In my recent writing, i talked about how a certain town in Benue state Nigeria had made the puff adder (Bitis arietans) a totemic snake to their town as a result of a lives saving action carried out by the snakes.
Today i will be talking about another clan, still from the Idoma tribe of Benue state in Nigeria, The Edumoga people. These people are a variety of the Idoma speaking people of the state, they are foumd in Okpokwu local government area of the state, a local government which got it name from the Okpokwu river. They share the same customs and tradition with almost every other Idoma towns except with some variations, as is the case of this totemic animal we are about to unveil.
The animal seen as sacred here is a , the Francolin (known as Ewaa in the local language and also commonly reffered to as bush fowl) These birds are found in almost every state in the north-central, especially in the guinea savannah zones. The are so abundant that they are found in every quarter of a kilometer in rural areas and are even found in many peri-urban areas.
Now lets go back to our story. The story behind the consecration of these blessed francolin.
The legend has it that the ancestor of this people was attacked by a crocodile which is found in abundance at the banks of the river Okpokwu even up to this day, thinking him to be dead, the crocodile dragged him into it lair which was a horizontal hole extending inward at the embankment of the river. After depositing the body, probably to feed on him later, the crocodile left maybe in search of more preys or to attend to some other business engagements(laughs). That is by the way. Whatever, the crocodile left.
As time went by, the wounded man regained consciousness and found to his dismay that he was trapped in the hole and there was no visible means of escape, the only thing was to resigned to fate. After some time, he noticed some noise and movements above him and paid closer attention to it not knowing what it was. Alas, it was the francolins foraging for food and after series of scratching and digging with their nails as these fowls were know to do, the made an opening in the ground that reached to the hole beneath in which the man was trapped. Looking up, he could see light from the surface penetrating the hole. What a great prospect for escape!
Mustering as much energy as his wounded frame could allow, he pushed upward and putting his hands through the tiny holes made by the scratching of these birds, he was able to make the hole larger and finally pushed himself through the now wide hole and finally made good his escaped. Since then, his descendants have made it a taboo for anyone who was a bonafide offspring to eat this bird species.
Now the punishment for breaking this rule is not too severe and also not beyond remedy. The defaulter among other things will receive some strokes of the cane.
The effect of eating this bird is a skin disease or in most cases, a scalp infection but after the necessary rites are performed, the defaulter will be cured.
Nice tradition right?