DAUGHTERS OF AWU (Excerpt from the Bleeding Huts)

CHAPTER ONE

A war against the gods

Ajuwe placed the hot ugbegbe which beamed with smoke, on the bamboo table which stood in the middle of the big ogwa.

"Ni ndeiwehe mmiri" she said to him, leaving the ogwa

"Yemeyeke" he greeted her. He dipped a finger into the steaming clay pot of ofe okuru and tasted it as he nodded his head. The sun was already setting and from where he sat in his ogwa, he could see people strolling down the road. It was an Eken day and a day of rest from farm work and market.

Genuflecting, she dropped the bowl of water beside him. It was his favorite meal; Akpu and freshly made okro soup with bush meat, azun mangala and mushrooms. She stood up and walked over to the other end of the ogwa, resting her back on the mud wall as she stole glances at him. Closing his eyes with an affirming nod, he swallowed.

"Ajuwe" an older woman called out as she walked into the compound

"Nne Alua",she quickly knelt to greet.

"Nne Ajuwe alua", he greeted

"Eyansi dim" the older woman greeted back

"What are you doing here, watching your father eat? Have you fed the goats?"

"Yes Nnem, I was waiting for nnedim to finish eating so I can go and meet my mates at Ukwun ishi Udara"

"You can go, I want to discuss with your father"

"Yemeyeke" Ajuwe greeted and ran off towards the road, all the while her jigida jiggled from both sides of her hips.

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About forty teenage girls sat in groups around the mighty Udara tree, which stood on the way to the village square. The moonlight shone brightly on their half naked bodies as they had only their breasts and buttocks covered in wrappers, with brightly colored beads that adorned their tiny waists and ankles.

In Awu kingdom, like many other neighboring Ika kingdoms, young maidens were known to dress in this manner, covering just their breasts and tying a short wrapper from the waist to just below their buttocks as well as adorning their waists and ankles with so many colorful beads. Once a maiden gets married, she switches to tying her wrapper from her breasts down to below her knees.

Gathering every four nights was customary for the maidens in the kingdom. There they sang, danced and shared stories with each other. Every ifon, the maidens choose a leader whose duties it is to coordinate them for the month.

"Onu kokome" Their leader called out.

"Ogbu ofifi", the other teenage girls responded.

"How are you girls doing today?" The young leader asked.

"We are good" They all chorused

"Any update?" She asked

"Yes I have" Ajuwe raised her hand

Ajuwe strutted to the front, swaying her tiny waist as her numerous jigidas jiggled on top of her well rounded buttocks that looked like large iroro plants. Known for her gracious aura, the other girls watched with keen interest as she faced them, a beautiful smile curved around her natural red lips which contrasted her beautiful ebony skin.

"Onu kokome" She greeted.

"Ogbu ofifi" They chorused.

"Today I cooked for my father, his favorite soup for the third day in a row" she paused, scanning the faces of the teenage girls as they stared waiting for more words out of her mouth. She knew exactly what they were expecting for her to say, and so she teased them some more with her silence. The sounds of the crickets chirping got louder.

"Nsoma ezi three days ago" she continued but the shock and murmurs of the teenagers drowned her own voice.

"Has he fallen sick?" The leader finally asked

"On the contrary Ehioma, he has been healthier these past few days"

The murmuring died down and then a loud clap came from the crowd, everyone joined in and stood up to give her a round of applause.

“Obim eh eh obim eh, obim eh eh obim eh” Ehioma started singing and broke into a dance and after a while the maidens joined her.

Taking turns, each girl danced into the big circle they had formed, moving her waist forward, while raising her bosom up and swaying her hips, hands and legs in the same direction. Like their sister, the Agbor dancer, daughters of Awu were known to be energetic dancers who pride themselves in the odinani dance. The question is often asked if one is truly an Ika blood if one could not move her waist to the songs and beats that comforted the ancestors?

When dancing was over, Ehioma gathered the girls again to talk. This time around, everyone was excited and in high spirit.

"Ajuwe has started this movement and experimented with her father, who is ready to go next?"

"I" All the hands went up unanimously.

"Good! We strike again and in four Eken days, I believe every one of us must have carried out this experiment in our various homes!" Ehioma continued

"And when we are done, we will all march to the Obi's palace!" Ajuwe added

"Yes!"

"Great, let us go home"

"Ohen eki" the girls greeted.

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The people of Awu are predominantly farmers, palm wine tappers, hunters and traders. Every Orie day, men and women alike flock to afia Awu to sell their farm produce to people from different communities and neighboring villages. Known for their most popular product; igarri, Awu people spread out heaps of igarri in basins popularly referred to as okpanisele-isen, a basin that carries the face of former Head of State, Gen. Murtala Mohammed.

Awu is also known for their sweet palm wine. It is common for Awu men to receive customers from neighboring villages who come to purchase palm wine; legends say an Awu man once won the heart of a beautiful princess from a neighboring village after taking freshly tapped palm wine and roasted chanchara to her.

Generally referred to as peace loving and honest people, ndi Awu are mostly loved for how industrious they are. Young girls and boys often joined their parents at the market to sell off their wares. However, on this particular Orie day, the young maidens of the village were conspicuously absent at the market.

"Nne Ajuwe nani?" a customer greeted

"Nwenem alua, umueka?" Ajuwe's mother inquired

"Umueka hua, Ajuwe?" She asked

"Thank God your children are fine, Ajuwe is coming to join me soon"

"Bia bia, umun-ikpoho Awu egbu enyi ooo" a woman screamed as she ran into the market square holding her breasts.

A small crowd quickly formed around her as she sat on the red mud, panting. The traders eagerly looked at her to save them from the suspense that was eating them up.

"Nne Ozioma, kiroh?" Ajuwe's mother asked

"Yes, why are panting like you just saw a ghost?" another woman asked

"Your daughters, our daughters are waging a war at the palace of the Obi, they are …”

"Aruuuu! Abomination!" Ajuwe's mother spat out

"Shut up, do you know the meaning of what you just said?" a woman in the crowd bent down to cover the mouth of the reporter.

Standing up and dusting her buttocks, she faced the road which she came from, taking to her heels again. Upon seeing this, the traders ran after her.

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The people of Awu revere their leader, the great Obi of Awu Kingdom. To them, the Obi was more than a ruler. He is a god who lives amongst men and to fight him means to fight the gods and spirits of the 'sleeping' Obis of the kingdom - sleeping because it is a sacrilege to refer to an Obi as dead.

Believed to have been founded by a man named Awu from the old Bini Kingdom who fled his home during the reign of the Ogiso dynasty in Bini Kingdom, the people of Awu are known to uphold strong traditional beliefs. Little wonder that the palace of the Obi sits adjacent to the royal 'ikpekpe' where all the sleeping Obis including the founding father, Awu were laid to sleep. Just in front of the palace stood numerous big trees no one has answers on how they were planted and for how many years they have existed.

To communicate with the gods and ancestors of Awu Kingdom, an Obi is expected to walk through the 'ozo ogbarie' path leading to the royal cemetery. Ogbarie was the wife of Awu who fled the Bini Kingdom to settle with her husband in the present day Awu. As the kingdom grew and the couple passed down tradition and culture (mostly from their original kingdom), Awu named the exact place they settled as 'ozo Ogbarie' (Ogabrie's path) to immortalize his beloved wife. The land where Awu built his first hut would become the royal palace of the kingdom.

It was with this knowledge of tradition and culture that mothers feared for the lives of their daughters as they trooped to the palace to stop the young maidens of the kingdom from whatever war against the Obi.

Soon the news was all over the kingdom and the palace was full. From the crowd, Ajuwe's mother saw her daughter with the other maidens. Covered with colorful beads and uli paintings all over their bodies, the young maidens danced to war songs to the spectacle of the crowd and palace leaders.

"What is happening? Kirieme? Why are they singing war songs and dancing?" Ajuwe’s mother asked.

"I have no idea, ndi-obi wanted to chase them out but Obi asked everyone to let them be" a spectator replied.

Just then, the ladies mortified everyone in the crowd by loosening their wrappers to expose blood stained 'ekwa oru'. The normal pure white woven cloth had blood patch on the buttocks of every maiden.

"Ochuchu! Osolobueeeee! You girls are shameless! Cover your bodies!" an older woman shouted as she ran into the midst of the girls.

"Leave them!" the Obi commanded, to the shock of the crowd.

"Obi, this is sacrilege! The war songs, the dance, blood stained wrapper, they need to be punished!" Ero Ehiwario stamped his staff angrily.

"My daughters, I have seen your display, I believe there is a message, what is it?" the Obi asked rather calmly.

"Obi agu!" The maidens chorused, kneeling down.

"Lihiotor" the Obi responded, signaling for them to get up.

"My king, I am Ehioma and I am the daughter of Isuwa and Iyoha from Ogbe-Obi community. I am the leader of the maidens of Awu for this month. Obi, we are tired, we are tired of burying our own. In two months, five girls have died mysteriously while they slept outside in their bleeding huts"

"I am listening my child", the Obi urged her on.

"We grew up to see our mothers sleeping outside four days in a month because of their menstruation, we grew up to be told that we have to also sleep outside when we have our menstruation, we were told that we are unclean whenever we menstruate and therefore we cannot stay with other people in the house but must sleep outside in the bleeding hut, maidens am I lying?"

"Mbaaaaaaaa"

"Five daughters of this kingdom died while sleeping outside and nothing has been done about their death, we do not want to die, we cannot sleep out at night, we no longer want to be devoured by wild animals, we no longer want to be bitten by snakes. Menstruation is natural my King, it is what marks our maturity as women who are ready to bear children. We want that law abolished my king"

"Yesssss', the maidens chorused

"Aruuuuuu!!! Have you maidens gone mad? You want to kill your fathers and brothers? You want your mothers to kill their husbands? Do you know the origin of that Iwu?",Ero Ehiwario screamed, anger flashing across his eyes.

"Ero, do not interrupt again, you only speak when you are asked to" the Obi cautioned.

The crowd was murmuring now, mostly insulting the maidens for speaking of the unthinkable.

"My daughters, I have heard your complaints and I will look into this, it is my duty as your Obi to protect you. Please go home, do not be afraid of anyone, a daughter of Awu should never be afraid. In four days, I will send a message" 

"Obiaguuuuu" the maidens chorused. 

The Obi stood up and left the murmuring crowd, while the maidens danced their way back home, hoping in their hearts that their Obi truly listens to them and abolish the bleeding huts. 

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“Ajuwe! Ajuwe!” he galloped into the compound, his walking staff dragging behind him, his face was reddened and the veins on his body looked like they would pop at any moment.

“Nnedim alua” Ajuwe rushed out of her room to greet him

“Who is your father? Are you mad? How dare you join in that dance of shame, Ajuwe?” His eyes would not dare blink or move away from her.

“My father, you should be proud of me and –

“Shut up! Do you want to die? Do you want me to die?”

Looking up, with arms outstretched to the sky, he shook his head as his voice gave in to the regret he felt.

“gods of our land, I begged for this child to stay, oh I begged for this one to live and begged that the bush rejects this one but if she has decided to kill me, please take her and –

“God forbid! Osolobue asor! What has come over you Ijeh? Our only child whom we killed fowls and goats to the gods for, should die because of a mere dance?”

He looked at his wife, the anger slowly building up again as he watched her spit out as if to send his words back to the ground.

“Obioma, you called it a mere dance? Your daughter partook in a dance of shame and war against the gods and you refer to it as a mere dance? I should have taken a second wife when you did not stop giving me children the gods had rejected”

“Ijeh, you are a wicked man! Our children died before they came into this world and now it is my fault?”

“Your nwa mmiri wants the Iwu to be abolished and somehow you want me to not be angry? Do you also want me to die?”

“But my father, I have cooked for you twice now while menstruating and you are still alive”

“You did what?” Her father and mother chorused, looking at her in disbelief.