Nigerian Culture! <3

Nigerian Culture

Nigeria's rich and varied cultural heritage draw’s from the mixture of its different ethnic groups with Arabic and western European cultural influences. Secret societies, such as Ekpo and Ekpe among the peoples of the southeast, were formerly used as a device of government.

Nigeria is one of the well-known countries for its famous painting’s and cultural pots. They describe ancestral paintings of animals, people and plants. They have a variety of colors from beige/tan to chocolate brown. Each color represents a different part in the environment. Some even paint with chalky mud found in the rich soil and river beds.

Music and dance are important to Nigerian culture
and each ethnic group has its own specialties. Regular instruments include various types of flutes, trumpets, musical bows, xylophones, and wooden clappers, as well as many varieties of drums. Music is used to celebrate rulers and to accompany public assemblies, weddings and funerals, festivals, and storytelling. Dance also has many varieties: it has Ishan stilt dancers in colorful costumes while they twist themselves in the air; while one Tiv dance, called ajo, features male dancers who work in pairs, and another involves teams of women who perform a dance called icough by composing songs about current events.

I love how Nigeria is so connected to its outdoor surrounding’s. I love the outdoors and I really wish that suburban areas, like Kansas and Missouri could be just as conservative of their environment.

The Walk

The Walk

I walk through the jungle with my back toward my town. I will not be returning, at least for a long time. I am on a hunt, to search for my family’s food. All I see and here are animals, plants and un-known and un-discovered areas. I am scared but, I know my duties. When I return my family will be proud, if I do not return, they will mourn. It is a decision I had to make.

As I walk I am worried about my little brother. He is suffering from an un-known disease that just reached my village. He is dying and my family is losing everything trying to save him. I hope while I am gone he doesn’t die.

I find this long, long road and follow it for a couple of days. As I walk I view sites I have never seen before in my small, dirty town. I see new animals, plants and people.

I stopped at an old women’s house one day t get a drink of water. She was nice and offered me a room in which I could stay and rest for a couple of days. I was tired, so I accepted the invite. Her food was delicious, with steamed green beans, some vegetable soup and some magnificent meat that melted away my taste buds. Her smile reminded me of my mother’s. She had a beautiful smile which she showed off almost every time she spoke.

After this I took a shower outside, the hot sun beating down on m e as the rushing, fresh, cold water dripped down my dark skin. I felt refreshed and replenished. I dressed into some new clothes and went to lie on some grass outside. My heart sank into my chest as I fell asleep in the sun.

The next morning as I woke up and went on my way, I said my thank you’s and my good bye’s. I killed different animals on a deep path covered in mud and walked on with them on my back. I finally reached the area toward my village. My parents ran out to greet me I dropped the kills and ran; as I ran my toes sank into the deep dark dirt, the sweat dripped down my face. I jumped into my parents arms and cried, as the tears fell I asked how my brother was, they smiled and said, “He is alive.”