Similarities Between Ibo and Me

It is very surprising to find similarities between the Ibo culture and the Vietnamese cullture. The most striking common custom is the marriage ceremony. Wedding in the Vietnamese culture is a chance to gather family and friends together. Everyone, including family, friends, and neighbors, comes to the bride house to make preparation. The men and boys are responsible to clean and decorate the exterior of the house. The men also kill pigs and chicken to use for dishes. Younger boys help spliting woods for fire. Women and girls prepare the ceremonial food for all the guests. They cook special dishes, prepare fruits and vegetables, and decorate the house with flowers. After all is done, the groom’s family arrives. Leading the way is the groom, the matchmaker, and his parents. Immediately behind them are ten close male friends and relatives of his carrying trays of gifts for the bride’s family. One of these trays include bottles of wine. Other trays hold fruits, candy and snacks, cakes, tea, the bride’s dress, jewelries for the bride, and many more. The bride’s family receives the gifts by sending out their female friends and relatives.
The Ibo culture share very similar traditions. Almost all the women from the village come to Obierika’s compounds on the day of the wedding. They help the bride’s family make preparation. They cook yams, cassava, and make vegetabl soup. The men duty’s is to help pound foo-foo and split woods. When their shares of work are done, they welcome the guests. The groom’s family is welcomed by the important females of the bride’s side. The groom leads the way. He is followed with his male relatives carrying pots of wine. When everyone is in the compound, both family exchange words. It is obvious as to how similarities these two culture have when is comes to marriage. The procedure from preparing foods to greeting the guests are almost identical. It is fascinating to find two countries, which lies thousands of mile apart, can have such tradition in common.
There is one belief which the Vietnamese culture does not agree with the Ibo culture. The killing of children is seen is murder. It is immoral to take the life of any person. Everyone born has the right to live under any circumstances. No one has the power to decide whether the person deserves to live or not. In fact, having twins is rare in the Vietnamese. The mother should actually be happy if she have twins. The Ibo believe twins are evil; therefore, they should be killed. It is unfortunate to have this belief. In Things Fall Apart newborn twins are left in the forest to die. This practice is cruel and dehumanized in the eyese of the Vietnamese. I believe the approach of the Vietnamese on this issue is universalized. Whether is it an American, Canadian,, European, Chinese, Japanese, or Austrailian, they would all agree that putting a person’s life in danger is unhumane and no one should have such authority to do so.
(503)

The Importance of Marriage: Children!!

The people of Ibo believe marriage is the most crucial task to keep the continuation of family line. All males want is to get married so they can have children. Together with their wife and children, they’re able to build a loving family just like their parents. Getting married is seemed as a duty all male must fulfilled. If we compared it to American culture, it is like going to college to prepare for a successful future.
The love and passion they parents have for their child is expressed through the name. Here are a couple of examples. The name Nwabu-uwa means my child is the world to me. A more expressive name is Nwakasi which denotes my child is priceless and the most precious. These names can obviously reveal the pride the Ibo parents have in their children.
The man is not the only ones obsessed with children. A woman’s acceptance to her in laws’ family also depends on whether or not she can conceive a child. After she born her first child, she is immediately considered a part of her in laws extended family. Up until this point, she was never officially the wife of her husband. The birth of the child earns her this status.
If a couple is unable to conceive a child, they would be looked down by everyone. Both the husband and wife would be mocked and be the subject of talks. The people of Ibo view a childless marriage as disappointment. These humiliations commonly cause relationship problem between the couple. The person to suffer most is the woman. Her name would be picked out and get ridiculed by her female neighbors. In search for hope, she constantly seeks the doctor for help. The doctor might give her roots and herbs to take try. If she has to hope, the doctor last resort is giving her psychological theory to comfort her misfortune.