Nigerian-Ibibio Riddles Idioms and More Proverbs

Por Emma Umana Clasberry

Riddles stimulate learning and make learning and teaching of almost any subject
in any setting enjoyable for any age of learners. They strengthen social cohesion
between tellers and listeners. Riddles guide new generation to compare, differentiate,
question and confront phenomena they encounter daily in their lives.

• Idioma: Español
• Editorial: Xlibris US
• Fecha de lanzamiento: 18 oct 2012
• ISBN: 9781479734412

Emma Umana Clasberry

Emma Umana Clasberry has authored many books on African culture purposed to promote cultural awareness among youth and young adults, and to aid them understand how adequate knowledge of their ethnic culture or lack of it can impact their cultural identity, self-esteem and confidence, their education and career choices as well as economic development, welfare and cultural pride of a people. Her interest in Nigerian-Ibibio folklore remains stronger than ever. Emma earned a B.A in Political Science and an M.A. in Urban Planning & Policy from University of Illinois at Chicago, and a Doctor of Education degree from California Coast University.

Vista previa del libro

Nigerian-Ibibio

Riddles Idioms

and More Proverbs

Emma Umana Clasberry

October 2012

Copyright © 2012 by Emma Umana Clasberry.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2012919364

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4797-3440-5

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4797-3439-9

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4797-3441-2

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Contents

Introduction

Puzzles

Riddles

Idioms

More Proverbs

Conclusion

References

Acknowledgements

         A  Exercises

         B  Homework

         C  Riddle Solving Game

         D  Riddle Creating Competition

         E  African Peoples Institute Publications Series

Dedication

Parents in all cultures who spend quality time sharing these or similar riddles with their children to teach them some life phenomena as they all entertain themselves and have fun together.

Introduction

This study focuses on riddles and puzzles and their role as effective tools that stimulate learning and make learning and teaching of almost any subject enjoyable in any setting for any age of learners. It documents not only to preserve for posterity but also to enhance continued practice of these aspects of Nigerian-Ibibio oral traditions, some of which are near extinction. Proverbs and idioms are only additions in this study. They are also important tools for learning and teaching, especially in expressing our thought clearly, improving our speech and transmitting our culture from generation to generation. And some of them do provoke humor as well.

Difference Between Riddles and Puzzles

In this work, I use riddles and puzzles interchangeably. However, puzzles particularly refer to those riddles that describe a phenomenon in a question form and whose answers are made up of one or two words, but not more than three words. For example, "What is it our Father God made that has neither mouth nor any opening, but contains water inside it? In most part of Ibibio, the answer is ‘coconut’.

Whereas, a plain riddle usually has two parts. Most tonal riddles fall under this category. They may state facts, non-facts or non-senses and their answers may make sensible statements or state facts. Some of the responses may have no relevance to the facts stated in the riddles, but their tones correspond with the tones of the riddles. An example is, Oduok ntong ke ntong ekene; asua eyen owo inyeneke esie. This (also a proverb) means: One who spreads the ashes is the one the ashes follow (or will follow); one who hates another person’s child does not or will not have her or his own child.

Answers of some tonal riddles could also be a continuation of the facts initially generated in the riddles, for example, Se mkpo ke enyin; men iso do fep, translated into English as, Look at something with your eyes and take your face off it. Here, the riddle has logical connection with its answer. The difference will become clearer as we read on.

Riddles and Puzzles as Education Tools

Riddles and puzzles are some of the ancient tools for education that have withstood the test of time. Through them, we can learn some pertinent facts about human beings, their physiology and anatomy, their economic and social behaviors, thinking patterns, their vision of the world and the way humans understand life. We can also use them to learn about other animals, plants, the wind, the moon and other elements in the universe.

Not only do riddles tell us stories about other peoples’ cultures, their customs and social relations, they enhance deeper understanding of our own culture as well. Some pertinent cultural values and traditional practices in our culture are orally passed down through them from generation to generation. For socializing citizens of a given culture from childhood to adulthood, riddles serve as excellent tools as well. They foster social cohesion and preservation of positive social norms and traditions.

Puzzles and riddles bring to our notice some phenomena which are around us in our immediate environment that we are not aware of. They call our attention to some truths about animals and trees, natural and unnatural phenomena. Like proverbs and folktales, riddles are an ancient science which portrays the people’s vigilance, enthusiasm and keenness in observing, studying and learning about the universe around them and beyond. In other words, they enhance recalling the past, promote keener observation and critical examination of the present, and encourage confrontation of the present and building on it for posterity.

As reflected in the riddles, our forefathers, including fore-mothers, took courses in philosophy, botany, zoology, human anatomy and physiology, logic and critical thinking, metaphysics, sociology, humanities and other hardcore and social sciences without knowing. I am sure they were not conscious of the amount of education and the scope of academic fields they dabbled into and became familiar with. They were probably more interested in just enjoying the fun and the humor derived from the riddles and puzzles than in anything else as they informally learned through them.

In his African Civilization: Living Legacies of a People (1993), Mbu Walters indicates that riddles and puzzles were used in traditional Africa to challenge and develop the mental capacity of citizens. Up till today, riddles as well as proverbs and puzzles continue to stimulate the mind and to be used in formal and non-formal settings for teaching and learning about anything.

Riddles are Culturally Contextual

A riddle usually has two parts: the first part which is the question part and the real riddle, and the second part that provides the answer to the riddle. A riddle can have multiple answers if applied across cultures. Answers to most riddles usually depend on the culture, and this explains why majority of them are culturally contextual. For example, What is it that can not be counted? is a Congolese riddle and the response is ‘Stars", according to Neno Contran’s web article on African riddles translated into English by J. Antonini. For some other cultures, the answer could be ‘sand’ or ‘salt’ because no-one can count any of the two, just as we can not count stars.

Another example from Congo is, What is it that can not be seen? and the answer is God. This riddle is very broad and can mean something else, such as the wind, the air we breathe, the fowl gas we pass out as effluvium, etc, for people in other cultures because there are myriad of elements in the universe that we can not see with our naked human eyes. These examples tell us that some riddles or puzzles do cut across many cultures, but their responses may be quite different from culture to culture. Thus, their answers remain culturally contextual indeed.

At other times, the choice of words describing a riddle may differ from culture to culture, but the description of the object in one culture portrays the correct characteristics of the element described as also acknowledged by many other cultures. This means that an answer to a riddle may be the same across two or more cultures, while the descriptions of the phenomenon in the riddle are different but perfectly fit what is being described and is also accepted across cultures. The implication here is that a riddle or puzzle in each culture generally provides only a partial description of a given phenomenon.

Let’s illustrate the above observation by comparing two riddles describing the wind in two cultures. In Democratic Republic of Congo (D.R.C), the riddle reads: We hear it with our own ears, but we do not see it with our own eyes. In Tanzania and Kenya, the riddle reads: My son is crying in the forest; I hear him, but I do not see him. Another example refers to morning dew in two cultures. The Kikuyu of Kenyan version is thus: Where have you washed the baby since all the springs and brooks are dry? But in D.R.C., it is: There is a river where you can wash only in the morning.

In another set of examples, varying riddle descriptions are assigned to the sun in three different cultures. According to the web forum carrying articles and reports on African Continent, the riddle in Tanzania and Kenya is: It keeps on setting off, but never arrives. For Ethiopians, it is: You do not catch it chasing it. It is here. Take it. In D.R.C., it is: What is the fire God lit and never put out?

Even within a given culture, two or more different descriptions could be assigned to a phenomenon. In a riddle pertaining to the wind in Ibibio, for example, one version is: I am a thing. Sometimes, I whisper as I pass by; but no-one sees me. What am I? Another version is: What is it that our Father God has made that caresses everything and everybody standing on its way? Nobody sees it when it walks past.