Greeting Is intentionally is an act of communication in
which human beings make their presence known to each other, to show attention
to, and to suggest a type of relationship (usually cordial) or social status
(formal and informal) between individuals or groups of people coming in contact
with each other. Greetings sometimes are used just prior to a conversation or
to greet in passing,such as on a sidewalk or trail. While greeting customs are highly culture and situation-specific
and may change within a culture depending on social status and relationship,
they exist in all known human cultures.Greetings can be expressed both audibly
and physically, and often involve a combination of the two persons involved.
Unuanwuchula!!! –
This is a common Igbo greeting literally meaning‘don’t die before your time’.
The word ‘onwu’ (death) egbuchulam is common in Igbo songs
meaning “I will not die early.” It is not uncommon to say nnegianwuchula(may your mother not die)as a thank-you greeting.
However, one at a closer
analysis of this beautiful greeting is likely to ask “why would death be
"unwished" on someone? Is death not a natural phenomenon that must come? Does this
greeting keep one from a natural evil like death?
Let me introduce myself. I
am Iwundu Peterkevin, a native of Umueze2 in Ehime Mbano Local government. Yes!
Am from Mbano, a part of South East Igbos with an Igbo dialect that is enriched
with Art and Beauty (though often times, misinterpreted in contradictory forms)
When an Mbano man/woman
talks of anwuchula(don’t die in
vain), it represents a metaphysical greeting or a wish of glory to the person
greeted. Here, glory would mean; honor, a state of general splendor,
magnificence or prosperity, state of absolute happiness, gratification and
contentment, bliss and most especially a resplendent of beauty. Philosophically,
this notion of anwuchula would be an
expression of ‘being as beauty’. It does not therefore necessary mean that you
are greeted and wished never to witness death by an Mbano person.
Igbo is both the name of the
ethnic group and their language. The current population of the Igbo homeland is
about 40million people. Igbo land in Southern Nigeria is located between latitude
5 to 7 degrees North and latitude 6 to 8 degrees East and West banks to the
Niger River. Ehime Mbano (and Mbano in general) is one of the two Mbano Local governments
in Imo state. In the pre-colonial traditional society, the Igbos practiced
agriculture, trading and crafts. It has been established archeologically that
the Igbos have lived in their present location for more than five thousand years
(Alagoa, 1992).
Traditional Igbo society,
especially, east of River Niger was organized under the principle of
seniority. For the people of Mbano and
many Igbo communities, the social structure has always been an open society.
There are many opportunities for any average man to rise to the top through
occupational skills and acquisition of wealth. High values were placed on
success in personal achievement, acquisition of wealth, occupational skills,
enterprise and initiative. People strive to be wealthy in order to acquire what
they will give to the community.
MAN
AS BEING
Various philosophers have
made attempts to understand the concept of man. Democritus sees man as composed
of matter, while Hegel understands man as wholly made of mind. To Plato, man is
comprehended from a spiritual aspect; body being the vessel of the soul. To him(Plato),
the soul is the real thing in man. Aristotle in this line also, sees man as
rational animal that possesses soul and has the form of the body. Man for
Aquinas is a composite of body and soul in his capacity as a physical
substance. Also the father of Modern Philosophy, Rene Descartes, believes that
man is made up of two elements; mind and body which are spiritual and
corporeal. All these philosophical expertise go a long way to imply that the
manness of man cannot be understood without reference to his soul and body.
In this way, Higgins makes an attempt to summarize man as a complete substance
formed from the coalescing of two differing constituents. These two elements
can be aligned to the soul and body. This union is vivified into a human body
so that the resultant is a rational being, ‘a being that reflects beauty’
BEING
(MAN) AS BEAUTY
I shall base my analysis of
the human being in the Mbano context on the concept of being as beauty (man asmma-du).
C.N. Bittle defines beauty
as a blending of unity, truth and goodness in a thing, characterized by
completeness, proportion and clarity of presentation…”Beauty is then seen as
being good, truthful and unique. One of the six transcendental qualities of
being is beauty(Pulchrum)
According to
Pantaleon Iroegbu, in his Kpim of
Metaphysis pleasantness is the immediate quality of beauty and the absence
is ugliness. Therefore, you become beautiful when you and other beings are pleasant
with the qualities of goodness, truthfulness and uniqueness you exhibit. And
like evil, ugliness is a privation of an expected beauty.
ANWUCHULA: A GUIDE TO BEAUTY IN BEINGS
“Is life really worth
living? If life is worth living, what makes life worth living..?” This question
was asked by the much tacit Okonkwo in THINGS FALL APART. Can man be the mma of ndu while living
beside mountains of decaying garbage? Can man be of beauty when the brutality
to man now aims at making him ugly? The answer from Mbano people is Yes! In fact
man is challenged to be more of beauty because of these problems. It is an
encouragement greeting, not just to the personhood but to the being. It
expresses the infinite possibilities that the being greeted can achieve.
Anwuchula- don’t
let your beauty die. Man is the beauty of life. His beauty lies in his
achievements. He is encouraged to keep achieving – anwuchula – don’t let
your achievements die.
Anwuchula –
don’t let your goodness die.
Anwuchula –
don’t let your truthfulness die.
Anwuchula –
don’t let your vocation die.
Anwuchula –
don’t let your talent die.
And when next you are
greeted by a person from Mbano with this great philosophical and enriched
metaphysical greeting – nwanne m
anwuchula,do well to reply anwuchula
my brother.
Unuanwuchulaooo!!!
IwunduPeterkevin
(Ehime Mbano LGA, Imo State, Nigeria)
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