Today's a good day, I feel free, I just had lunch and to top it off I am representing my culture. Well not my culture per say but there's a story to this . Stay with me as I tell y'all about how I angrily left my people to celebrate with another tribe which turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made as it was filled with positive emotions I won't soon forget.
So since late last year, the community I have lived in for over twenty-five years decided that it was going to host a cultural event this very year. The date was not specified as it still needed work but we were all given a heads up to prepare so we won't encounter any form of unnecessary complications. Being a Nigerian southerner specially from Cross rivers state, I decided to create a WhatsApp group and sought out individuals from the same state to join the group . For the first meeting we all met physically so we can discuss how to go about the whole event especially since cross river alone has over 50 different ethnic groups with diverse languages and practices. To create a sense of unity, I suggested we just use the attire and ideology of the most popular tribe which is the efiks, everybody agreed so we moved on to the next agenda. Then came the hard part financial contributions. Nobody was forthcoming about the paying saying it was too much, they were going through a lot and everybody didn't need to dress the part to fit in.
After months of tiring meetings, convincing and insults, I decided all these were not worth my mental health so I left. It was barely two weeks until the date and it seemed like I was not going to participate in an event i had looked forward to for almost half a year but that is not how the story ends. Three days before D-Day, my friend hit me up that they had ordered more clothes than they needed and if I was interested I could join them all I had to do was pay one thousand five hundred naira for food. He did not need to convince me as this was a package made in heaven. That very evening I paid and my attire came in all its glory.
Flashforward to today I wore my clothes looking like Mwaghavul royalty from Plateau state. The way these people welcomed me wholeheartedly eehn, I felt like switching states right after the event and maybe i will when I save up enough cash. I did not know anything about the tribe yet I was placed right in front of the line while we were dancing, Some of the beautiful ladies kept giving me the look as I shook my buttocks ferociously I just hope it's not what I'm thinking because I don't have money for palm oil and bags of beans yet馃榿馃榿.
Dancing took over two hours from our time and honestly I wanted it to last longer as it was really fun. Oooh did I mention we did all these without shoes?. Well we were told the only way to complete the look was to enjoy nature barefooted and I don't think I would have enjoyed myself this much with shoes on. After dancing, it was time to eat . They brought out a whitish delectable called "gwote" I got to try it for the first time and all i have to say is it tastes a lot better than it looks. We ate, conversed and enjoyed the company that came with everything. While we were still talking, somebody brought out a very huge keg of local alcohol called "Brukutu". I am not a fan of alcohol so I just took two cups before retiring on the floor. The event lasted for about 6 hours but I did not notice as I was so caught up with the fun completely immersed in it. I saw my people watching from the sidelines as I danced my heart out to songs I know not of. It's not my fault they refused to cooperate and they feel bad about it then they should be more involved next time.
Sadly all good things must come to an end and we all had to disperse to our various locations. If we ever get to do something like this again, I am joining a totally different group for the fun of it. The knowledge I gained from this experience is priceless and I hope I get to do more of it some time in the not so distant future.
So do I regret leaving my people for this much??
Well I believe we all know the answer to this question 馃榿馃榿.
! [SPANISH TRANSLATION ] Un D铆a Cultural Para Recordar
Hoy es un buen d铆a, me siento libre, acabo de almorzar y para rematar, estoy representando mi cultura. Bueno, no exactamente mi cultura, pero hay una historia detr谩s de esto. Qu茅dense conmigo mientras les cuento c贸mo me fui enojado de mi gente para celebrar con otra tribu, lo que result贸 ser una de las mejores decisiones que he tomado, llena de emociones positivas que no olvidar茅 pronto.
Desde finales del a帽o pasado, la comunidad en la que he vivido por m谩s de veinticinco a帽os decidi贸 organizar un evento cultural este a帽o. La fecha no estaba especificada a煤n porque todav铆a estaban trabajando en eso, pero nos dieron un aviso para que nos preparemos y no enfrentemos complicaciones innecesarias. Siendo yo un sure帽o nigeriano, especialmente del estado de Cross River, decid铆 crear un grupo de WhatsApp y busqu茅 a personas del mismo estado para que se unieran. En la primera reuni贸n nos juntamos f铆sicamente para discutir c贸mo organizar todo el evento, especialmente porque Cross River solo tiene m谩s de 50 grupos 茅tnicos con lenguas y costumbres diversas. Para crear un sentido de unidad, suger铆 que us谩ramos solo la vestimenta y la ideolog铆a de la tribu m谩s popular, que es la de los Efik, todos estuvieron de acuerdo y seguimos con la siguiente agenda. Entonces vino la parte dif铆cil: las contribuciones financieras. Nadie quer铆a aportar, dec铆an que era mucho, que estaban pasando por dificultades y que no era necesario vestirse para encajar.
Despu茅s de meses de reuniones agotadoras, convencer y hasta insultos, decid铆 que todo eso no val铆a mi salud mental, as铆 que me fui. Apenas faltaban dos semanas para la fecha y parec铆a que no participar铆a en un evento que esperaba con ansias por casi medio a帽o, pero la historia no termina as铆. Tres d铆as antes del d铆a D, un amigo me contact贸 y me dijo que hab铆an pedido m谩s ropa de la que necesitaban y si quer铆a unirme, solo ten铆a que pagar mil quinientos nairas para la comida. No necesit贸 convencerme, era un paquete hecho en el cielo. Esa misma noche pagu茅 y mi vestimenta lleg贸 en todo su esplendor.
Avanzando hasta hoy, vest铆 mi ropa pareciendo un rey Mwaghavul del estado de Plateau. La forma en que estas personas me recibieron de todo coraz贸n, eh, sent铆 ganas de cambiarme de estado despu茅s del evento, y tal vez lo haga cuando ahorre suficiente dinero. No sab铆a nada de esta tribu, pero me pusieron justo al frente de la fila mientras bail谩bamos. Algunas de las mujeres hermosas me miraban mientras mov铆a mi trasero con fuerza, solo espero que no sea lo que estoy pensando porque todav铆a no tengo dinero para aceite de palma ni sacos de frijoles (jejeje).
El baile dur贸 m谩s de dos horas y sinceramente quer铆a que durara m谩s porque fue muy divertido. 驴Oh, mencion茅 que lo hicimos sin zapatos? Bueno, nos dijeron que la 煤nica manera de completar el look era disfrutar la naturaleza descalzos, y no creo que me hubiera divertido tanto con zapatos puestos. Despu茅s de bailar, lleg贸 la hora de comer. Sacaron un plato blanquecino llamado "gwote", lo prob茅 por primera vez y solo puedo decir que sabe mucho mejor de lo que parece. Comimos, conversamos y disfrutamos la compa帽铆a que ven铆a con todo eso. Mientras segu铆amos platicando, alguien trajo un barril muy grande de un licor local llamado "Brukutu". No soy fan del alcohol, as铆 que solo tom茅 dos vasos antes de recostarme en el suelo. El evento dur贸 unas 6 horas, pero no me di cuenta porque estaba tan metido en la diversi贸n, completamente inmerso. Vi a mi gente observando desde un lado mientras yo bailaba con todo el coraz贸n al ritmo de canciones que no conoc铆a. No es mi culpa que ellos se negaran a cooperar, y si se sienten mal, deber铆an involucrarse m谩s la pr贸xima vez.
Lamentablemente, todo lo bueno debe terminar y tuvimos que dispersarnos a nuestros distintos lugares. Si alguna vez hacemos algo as铆 de nuevo, me unir茅 a un grupo totalmente diferente solo por diversi贸n. El conocimiento que gan茅 con esta experiencia es invaluable y espero repetirlo en un futuro no muy lejano.
驴Me arrepiento de haber dejado a mi gente por todo esto?
Bueno, creo que todos sabemos la respuesta a esta pregunta. (jejeje)
