There are many things that differentiate one person from the other. If not the voice, it will be their unique scent, facial features or walk. Its interesting how they are billions of people in the world, but no two persons have the same finger print.
[img src](https://unsplash.com/photos/people-wear-skeletal-face-paint-at-a-celebration-ghl90-jJtjE)
Culture and tradition is another unique and special thing about people. This distinct practices between groups of people are really beautiful to witness. Though some of them are not all that beautiful because they involve spilling blood (human or animal).
Over here, there are a whole lot of cultural and traditional practices. Each tribe has their own cultural practices. Some are peaceful and none-indigene friendly while some are not. I've heard a lot of cruel stories about cultural practices in my country. Trust me, you would not want to hear or see these practices.
This post is an entry for [Korean Hive Village](https://peakd.com/c/hive-123450/created) contest, [Holiday Across All Culture](https://peakd.com/hive-123450/@veryhappyday/korean-hive-village-contest-15). In this post, I would write about the traditional practices in my culture during holidays. What food we eat, and how we have fun together.
I have said it in some of my posts, my tribe is called Igbo. We occupy the eastern part of Nigeria. Known for our hard work, smart work and our curious nature, my tribes men travel far and wide in search of diverse things, including knowledge and finances.
Though the Igbos stand as one, we have many different cultures and traditions that is practiced across all states in the Eastern part of Nigeria. Our food varies, but one food we all share in common is Eba, Akpu and soup (egusi soup, okra soup, ofe owerri, vegetable soup or any other soup of choice). At the end of this post, i will share links of how I made vegetable soup, Okra soup and eba. I will also share extra links related to eba.
I don't know much about how other villages do their traditional practices during holidays, so, i will share what my village people do during holiday.
Our major holidays start from the end of every December and ends during January where the grand celebration will hold. Early this year, it was held on either the 14th or 15th of January 2025. Unfortunately, I could not attend due to some things.
We celebrate our holiday with something we call "Day." Each village will have their day. If today is Village A day, they will cook good food and prepare their masquerade for entertainment. The food they cook will be used to host the neighboring villages that will attend the "day."
In the evening of that particular day, the masquerade would come out to perform. Before it comes out, there are some rituals that will be done. I don't really know anything about this rituals, so, i can't say for sure what is done. One thing i know for sure is that strong dry gin and kola is used for this ritual. Maybe its to appease the gods of the land or something. I don't know..
[img src](https://unsplash.com/photos/a-group-of-people-walking-down-a-street-next-to-each-other-ESZnoZfkMRs)
After the ritual, the masquerade will first dance for the elders. They will be hailing the masquerade and calling it many interesting names... Long Igbo names that i can't even pronounce. The masquerade will be jumping up and down, sometimes, it will hit its head on the floor while turning round. It will face to the east, hit its head on the floor, then to the north, south, and west. It will continue like this for sometime. As its doing this, the elders will be fine tuning (hyping) it with words and interesting names.
From there, it will come out to entertain the onlookers. A group of people will play drums for it while it goes around the village town hall, dancing. Oh the dance is so amazing to watch. Its really great, i must say. I think that is the part i enjoy most. It keeps this up for about 30 minutes to an hour before the most interesting and energetic part begins.
After going around the village hall, it will prepare to start chasing people around. Something like a game of tag, but in this one, you will be flogged if caught. lol. Sometimes, the masquerade goes around with a knife. If caught, it could stab the victim and nothing will be done. Probably because its our culture. Weird right? I'm not really used to it because i was not raised in the village, however, to people that were raised there, its really an interesting thing. It brings this adrenaline rush. The feeling is that of fear mixed with joy. The joy of being chased and the fear of being flogged mercilessly if caught. By the way, we have three masquerades. Two short ones and one very tall one. So imagine being chased by three masquerade. lol
I know to some, it may sound and look weird, but this is the typical way to have fun in my village during these times. Guess what? the major thing that attract people to attend these events is so that they will be chased. Crazy right? I feel the same way. I attended the event a few times but i stopped because to me, its too dangerous.
As promised, these are the links to how to make eba and some soups.
https://ecency.com/hive-153850/@nwothini335/toscqdxm
https://ecency.com/hive-153850/@nwothini335/zliwdqgb
https://ecency.com/hive-197685/@nwothini335/i-can-not-do-without
Thank you for reading.
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