein- forced by the Institution of the mid- Jltman. known in the local language as onye obu uzo, i.e. a man who leads the parties to a mar- riage. Onye ohu uzo is distinct from onye ofu uzo. The latter can be a man or a woman who has found a potentla1 bride or groom and reports back to the appropriate quarlers where necessary. Onye 0bu

I ~0 on the other hand must be a group. man, who acts as a go-between in a The formal consent is celebrated. given marriage. He is the official Normally, it is for the Uneage group witness in a specific marriage. In of the groom to invite the group of some ways, it can even be claimed the bride to the celebrations. It can that the institution of this go- be regarded as a kirld of engqement between forms the very essence of party. It is a public announcement the meha i sm through which mar- that the negotiations are reaching riages are negoth&d and concluded completion. Who is invited to the in the community. party will vary from community to

As such, the g~between must be community. acceptable to both parties to the The brideprice payment is what proposed union. He must also have may follow next. This can be the MI backing of member8 of his regarded 8s puttin8 a seal on the Ilnrrpga. Thlr is -use If he should msrriage negotiations. As soon as die while the marriage still laats, it the payment la made, the woman is dcvolw on tfPe mmbers of his transferred to the group of her US- L i m e to f i d a kbstitute from band and the husband/wife rela- among thcmselvea to keep the ser- tionship begins. GCCS going! This underlies the im- these transactions or the prhnm of the institution. The in- various exchanges, whether it is the d h t d d o c c u ~ h psition kola nut, drinks, food, money or of such a Wit- is not just there &t and finally the woman the coedullion of the marriage herself, must be exchanged via the II~gotiatlons, he is d v e l y and most go-between. MI thee items must b o u s l ~ Involved in each aspect of first be hand& over to the ap- the t r @ n ~ o m which can occur in propriate quarters with the handing the Ufetime of that muriege. over of the wornon crowning the an-

In IgbfJlurd, dfftrent symbols tire negotiations. are exchpnged between the potential The duty of the go-between do- partners to mark the eWc8 of pro- not end with the exchange of the gress in the negotiations. The first woman. From then on, whatever of these is the kola nut, which must threatens the union must first of all be exchanged not only at the initial be reported to him, for him to con- period of the muriage inquiry, as vene a meeting of the respective already indicated. but also on every groups to resolve the conflict. If in subsequent occasion when the two the end the marriage fails and the groups m e t to discuss issues affec- termination of the contract becomes ting the marriage. On those occa- inevitable, the return of the sions, the presentation of the koh brideprice and other payments must nut may indicate that some progress be made through the middleman or has been made in previous discus- the go-between as at the beginning sions as well as that, by unanimous of the marriage. Until the family of cunsent, the negotiations should be the bride returns the brideprice continued. Eventually, the negotia- through the go-between to their tions reach the stage where the con- former allies, the family of the sent of the bride to the proposed groom retains right to all the union can be publicly tested. She children the woman may have, even gives approval to it by formally ac- if she lives with other men (rights in cepting a drink from the palm wine geneticem). If the woman dies presented on her behalf, and sharing before the brideprice is paid back, the cup with her prospeclive hus- her former husband and his group band or any senior member of his must bury her according to the rites

due to a properly marrled wornall. One can infer from the'dutics of

the middleman that his status rilust at least be equal to and never In- ferior to those of the partlcs lor whom he acts as a witness or mid- dleman. This is because he himself must be able to present the kola nut as of right to any of the parties. I t may be recalled that neither the osu nor the om can present the nut to a freeborn. It follows that while in- vestigations about the status and identity of the bride and grmm a1 e being made, discreet inquiries arc also conducted about the status and character of the middleman. Thus in the community, marriage can be secn as a union involving the cor- poration of three lineages who must work together to protect the alliance.

Oji ajuju is an ~mportant wcial institution for the Igbo. It provides some safeguards against possisble unions between individuals who may be related by consanguinity. Thus it is impossible to find members of the same lineage who live and work in different ter;ri.toties from F U C ~ other. This Is as true lo- day as when the traditional occupa- tion of the lgbo was mainly growing yam. In modern urban conditions, job opportunities have attracted dif- ferent kinds of skills away from the villages, thus fostering a new situa- tion in which indiv~duals or families can live and develop outside their traditrnnal ties. LJndtr such condi- tions, it is possible for members of the same major lineage to meet without recognising their ties. An example of such meeting is contain- ed in Jerrome's study of the Igbo in London :

"A youn# woman who described how she spent ha off dutica (she was a nurx) with her 'brother' and his wife, said that she

,had not a t him until she came to England or even known of their relurion- ship. She said with some wonder that she had worked with her brothcr in the same

bank at home w~thouc ever knowing that he was her relation."

If the indiv~duals referred to rn this case study had been interested in marriage when they worked together in the same bank, there was nothing to stop them from propos- ing marriage to each other. However, it is likely that the in- quiries connected with the oji ajuju would have stopped the marriage developing bcr ween them. Thus, i t can be upheld that the kola nut is significant arr a means of identifica- tion in certain situations.

Conclusion 1 have examined the problems of

commensa~i0. in the context of the quality of social relationship bet- &en the host and the stranger in lbagwa village community. It is clear from the study that each meal offers the lgbo a regular opportuni- ty to assess the quality of social rela- tionship within the group. This is because every meal is guided by some rules which ought to be respactrd, A special caw has W n made for the kola nut, the prcscrip- tion of which can reveal different patterns of social ties between those present. Where the rules are broken or ignored become an open admis- sion that tension exists or clear por- trayal of ignorance of the customs of the l a ~ ~ d . Commensality therefore provides a symbolic mechanism to dramatize the culture of the lgbo end to ensure its continuity.

But it is clear from the analysis that words are important in shaping the nature or the quality of commen- sality, in fact it is words uttered in certain circumstances that inspire a guest with confidence or fill him with suspicion. For example, an in- dividual who is long absent form home and failed to received laudable words of welcome on return knows that he is being rebuk-

ed. On the other hand, a tcbtaJ, stranger who is given an ovation o arrival at a door feels no disconlfort. An outsider wll presents the kola nut to his guest bu % I

[ailed to convince him of the validid ty of his gesture knows that he had

'

lost his case because it would nod even be discussed.

Words however well utteied can- not obscure the importance of food, the sharing of which reveals all the social ties. It is therefore important to utilize words and food in ap- proaching the problem of commen- sality.

REFERENCES

Achchc, C , 1960 No Lon~er ti1 Eaw. London: Hanemann

Alland, A. and Charla, 9. Hertz 1967 "The hcteriocidal Propcrtica of the Kola Nut: Negative Result." American Anthropola glst, vol 69. p. 81. d

An~gbo, 0 A C 1972 Some Political Aspccrs ot Comrntmal~ry. Unpubl~rrhod Thesis. Uhi- vcrsity of London. 1

Arikpo. 0. 1956 "The End of Oau" Wpsl 4/rlra, 26th April, p.201.

tkrden, O.T. 1966 N@ Ibas. London: Frank Caw.

Camur, At 1978 Tke (hrtaIdrrdrr h n ~ u i n Modern C'lass~us.

Cohen. A. 1966 "Politics of the Kola Trade." Africa, Vol. XXXVI, pp. 18-35.

Cohen. A. l a 9 C W o m and Polirics sin Urban Africa. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Firth, R. 1973 Symbols: Public and Private. 1,ondon: George Allen and Unwin Ltd.

Leith-Ross, S. 1937 "Notes on the O w systemn among the lgbos of Owerri Pro- vrncc In N~yerm." Africa (Londan). XI, pp. 117-134.

lerrome. D.M. 1974 Continuity and Change in the Social Organization of the lgbos in lmdon . llnpubllshcd Thcds, London.

Marnoghae, M , and J . Ferpuson 1%5. Nigeria Under rho Crass. 6 Salisbury Sqare. London.

Meek, C.K. 1957 Land Tenure and Land Adminisrrulion in NigerQ and the Came room. H.M. Stationery Office, London;

Nwokocha, C.C.A. 1959. The Kola: lk# cymbol of love and unity. A valid 5tarhn 'i point for the study of the Eucharist, l/rn .

.' I

pblished Thesis. Rome: clrbaniana. W k w u . 0. IY61 Wpnd of Noble i Wood. London: Hutchinson & CO. Ltd.

Ottcnberg, S. 1958 "Ibo oracles and inte- group relations". Southwesrern Journal of Anthropology. Vol. XIV no. 3 pp. 295-317.

Prorhero, M. It. 1957 "Migratory labour from North-Weslern Nigeria." Africa. vol.

I XXVII, no. 3;pp. 251-261. LJchendu. V . 1964 "Kola hohpltaliry end lsho lincege structulc". Man, no. 53, pp. 47-50

Uchendu, V . 1965 The Igbo 01 Southeurf Nigeria. Care Srrtd~cs in Cultural Anrhro- pology. New Yark: Woh. K~nehart and Wmron.

Shack. W.A. 1979 lntioduction in William A. Shack and Elhot P. Skinner (ads.)

lldo R.R. 1971 (.ieoyraphicnl llegiolis of NIaerln. I.andirn I Iclwrnann.

NOTES: I , Ibagwa Aka is an Igbo villtrpc

cornrrlunlty t'ivr miles north o f the University town of Nsukka. I t is now popularly known as lbagwa Nkwo being the most

important traditional market in the area. It is a traditional village community but settlers from different localities in Nigeria give it the appearance of an urban community.

1 lived in Ibaywa Aka for four years carrying out field rdearch in the community bur with special b i ~ s to the pro- blems of commensality in an Ig- bo village. The result of' the research is embodied in a Doc- toral thesis which has since been submitted and successfully defended at the School of Oriental and ATric~n Studies. University of London. The title o f the theds is "Com~nensality and Social Change in lbrqiwa Aka, Arlarnbra State, Nigeria."

The present article is taken 'from the thesis, some altera- tions having been made.

"OSU" is a man or woman who I

either because of their acts or the acts of any one of their parents or grandparents are guilty of a crime against the land, the punishment for such crime being death. To escape the punishment, they seek pro- tection under a powerful divine. The refugee obtains the protec- tion he seeks, but he also severs all cnnnecfio~l with the land and his family (cf. Anigbo, 1980: 71; Achebe, 1960; Basden 1960: 246).