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Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Ijaw

Introduction
They live in Nigeria, they have been there for centuries.  The Ijaw are composed of 50 clans.  They are farmers and fishermen.    

History
The Ijaw use to live in ancient Kemet and Kush.  Some of their ancestors lived around lake Chad in prehistoric times.  The Ijaw have been living in West Africa for a millennium if not longer.   They have multiple origins since they are composed of 50 clans.  They are upset with Nigerian government for losing control of their homeland to oil companies.    

Language
The Ijaw languages is a part of the Niger-Congo language family.  There nine different languages.  The pattern of their sentences is subject-object-verb.     

Food
They eat fish, rice, bananas, yams, and mangos.  They have a soup called Polofiyai it is made out of yams and palm oil.  They have a seafood soup that they like to eat with fufu. They like to eat game meat.  

Customs
They have a ritual for non-Ijaw people to become Ijaw.  They have their own marriage ceremony.  Marriage is the coming together of two families not just 2 people.  After the introduction of Christianity, the Ijaw lost some their culture.       

Religion
They are mostly catholic, but still retain some of their ancestor's ways.  They communicate with the recently deceased to find out how they died.  They worship water spirits called Owuamapu.  They believed humans dwelt with water spirits before they were born.  They have festivals to celebrate the water spirits. Ogbokuruama is what the festivals is called.      

Conclusion
The Ijaw have a neat history and I like their food.  They have sweet customs and interesting ideas.  I like their religion, but they should have never adopted Christianity.  I like their culture.    

References
http://www.ijaw-naa.org/ijaw/home.htm
http://finance.onlinenigeria.com/?blurb=669
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ijaw_people#Religion_and_cultural_practices
http://thepointernewsonline.com/?p=14349
https://korisamuel.wordpress.com/2015/10/25/christian-religion-and-loss-of-ijaw-traditions-and-customs/

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