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Good day all, feels great meeting you again. We all have places we call our hometown, place of origin or root and I'm not an exception. Hometown could be said to be one's place of birth, childhood home or main resident. Keep calm while I give you a detailed gist about my hometown, it's culture and all you need to know about it.

I hail from Eman ikot ebo in Idu Uruan the headquarter of Uruan LGA. Uruan has different clans in it and the main occupations of its dwellers are palm wine tapping, farming, fishing and hunting. Recently, my town has been modernized through infrastructure as there are now good roads, tap water, steady electricity etc.

Like every other places, Uruan has varieties of traditional meals they hold onto. These meals are mostly prepared on special occasions such as traditional marriages, cultural festivals, swearing in of clan heads, Sharing of family inheritance etc, below are some of such meals;

• Ekpang-nkukwo
• Afia efere
• Usung ikpon
• Ubobok ukom
• Oto mboro
• Ekoki
• Abak atama
• Efere afang
• Fisherman soup
• Otong soup
• Efere editan

Actually, some of the above listed meals do have their english names and you can make research to find out how they're called in English

The common language in my hometown is the popular efik language known in the ibibio tribe but to be candid, some of their tonations differ of which I am not really used to because I didn't grow up there. But other indigenous part of Uruan kindred do speak some kind of complex language among themselves, not to worry as you can never get lost. The popular efik language is well acceptable and understandable.

Uruan do hold annual/occasional festivals some of which are held down from one generation to another. Below are some of such festivals;

• Ekpo festival: Ekpo festival is known to be a popular ceremony celebrated twice in a year, it is a festival whereby able bodies men who are initiated into the ekpo community wear masks and coverings from palm fronds to entertain the villagers, they make lots of money and villagers willingly give out food stuffs, money, animals etc to support them.

• Ekong festival: This is another festival that is believed to communicate with the spirit realm, It is held once a year and takes the duration of 7 days. During this festival no one is expected to step outside his home because those eligible to take part in this festival move about naked,no cries of babies must be heard, no pounding with mortar and pestle and no arguments of any sort should be heard. Defaulters of such laws are said to be punished by the gods of the land.

• Kingship festival: this is a festival that has to do with royalty, in festivals like this a new king is sworn in to take the seat and rule the land for a designated period of time. Villagers are also partakers of this festival as the subjects of rulership.

• Fattening festival: This is a festival whereby a maiden ripe for marriage is confined to an enclosed room for some period of time before finally getting to marry her suitor. During this fattening period, she is well fed, massaged and groomed to be a beautiful bride on the D-Day. The husband-to-be spends a lot of money during this time and this shows that he's eligible and financially capable of taking care of his wife.

Traditional rulers who hold different positions oversee my hometown, some of them are

1. Paramount ruler: The Paramount ruler oversees the whole Local government area. He is the overall head and works hand-in-hand with the other rulers.

2. Obong Ekpuk(Clan head): The clan head rules over a particular clan which has many villages in it, he solves land boundary clashes among different villages and makes report to the Paramount ruler.

3. Obong Idung(Village head): The village head takes care of a small territory in a clan known as a village. He takes note of the villagers and settles disputes, he attend traditional functions and ceremonies in the village. He assists in population census of his village and also provides empowerment for his people.

4. Iwod ufok(family head): This is the smallest unit of rulership, the family head is the oldest male member of the family. He helps bring unity into the family, settles disputes and helps in complex issues in the family.

The local market in my hometown is udua Idu. It is situated in one of the community lands and was built by the village head with the aid of the taxes and revenues. This market has different sections where different things are sold in each, this market holds once in a week. It is treakable as it not too distant from my family compound.

At least you've all gotten to know interesting things about my hometown of which I am delighted to showcase. I know you have amazing things to write about your hometown too and I can't wait to hear from you as well.

Special mention:
@ijelady
@focusnow
@samuel20