Our Culture and Tradition Roundtable week 02

source

What is the use of bitter kola in your culture?

INTRODUCTION

Hi Steemians and welcome to another week of our culture and tradition roundtable. This is a weekly article that is intended to promote and share different items that adds beauty and value to our different cultures and traditions as they are being used. Today, we would be discussing bitter kola or bitter nuts whichever name that you choose to call it, and its usefulness in our various cultures and traditions.

Scientific Name: Garcinia kola Heckel
English Name: Bitter kola
French Name:faux arbre de kola mâle

Before I continue, I am presenting and offering the bitter kola to all the tribes in the **steem4nigeria community to take to their people as follows:

• The Hausas
• The Igbos
• The Yorubas
• The Ibibios
• The fulanis
• The Tivs
• The kanuris
• The Efiks
• The Ijaws
  and others too numerous to mention that I could not reach out to. My greetings to all of you!

Now having shared and starts eating the bitter kola, let's go into discussion of how the bitter kola is useful to us in our different cultures and traditions. Let us call bitter kola in our native or local languages.

The native names of bitter kola in our different tribes or languages

source

• The hausas call it Namijin goro
• The Igbos call it Aki Ilu or oji ilu
• The Yorubas call it Orogbo
• The Ijaws call it Okan
• The Efiks call it efiari
• The Ibibios call it Effiat

Pleas if the name is not correctly spelt or the name is not mentioned in your native language, do correct it or you mention the name in the reply.

The usefulness of bitter kola in my culture, the IGBO

In the Igbo culture, bitter nuts hava varieties of cultural applications. It is presented along side the kola nuts, drinks and food if in ceremonial settings, or could be presented alone when you have a visitor.

During ceremonies, the bitter kola together with other varieties of kola, is given by the Messengers to the chief, village head or other top community leader being the host of the event. The host community leader looks for an elder within his clan and introduce the kola to him. The elder now presents and passes the kola to the next clan head Who would also present and pass the kola to next clan head or representative. They continue introducing and presenting the kola until all clans acknowledges the kola. Thereafter, the kola returns to the host and prayers are offered for the kola and then, it is now distributed for everyone to take. But guess what? The kola does not have legs, but it could get to anywhere. It does not speak any language, but it hears every language.

The Cultural or traditional Uses Of bitter nuts in my community

source

Just like the kola nuts have wide cultural usage, the bitter kola have same and is also useful in the following events:

• During traditional coronations of kings or Ezes, chieves, village heads.
• Burial ceremonies
• The new yam festivals
• Traditional marriages
• Bitter kola is also useful in traditional medicines

CONCLUSION

Learning how different native items could be used in our different cultures is necessary. This is because it acqaints us with our cultural norms, traditions and processes of usage. Our culture is our heritage. Let us share, promote, and preserve our culture.

I leave you with this, “biter kola lasts long in the mouth of those who know how to chew it.’
Here comes an end of this week's episode on our culture and tradition roundtable.

Stay tuned and wait for another interesting discussion next week.

All pictures of bitter nuts are legally owned by me