UMUÓKPU IN IGBO LAND & HOW THEY ARE RECOGNIZED

UMUÓKPU IN IGBO LAND & HOW THEY ARE RECOGNIZED

The word, Umuókpu, simply means, female adult members of a family, a kindred or Community, both those that are married to other places & those not yet married.

Every family, kindred or Community, has their own Umuókpu, they are well respected and recognized in the families, kindreds & Communities. They are equally respected & recognized in Age-Grades, therefore they participate in most of the things their brothers, cousins & mates, do, though there can be limits.

 

In most families, kindreds, Communities, Age-grades & Communities, Umuókpu are respected & recognized like/as the men, even more than the men, because whenever you are summoned to answer Umuókpu, it’s like answering the Court of law, their questions & intimidations are real. Umuókpu equally help to settle disputes between husbands and wives, brothers, sisters, etc. Sometimes they compel a stubborn wife or stubborn husband, to do the needful, especially to behave well in the family.

 

WHERE UMUÓKPU CAN PARTICIPATE & THEIR LIMITS.

IN THE FAMILIES: Umuókpu can settle disputes between brothers, sisters, siblings, husband & wife, etc, they can equally sanction the defaulters, to an extent.

During burials of their brothers or their brothers’ wives, fathers, mothers, etc, Umuókpu usually come in the night (during wake), they have their rights, food, drinks, water, etc, with a live goat or manageably a live fowl, depending on the level of the bereaved family. They usually sing in the night, looking/searching for the dead, showing how shock & painful the they feel, etc. They do this, round the village or kindred, back to the bereaved family’s house, until they are completely settled. To an extent, Umuókpu have the capacity of stopping or bridging an ongoing burial (wake), when/if they are not properly settled, until they are settled. Sometimes they can be more powerful & stubborn than their brothers. In places where they are well organized, unified & coordinating, they contribute in the building of halls, or participate in doing projects in the families or kindreds, sharing of palliatives, etc, but they do that optionally. Some of them when they are getting old give instructions to their husbands and children, instructions like, “when I die, you must make sure you give my people a cow, before or during or immediately after my burial ….. Make sure you take my corpse to my father’s land before burying me, etc”. Like in Nwankwo’s Royal family Umulogho Obowo, you dare not disobey Umuókpu (the female children & grandchildren of Eze Nwankwo Anowii Eligwe), because they can be more powerful than their men.

 

In the Kindreds & Communities: Most of the things they do in the families, they do it in the Kindreds and Communities. They can equally report an unsettled matter to the King (Onye Eze), Town Union, etc; they contribute in one way or the other, to the growth & development of their Kindreds & Communities. They make sure their brothers are not molested, ignored or insulted.

 

AGE-GRADES: Using my Age-Grade, Utonwanne Age-Grade Umulogho Obowo, as a case study, Umuókpu are allowed to join their Age-Grades, most times their ages are not thoroughly checked like the male ones. They are given much respect like their male ones. The wives of the male ones call them Dianyi (Our Husband/Mate) or by their nicknames or even Aunty, depending on the age difference.

They can host age-grade meetings.
They don’t do iwa-akwa, although some of them optionally do iwa-akwa ceremony, but in a low key, as no right is required of them, that will not stop them from taking good care of their mates.

When a male member of an Age-Grade does his iwa-akwa ceremony successfully without owing, he is automatically registered with the Age-Grade, to host meetings, but as for the women, whether married or not married, iwa-akwa ceremony is not a criterion, but the interest & age bracket, are the main criteria, therefore, she can register according to what is in the Constitution. For instance, in my Age-Grade, it was initially #500, after our iwa-akwa, it was later made #1000: after the review of the Constitution it was made #2000, for any interested female mate/member of the Age-Grade.

When a female member is registered, he enjoys almost all the rights like the male ones.

For instance, in my Age-Grade, Utonwanne Age-Grade Umulogho Obowo, female members host meetings, whether they are around or not, whether married or not, they do contribute the normal monthly dues, they pay levies, they can be fined, etc. They are also members of the Executives, but only for Provost, P.R.O or Welfare Director. Currently, the Provost 1 of Utonwanne Age-Grade, is a female member, and she is luckily married to one of our mates in another Community. When she got married, we contributed the normal levies as we do for the male ones & gave her the complete right (money) like we do for the males, she equally gave us our complete rights (food & drinks) before we gave her, her rights. Till tomorrow, she is still a bonafide & serious member of our Age-Grade, she attends our meetings regularly, sometimes with her husband, few days ago, she attended the child dedication of our Chairman’s son, with her husband, she contributed like all of us, her husband even participated in most of the things we did.

Those not married, but members, are as powerful as the married ones, as recognized as male ones. Whatever that is given to the Age-Grade, as far as they are registered & up to date members (they are not owing), they get same/equal share with the male ones.

 

Recently, one of our mates, gave the Age-Grade One million naira (#1,000,000), we are using the money for free interest loan to only members of our Age-Grade, to be returned for rotational purpose, every six months, there is no segregation in this money, as both male & female members of Utonwanne Age-Grade, are enjoying the free/no interest loan, you can take as much as #200,000, “ma i wu Nwoke, ma í wu Nwanyi”.

As far as you are a member of Utonwanne Age-Grade, if you officially invite us to celebrate or mourn with you, with the normal ihe ï kpó oku, we will honour the invitation and do all the necessary things for you. Our wives equally respect our female members the way they respect our male members, they must greet our female members first before expecting the reply of the greetings, just as they cannot expect the male members to greet them first. In any occasion, our Provost can share to everybody, but can decide to rest and delegate any of our wives to share, she can equally ask (through the Chairman) the Chairlady of the women’s wing, our wives, (Ndomi Oso Di Eme Utonwanne Age-Grade/Women’s Wing), to appoint two of our wives that will assist her (the Provost) in sharing food.

 

LIMITS OF UMUÓKPU.

  • In the family, they don’t join Umunna meetings, but they can join their immediate family meetings.

  • They don’t do iwa-akwa ceremony, but they can do it out of effizzy, so when such is done, no right is required or given from/to Umunna or Age-Grade.

  • They don’t have the right to fix burial date, it must come from the first male child of the family (Ópara), no matter the age, but the male child must also involve or consult his siblings, to avoid disputes.

  • They can be Provost, P.R.O or at most, welfare director of their Age-Grade, all other positions are strictly for the males.

  • They must not disobey their husbands because of Age-Grade issues, meaning, their husbands have the right to stop them from attending Age-Grade meetings.

  • They cannot take ekoh ókukó (gizzard) while/when they are males around, even if they male is a younger one, even if they bought the fowl by themselves, they must give the ekoh ókukó to any available male their, or to the oldest man, to the Chairman of the Age-grade, etc.

  • They cannot be members of Town Union (meeting) of the Community, because it’s strictly for males.

  • They cannot collect the right of the family, from Umunna, unless there’s no male child in the family.

 

Antiquity

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