Introduction
The people of Ekpeye are great people. They are known for strength and togetherness, and these characteristics play out in their traditions and lifestyles. located in ahoada east and ahoada west local government area of rivers state, Nigeria, the ekpeye are a people whose cultural practices have stood the test of time and change wider society. This piece will examine the different aspects of the lives of ekpeye people in ahoada east local government area, rivers state.
Ekpeye people are surrounded by rivers orashi and sombriero. they speak a language called Ekpeye that is spoken by most of its inhabitants. These stands describe the area, their surroundings are around rivers, no mountains flood suffering during disaster situation. we are known for a lot of things and as a visitor this are things that are usually most advised to look out for in our land
Occupation– fishing, farming cassava for ogbollo, which is popularly known as fufu. cocoyam produce, groundnut, okoso which is fish and pepper etc.
food– our food is branched out of the occupation , we are known for producing good food, we eat mechi ede, which is soap that’s made from pounded yam. then it is eaten with ogbollo(fufu). sometimes because of the quality of our food people who visit our community comes back just to have a taste of the delicious food. its a law that you should have a taste of our food as a visitor so that you can expand about our culture.
wrestling- this is one of the most entertaining event that we practice in ahaoada which requires the muscular men to fight each other for one person to emerge the winner. in this event, there is dancing steps during wrestling, display of strength, men bounce their chest muscle and their sweaty bodies washes off drapes of powder. women shake waist to the beats and some push their abdomen forward and backwards motion.
MASQUERADE- during this event people wear the dressing of masquerade and dance to beats after being possessed by a particular spirit, and they come out to dance to the beat. in the process people run from the masquerades because if you block them they will be violent on you. everyone come to watch this entertainment and it brings about togetherness and unity. in my own personal experience i have been chased by a masquerade and i fell down. it would leave me only if i agree to dance with it on stage and this was because i was not wearing a particular dress code for the even.
DRESSING – we have a particular dressing code for both women and men. men wear wrapper without any shirt or singlet, only powder on their body and they move around and hold hankey for the women they wear wrapper on their body and waist then just beads. our dressing is very simple and unique. it doesn’t require a lot of expenses.
Hopefully as you Visit Nigeria these would be a persuading piece to attract you to the community of ahoada east
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Si8mKp9vDMw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPDgNSXmtvM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdGTvKEQLdU
