THE RIGHT OF BREAKING THE KOLA IN IZZILAND – NIGERIA

Another consideration that brings out the kola symbolism is the  question of the rightful person to break it. In Izziland, is it  the  youngest or eldest in any  given gathering in Izziland? There are  two major   traditions.  In  a place like  old  ohaozara in Ebonyi south, it is the youngest in any group breaks the kola, while in the  north west  and northern parts Igboland the  eldest person breaks the kola.  In both cases, the breaking of kola helps in the tracing of seniority in  Izziland  in particular, and in Igboland in general.  The young  man tradition says that the young is  preferred  because he is presumed to be innocent, and his hands are not polluted by blood shed in battle. This  tradition has a loop – hole because at times there are gatherings where no one is really young in Izzi, or where the youngest in the group is also  elderly. This tradition is nurtured by the  philosophy  of   Izziethical Puritanism.  The puritan

ethics or  mentality is strongly founded in izzland.

The  old man tradition is preferred  because the eldest man  blesses the kola, holds the ofo and represents the authority  of the ancestors. One of the strongest reasons for  religious  activities like   blessings by the eldest person  is that in Izzitraditional society, the first born or eldest man in a family or Umunna (kindred) assumes  some priestly  function  ipso facto. It is more by  reason of his  priesthood  and not necessarily because of his  age that the eldest  man is preferred, and this is why today, the eldest man gives an ordained minister the kola  to bless as a  privilege. The ndi icheie akwa mythology gives what seems to be the solution to the problem of the right of breaking the Izzikola as regards the two conflicting traditions in question. In Igboland  as a whole, the aros became very  powerful during   the slave trade mainly because of the one Ndi  Icheie Akwa which is in their  possession. Thus they wished to dominate the  Igboland as a whole and with the advantage of the   oracle, they hatched  a plan as the author puts it  the aros  then borught an Afa oracle message from God   ‘chukwu”  to all parts  in Igboland 

The divine message said that the  Igbo tradition  of the oldest persons rights  to break kola had been  abrogated by God  so that the right  had been transferred  to the  youngest person. This oracle message automatically gave the Aros  who were the youngest of Igbo family groups, the right to break  kola whenever the Igbo people were gathered as a  nation, many communities in the  southern   part of Igboland, among which is the Izzipeople  obeyed the divine  message and changed their  tradition  of the eldest  man’s right to break the kola. However,   the most probable solution  is that the eldest man blesses and breaks the oji and gives it to the  youngest in  the group  to share and distribute. Another  probable solution  is  that the eldest man blesses the kola and  give it  to  the  youngest to break and share  not only in  Izziland,  but in the whole of  Igboland .

This second alternative will eliminate  monopoly of function by the eldest man.   

References

Culled from Izzi identify and personality  vis-à-vis Izzi/cum Igbo cultural symbols, being the thesis presented for the doctorate degree by Rev Fada Nwofoke E.N