"Initiation into the spirit manhood"

When you are around 13 to 16 years, as a boy, some traditional cultures dress one like a magnet. That was exactly the situation I was in at that age. Some the cultures most guys at the age took part in, my family was not interested in such cultures.

But what consumes ones thought, actions and speeches must have mattered to the person, if not, why do it disturb ones sleep?.

It was so in my youths days to the extent that I usually walks miles to the village square, go to friends that were inclined to and took joy in discussing exploits like that I had feelings were being censored because of me in their presence.

I am talking about masquerade initiation in Igbo land. Years back, it was sign of manhood like moustache and beards were. 

If you have not the privileged to have read the “ Bottled leopard” by Chukwuemeka Ike, do so, it would explain and educate more in all you need to know about the tradition and culture of Igbo people from Biafran land in Eastern Nigeria. It requires a little imagination to digest all what he was crying to pass across there for it somehow relate to another aspect and angle from which I am trying to relate my own experiences to you.

During festivals like new yam and other similar ones, when there is a kind of mass returns to celebrate the harvest season, people gather in markets and village squares to celebrate the festival after the traditional ruler with his cabinets, and each representative of each village that made up the town would have prayed to the living God and our Ancestors and thanked them for the bounty harvest and request for their protections and progress.

Then, it would be the time for people to gather to watch all manners of Masquerades that at times dance to the beaten of the drums that accompanies the events. Gatherings in village square and markets arenas were the only place where women and non- initiated can gather safely to watch Masquerades without molestation.

Outside those areas, you stand the risk of receiving many rashes of cane and doing forced donations to the masquerade and his Entourage. 

Most towns has their own unique ways of carrying out their own masquerade initiations, activities and ages for initiation differs too. Some towns starts at age of 10 and above, while some, at 17. 

The functions of the Masquerade remain almost the same in each town:

Keeping orders in certain gathering,

Summoning interested parties in a dispute

Leading young men to deliver punishments in any serious disputes

Putting yellow raffia’s to the economic trees that people tampers with it’s fruits.

They practically carry out the works of modern day police.

So, all these many functions and activities of the Masquerade were what endeared it to the heart of the many young men in any town.

The women and the young truly believed as they were meant to that masquerade were spirit that comes out of the ant hole whenever they are needed and return to the Spirit world after performing their duties.

The fact that the Masquerade has a kind of diplomatic immunity that frees it from any damage it might have done and holds the person that summons or following it responsible for the damage will show you has it is seen as representative of the spirits in human world called to perform function that benefits humans. 

During my teenage years, I had tried in two occasions to be initiated into the Masquerade world without success. In those two occasions, one naturally thing or another would happen to disrupt the events. 

If hefty down pour don’t start without warning as if all the doors in heaven were thrown open and the event would be postponed to another occasions or related festival that warrants the appearance of the Masquerades which is usually months apart and the other initiation were done only in the night for secrecy sake. On another occasion, it was the death of the one well known old man that have contributed positively to the village and the town that occurred minutes to the events that brought it to another halt.

In that particular occasion, I was forced to asked the Chief Priest some desperate questions:

“ won’t some people go to the family to say sorry and others remain behind to carry on with the initiation?”

“It is not done that way my son, even the death of the prominent man like this is an indicator that the Spirits were not in support of this event”

“But it have been postponed in two different occasions, won’t be intelligent to see it through this time?”

“ That type of intelligence is very dangerous. You don’t question the will of the spirits”

“We take risk in coming out this time of the night to event that seen never to hold”

“Night might be night to you mortal but the spirits, it is living day light”

“Is there no way these intimation ceremony should be moved forward for you know our family house is far from the square”

“ Young Man, as old as i am now, I came into this world met this ceremony as it is, I has no plan of tampering with anything involved in it, whether time or items. Our ancestors handed us over both the items and time involved, it is usually 1:30am to 5:00am so shall it continues in my watch”

“ So, what are we going to do again with these things we bought ?”

“ Only few can go bad, others can stay years, keep them well in about four months, coast might be clear”

“Four months is very long time and temptation of not using them are enormous, then I will start wasting resources to buy new ones again”

“ Give your parents to keep for you or you can hand them over to my boy to keep."

That was how nature kept postponing the initiation till I moved away from my village to pursue other earthly events and somehow lost interest in people and the culture for my nature don’t agree with the whole events anymore.