Monday, February 15, 2016
(Due Tuesday)
Parallels Between our Culture and the Ibo Culture in
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Directions: Reflect on the many ceremonies, celebrations, traditions, and customs of the Ibo people. Choose ONE, and make a parallel between it and a similar custom or practice in our culture.
(Example: Breaking and sharing the kola nut is similar to our practice of offering a guest tea or coffee. Both gestures are a symbol of hospitality, generosity, and polite behavior.) In edition to describing the Ibo practice in detail, your response should also discuss what that cultural practice reveals about the Ibos as a people with the aim of dispelling the archaic, yet commonly held view of African tribes as primitive people groups.
A common custom or belief in the ibo culture is about sins. For example when okonkwo kills Ikemefuna. He was exiled from the tribe for seven years as punishment for his crimes. His home and animals were killed to rid the village of his sin. Sin occurs when a person violates intimate bonds between family, children and or ancestral spirits. This calls for quick and severe punishment including exile, animal sacrifices, fines, symbolic gestures and possible death. Only when a payment is served is justice served. If the sinner is not punished a whole community can be punished for the sin. This shows how the ibo people highly believe in their Gods. They believe in the wrath of God and how if they commit crime they will be punished.
ReplyDeleteA common custom or belief in Ibo life is a bride price. This parallels to modern day wedding proposals because the father of the bride determines the price for the man to pay just like how the father of the bride determines if the man has his blessing to marry her. Also for men that are not liked by the father the bride price tends to be higher just like how the father may not give his blessing to the man who is asking for it if he is not liked. In Ibo culture this resembles how the father is in charge of the family and has the most power in the family unit.
ReplyDeleteA common practice used in Ibo culture is the town meetings. This is when all of the men in the tribe gather in a specific location to talk about an important event. This event usually occurs when there is report of a killing or an issue with another tribe. These men come together to make executive decisions for the tribe at these meetings. For instance, when an Umuofian tribesman's wife was killed by a member from the Mbaino tribe, the men had to summon together to discuss the sacrifice the Mbaino tribe had to make to apologize. This practice is parallel to our United States government. When there is a national crisis the members of the government come together to try and solve it. Just like with the Umuofian tribe and the other tribes, the government attempts to solve issues with other countries as well as issues within our country. This practice shows that the Umuofian people care about the well being of their tribe and want to keep things under control. They are organized and sufficient. Right when an issue is acknowledge they try to find a way to solve it.
ReplyDeleteA yearly tradition present in the Ibo culture is the Feast of New Yams. This festival is held every year in the beginning of August, at the end of the rainy season. It is named the "Feast of Yams" because the yam is the first crop to be harvested. This is a time of honoring the gods and praising the spirits. Two things came to my mind after reading about this. This tradition parallels to Thanksgiving, and our New Years. This reminds me of Thanksgiving because for them it is a time to praise and worship the gods and spirits. For us, Thanksgiving is a day to be thankful for all we have, and to represent early American History. Their tradition "The Feast of New Yams" also reminds me of our New Years tradition. In the Ibo culture, everyone looks forward to this festival because it began the season of plenty, or the New Year. Similar to us. Every year we celebrate a New Year.
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ReplyDeleteA common custom in the Ibo culture that relates to the United States is the bride price. In the Ibo culture, the man has to pay a price to marry the woman of his choice. The woman's father is the one who determines that price. Similar to here in America, a man should ask for the father's permission to marry his daughter. In America if the father does not like the man or feel he is the right fit for his daughter, he could potentially say no. In Ibo culture, if the father doesn't feel the man is the right fit for his daughter, he just simply raises the bride price. Both cultures have a bride price. Only in America it's a question and a simple yes or no. In Ibo culture, it's an actual price.
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ReplyDeleteOne popular tribal beliefs and cultural practices in the Ibo tribe is wrestling each other. It is an event that signifies boys changing into men and showing them maturing. It is like their coming of age ceremony. It is a ritual that the whole community will come to watch every year. During the ceremony, the boys are first matched up against each other. The winner of each match gets rewarded with praise and respect. The winner is also then seen as being a rising leader. Each boy's reputation is on the line during these wrestling matches. Okonkwo originally earned his reputation from one of these wrestling matches. It is a very significant event for all of the boys in the community. It is an event used to show each one of their strengths and it is a chance for them to earn their place in society. This would be parallel to any professional sports player. The more that the win, the more fame and respect they earn. When the boys win their wrestling matches, they win respect in their village. The more often that professional sport players win, the more respect they earn from all of the viewers of that sport.
ReplyDeleteA common belief on ibo culture is sin and the nature of sins as well as how the gods play their role in sin. They belive that the gods cannot sin but man does and he mist be punished for his sins. In the novel, Okonkwo kills ikemfuma and is exciled because the killing of a tribesmen is forbidan and as sin. As punishment his house, posesions and animals are slaughtered and torched. He's banished for 7 years. In today's catholic church there are some similarities. Those who sin are to be punished but not to the same extent of banishment. The confession booth offers an outlet for those to confess their sins and to have them justified by the lord. The manner in which sin is settled may be different but the ideology of repentance is timeless.
ReplyDeleteOne popular Ibo tradition is the wrestling matches. The young boys believe the best wrestler is the ultimate goal. Which is related to any athlete in our culture. The young boys train, and try to be the best wrestler they can be. This is a ceremonial tradition that represents the boys maturing into men. The whole village enjoys watching the wrestler match just as people in our culture watching professional sports, or any sports for that matter. In our culture the better you are at that sport, the more wealth and fame you earn. This is parallel to the Ibo culture because the winner of the wrestling match is given more powerful and may even become the leader of the culture.
ReplyDeleteA common practice in the Ibo tribe is the wedding ceremonies. We see this when there are marriage negotiations for Obierika's daughter, there are costumes, jewelry, and lots of drinking of palm wine. Just like here in the United States the bride would be dressed up with jewelry and a nice dress and people usually celebrate with drinking alcohol. Usually here the brides side of the family pays for the wedding ceremony and other costs but in African traditions the groom pays the bride price himself. If a man is interested in marrying another man's daughter in Ibo culture he must discuss this price with the father, just like here it's custom for the man to ask the fathers permission to marry his daughter.
ReplyDeleteIn Ibo culture, it is common and admirable to speak in proverbs. Achebe writes “Having spoken plainly so far, Okoye said the next half a dozen sentences in proverbs. Among the Ibo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten. Okoye was a great talker and he spoke for a long time, skirting round the subject and then hitting it finally”(Achebe 14. ) In our culture, speaking in proverbs can be compared to speaking with elevated diction when communicating with someone of authority. It could also be related to consoling people with overused sayings such as “everything happens for a reason” or “if it is meant to be it will be.” This tradition reflects the Ibo value of presenting yourself as wise. In a culture where it is so important to create a name for yourself and your family, speaking from a place of knowledge is regarded as very honorable.
ReplyDeleteA common custom shared between the Ibo and our culture is their peace making strategies. When there was a confrentation between clans, they choose to first offer a peaceful solution rather than attack the tribe. In the instance with Ikemfuma, his clan gives him and a virgin away to avoid being decimated by the more powerful clan. This is similar to our treaties and agreements with other countries to keep the peace today. We create these agreements to help deal with the result of confrontation when it presents itself. This behavior of trying to reach a peaceful agreement shows that the Ibo people are reasonable and educated. It is hard to believe these people to be primitive, when they show such responsibility through their actions.
ReplyDeleteOne custom that the Ibo tribe practiced was the bride price, this is similar to how a man will go to ask for a fathers blessing before asking for a woman's hand. In both situations the father of the bride has to determine if the proposing man is good enough and has to evaluate what he will bring to a new family. The man seeking marriage would give gifts and try to basically court the woman's father as well and if the father did not like the man complications would arise as they do in today's culture.
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ReplyDeleteOne custom present in Ibo culture is speaking through proverbs. In the Ibo culture, speaking in this manner is a sign of respect, intelligence, and admirability. The Ibo people place conversation and communication among the highest regards in their culture. Similar to the Ibo, our culture/people speak in a very professional manner when interacting with an authoritive figure or role model.
ReplyDeleteIn Ibo culture there are many ceremonies and festivals. A lot of these revolve around the planting and harvesting seasons. One cultural tradition is the Iwa Ji or the New Yam Festival. This festival celebrates the new harvest and the most important Ibo crop. On the night before this festival all yams from the previous years harvest are discarded. Then during the festival, the first yams are offered to the Gods. After this there is a mighty feast with many different dishes composed of yams. This is similar to Thanksgiving in American culture. Thanksgiving represents an alliance between the pilgrims and Native Americans. The Native Americans teach the Pilgrims how to plant and harvest crops. After and abundant harvest the celebrate with a great feast. Thanksgiving and The New Yam festival both represent the goods of the recent harvest and the start of the new planting cycle.
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