Kolanut for the oath taking ritual preparation
ITEMS NEEDED TO ENTER INTO SERIOUS AGREEMENT/ OATH TAKING OR COMMUNICATING WITH THE GODS
PREPARATION
1. Make a small hole.
2. Put pieces of kolanut into the hole according the numbers that will take the oath.
3. Put alligator pepper together with the kolanut into the very hole
4. Put acoholic on top of both.
Now, that everybody is set to take a serious oath, the eldest man will make a serious prayer/ vow: example of an oath: if anybody poisons another, let him confess and die.
After, this incantation by the eldest, he will first of all deep his hand inside the small hole and take one piece of kolanut stating that if he commits, let him die. Everyone in that place has to do same. Now the ritual has been completed waiting for the results.
EXPECTATIONS.
Whoever goes against the oath will die
“Kola nut is regarded as a sacred nut used to communicate with the gods, being that it is chosen by the elders as the head or king of all seeds. As a seed nut, it is used in so many ways as a mediating factor. It is necessary to present it first on every occasion,” explained 75 years old Mumuni Sadiq, Sarkin Hausa, in Festac town of Lagos.
In Nigeria, nothing is said at any event, no matter how serious the occasion may seem, without the presentation of kola nut ritual. It is the first thing to be presented on the occasion of birth as much as on the event of death. It is presented on the occasion of marriage, divorce as much as on the event of political rally. In the same way, it inaugurates political meetings as much as it is used in sanctifying the ground for ordination of priests and in the invocation of the gods.
Religious functions of kola
The religious functions of kola nut are, however, more observed in the western, southern and eastern parts of the country, where ancestral worships go side by side with Christianity. Among the Yoruba, like the Igbo and the Niger-Delta people, native kola nut is used in ritual incantations. Both Ifa diviners and dibias use kola nuts to invoke and appease the gods.
Almost in every part of Nigeria, kola nut is used in offering prayers to the ancestors to guide and protect the people. According to Baba Aduuni, a Yoruba Ifa priest, “the Yoruba believe that kola nut is the favourite food of Ifa, the divination deity, and this is the reason they give reverence to a specific kind of kola nut called, obi abata.”
Among the Igbo people of Nigeria, kola nut plays other important cultural functions: Because of the mythical and legendary history of origins and migrations that shape the history of many ethnic constituents of the country, kola nut is used to trace seniority.
During family or community meeting for instance, when the kola nut is presented by a host, it is usually passed round to the guests in order of culturally defined order of seniority, and finally presented to the most senior person or family or village or community to bless and break.
Among the Igbo, in a situation whereby the person who presents the kola is senior to the person who represents the most senior village or community in their midst, the kola will still be presented to the junior person to get his approval before the oldest person in their midst is allowed to bless and break the kola nut.
Kola nut tree itself is a symbolic tree. It is planted to signify important land marks and historical deaths. According to Dr Isaac Ayodele, a Yoruba trado-medical practitioner, “kola is part of the social fibre of Nigeria. Kola nut trees are planted at the birth of a child and upon the death of a family member. Kola is a valued gift, signifying an even more valuable friendship.
In Igbo land, it is also planted to mark out land boundaries; and also used to identify where children’s placentas are buried and as decorative trees in front of shrines. Across the country, there are instances when kola nuts are not eaten or one allowed the honour of breaking the kola nut. For instance, in Igbo land, one is not allowed to break kola nut in one’s maternal home. Also, women are not allowed to bless and break kola nut.
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