The Diary Game: Tuesday, August 6// A Long Day with a Rewarding End

Dear Diary,
I woke up this morning feeling refreshed after the peaceful night rest. I prayed and then headed for Morning Worship. I knew I had a long day ahead, so I did my house chores quickly. I also had to do the laundry 🧺.

Today, I had planned to braid my hair. So I shampooed, conditioned and dried my hair. Then, I left for my friend's house. She was to help braid my hair. I was to do the mini twist style - which takes a lot of time to braid as it is very small. This is no easy task.

My friend painstakingly braided my hair. This was a tedious task. But she pulled through. She is a very skilled hair stylist who knows her work so well. Though I had to sit for about five hours, the result was totally worth it.

It was not boring because while braiding, we actually watched a movie. This made us lively. An interesting thing happened which I would love to share.

As we sat outside, suddenly, we heard a lot of noise and children started running. I inquired from one of the children who just pointed at a huge figure which was still behind and shouted "Ekpo". This is our local name for Masquerade.

The Ekpo Masquerade is part of the cultural heritage of the Efik, Ibibio and Anang people in Cross River and Akwa Ibom States in Nigeria. It depicts dead souls which come back to life ( scary right). But as time went on, civilization came in and the Ekpo Masquerade is now used by living beings who wear scary costumes to represent the dead souls. In other words, ghost. It is now part of our culture. And this is its season.

I tried to capture the Masquerade from where I was.

Ekpo Masquerade

The appearance of this masquerade caused a lot of commotion on the street. This is due to the fact that the masquerade goes about with long canes or sometimes matchete demanding money from people. This is why most people, especially children are afraid of it. Some children love pursing it. This is because the masquerade turns back to pursue them with its long cane and this is so fun for them.

This episode made braiding my hair enjoyable. At last, she was done with the hair. She helped me take pictures of it. I told her that it was for Steemit and she indicated interest.

My mini twisted braids

I was so happy when I saw my hair. My friend had done a good job and I thanked her for it.She was also happy too. But sadly, that was not the end of my day. I still had work at home.

I got home and washed the dishes, I prepared dinner for the family. I tidied up the kitchen. At this point, I was super exhausted. I settled down with our native pear ( Eben, as it is called in Ibibio).

Native Pear

I still had one tiny task to do. I had to journal my day for the diary game. I was so worn out, but I had to do it because I have not posted for a while. Then, I retired to bed. It was indeed a long day with a rewarding end.

Thank you for reading me. Watch out for my next post. Bye