Introduction

Hello dear steemians greatings to you, it's yet another opportunity to pertake in the amazing contest and to be honest I love this particular topic which is my hometown and everything that has to do it and am sure that after reading my post I will surely want to visit .

My Hometown

The name of my hometown is Ozoro and it's located in Isoko North Local Government Area of Data State and it's the largest community in that local government and that is where the Delta State Science and Technology University is located. Ozoro is a very beautiful place to stay full of so many energetic people that love enjoyment very well most especially the youths that why we have so many hotels, eatery, clubs
and always occupied because it's a business town as well.

The First king's House

This house here belongs to my Grandfather, my grandfather was the first king of Ozoro in the 90's and during my grandfather's time as a king lots of white men use to visit the land because my grandfather lived in Ghana before so he had lots of white men as friends before he was crowned king so through his connection's lot of them use to visit and they always come with things that will benefit the community and as a result of that the community started developing.

Some years later there was a particular family that started eyeing the throne and because of that they asked my grandfather to step down that it's their turn to rule but that was not possible because my grandfather has children and one of his son must be king after him and after all he has not ruled for that long but the family did not want to understand so they started causing trouble in the community.

My grandfather is a peaceful that don't want problem so due to the constant issues he step down for the family to rule just to maintain peace and due to that decision the development of the community was put on hold because all the foreigners stop coming with things and as times goes on they stopped coming which lead to the undevelopment in the community because the king was not functioning not until someone else took over and brought back the community to light.

Language

Ozoro is an Isoko speaking community and when I say Isoko I mean pure Isoko because their are deep Isoko and most the time you can differentiate between the two especially when you grow up in the village but as for me I did not grow up in the village so I can't really differentiate Ozoro Isoko from other communities Isoko.

Culture

Culture represent the beliefs, practice and way of life of a particular set of people. There is only two main culture here in Ozoro which is Christina and Idol worshiper because I have never seen or heard of an Isoko person to be a Muslim, the only Muslim people here are the the Yorubas and Hausa so the most functioning one's are the christians and Idol worshipers.

Festivals

We have two festival here in Ozoro and there are called Oputeday and the Erieope, So let me start by explaing the Oputeday. Opute is the founder of Ozoro kingdom and the name Ozoro is his wife's name. It happened that when he margarited from Benin kingdom he found an openes space then he started living there with his wife who's name is Ozoro. According to the story it was said that he was a hunter so he is not always at home it's only his wife that is at home.

So during those time when anyone that is coming to visit them is asked of where he or she is going their response will be am going to Ozoro so that was how the name Ozoro came to existence and every since then this community is called Ozoro and Ozoro gave birth to five communities and those five children made up the five branches which is Etevie,Oruto,Erovie,Oramudu and Orude .

Opute died many years ago on the 26th of December so ever since then every 26th of December is celebrated as Oputeday which is always held at the village square and his statue is also standing there,so on that particular day there is no business activity because everyone is expected to be present since it's a great celebration and the village square is also decorated beautiful and different entertainers will be present as well.

Village Square And Opute Statue

Erieope festival

The Erieope festival is a festival that is always held on every four four years to worship the Idol called Erieope. The festival is held for seven days and during that period all business activity is put on hold till when a particular retuial is done and the retuial is that during the period the five children of Ozoro will dance round the village then dance to where the shrine is to offer their sacrifice.

On the first day of the festival is the king of Ozoro kingdom and his kingsmen that will perform the first sacrifice which is a cow and a Ram, after the cow and ram has been killed and all the retuial is done they will leave the animals at the entrance of the shrine till the next day then they will share it among themselves. It is said that on that first day of the retuial no woman that is seeing her menstruation is allowed to pass the shrine because if it should happen it's either the woman will bleed to death or she will never see her menstruation again.

Erieope Shrine

After the first day the five children will dance individual starting from the first born till the last born then on the seventh day the results of the best dancer's from the festival will be announced and we will know which of the Ozoro child s the winner.I was also informed that the tree in the Erieope shrine use to produce fruit once in a while and during that period anyone that picked the fruit and ate will be heald and even an expecting mother will get pregnant.

Food

The Isoko people native food is Banga soup and starch or Owo soup and starch, the Isoko people love this food very well and they don't joke with both old and young one love the food but me in particular I don't too much like eating starch but some people can't do without it.

Banga Soup And Starch

source

Conclusion

I want to thank you all for taking your time to check out my post and I hope you enjoyed the little story about my hometown and you will try to visit us too. Thank you and am hoping to see more post on this topic.

Cc.
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