Culture means different things to different people. But it is regarded as the “totality of the way of life involved by a people in their attempts to meet the challenges of living in their environment”. To the Ososo people, culture comprises materials, institutional, philosophical and the creative aspects of man.
Under the material
aspect, one can look at artifacts in their various forms, such as tools,
clothing, food, etc. The institutional aspects deal with the political, social,
legal and economic objectives, while the philosophical aspect is concerned with
ideas, beliefs and values. The creative aspect concerns a people’s
innovativeness in literature (oral or written), their visual and performing
arts, and their scientific and technological endeavors
OBIKO CULTURE
Obiko is an initiation
to womanhood in Ososo. It is an initiation that every young damsel from Ososo
passes through once in a lifetime. It was compulsory for every full born of
Ososo damsel to pass through this rite in ages past until Christianity made it
a thing of choice. This ceremony is more or less a thing of prestige for the
ladies because when you assume the status, you no longer do any domestic
chores, people fix your bathing water, cook your food, attend to your needs and
lots more. And for that duration of time you are always addressed with the name
Orbiko.
The initiation duration
was three (3) months, later nine (9) days in the olden days, but now five (5) days.
These changes is to make it easy for grown up girls who may be an undergraduate
or a staff of an organization to go back on time. Information on the initiation
is always kept secret from any would be Orbiko due to the way the ladies act or
react when they are pre-informed. Sometimes some even run away to avoid showing
their nakedness or to avoid suspension from their church as done in Assemblies
of God church. But today proper knowledge of it has made them to realize that
the ceremony is actually harmless except for the fact that you have to avoid
close contact or dealings once you assume the status; no church, no market till
the last day, no party, etc. Anyone that has passed through this initiation
always confess that its fun. However, deep rooted members of some churches
still do not go through the initiation.
Whenever a girl is to be
initiated, there are normally so many signs except she is not sensitive even
though our mothers and grandmothers are so smart that they may have the
preparations going on without having clue. Anyway, during these preparations a
lot of items are always needed which are: Iroto (local cream), a nice stool
locally carved from wood known as Ude Orbiko, Calabashes (both small and big),
a beautiful locally woven cloth known as Odulalo, a cap (woven from grass), a nice
wooden peg, beads of different colors and sizes, a musical instrument made with
iron (straight and round type) and a
flat-like calabash called Sherkiterekeh, a necklace made with Cowries called
Utekpa, a smooth round large ring worn around the neck penultimate day made
from palm frond called Ugbago and some
food items such as Yams, bush meat, melon, etc.
In this great ceremony,
your position is your family, I mean among your siblings is also taken note of
because it actually determines the kind of hair style done by every first
daughter of a family. The first daughter (orbiko) in a family usually have her
hair weave to meet at the center of the head. This hairstyle is called
Ukpamusu. In a polygamous home, your maternal position is always considered
above your paternal position among your siblings. And also the perfect day
chosen to begin and end this ceremony is always the day preceding the Ososo
market day. The venue for this ceremony is always one’s father’s house or
paternal family house. If you don’t live in your father’s house, you would have
to sleep there the night preceding that day.
THE INITIATION
Very early in the morning
of the appointed day, aunties would go to where the girl is sleeping and
sprinkle some water on her. The water is usually very cold that it wakes her up
immediately. The women (aunties) begin to sing Orbiko’s songs to announce the
new status of the girl. After this, she is told not to go back to sleep till
the day breaks. She is also told the do’s and don’ts of her new Orbiko status.
Some of the don’ts include: she must not play rough as she must not be beaten.
Anyone that beats Orbiko would buy her a Hen, the wooden stool must not fall.
Fallen of the stool attracts Goat, she must not wear shoes to anywhere, she must
not wear any other clothes except the new cloths (wrapper) bought for her by
family members.
As the day fully breaks,
she is told to go and take her bath after which the aunties who sprinkled her
with water earlier, robs her with the Iroto, local cream (liquid) all over her
body. At the drying of the Iroto on her body, she is given different sizes of
beads to wear on her waist and neck. Also the pegged stick will be robbed with
Iroto and will be given to her as her walking stick throughout the initiation
days. Another rule here is that she must not fall, this applies to the stick
too. Later, the special stool, Ude-Orbiko is brought to her and permitted to
sit on it. In the olden days after being dressed like this, the Orbiko was
required to walk around naked but civilization is ruling that out. Only few do that now. At this stage, she
is totally different from others because the color of her skin becomes red. The
cream stains a lot. The first meal usually served her is pounded yam and melon
soup and she is expected to eat this meal with people around her.