Embracing My Heritage, Adopting Others: A Cultural Blend

If there were a way I could go back to those days in my childhood stage when nothing else mattered to me but learning our cultural dance, then a lot of memories would unfold. When it comes to playing around with other children, it wasn't my best interest as a child then, but learning our cultural dance was. I feel like going back to those days, so I will video all of those cultural dances and songs, take pictures of our cultural group dancers, and upload them here on Hive for you to see how this aspect of my culture is nothing but epic!

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The popular definition of culture is that it is the people's way of life, but I will say that culture is what defines us as a group of people in a tribe ; it is what makes us different and unique from each other. Like in every tribe or region or even country, there is something they are known for; that is their culture. Again, culture gives people an identity. There are some regions that are known for a particular ritual; they are known for a particular belief or value, and that distinguishes them from others. They have a culture they respect, and everyone knows them for that. It is different from other tribes, but all cultures are beautiful.

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In my own culture, I practice a lot of them, from our food to language to dress and even the dance and the music I mentioned above. But currently, nothing beats other of my cultural practices more than our marriage culture. I think I love this culture of mine a lot! If you don't know, the Igbo marriage culture in the Eastern region of Nigeria is one of a kind. A culture I respect a lot because of its impacts.

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Specifically on my own eastern side, the welcoming of the groom by the brides portrays a lot of respect. The woman welcomes the man like her king, crowning him with the cultural cap to distinguish him from other guests and then giving him a warm welcome after cutting the rope. What about the wine carrying and its significance and the speech by the elders that usually accompanies this culture? My sister's own was quite emotional to me, but there's no need to go deep about this since the prompt didn't demand that.

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Our cultural cakes are sometimes also crafted in such a way as to highlight the important marriage culture in Igbo land. There are a lot of things about this particular culture that make it stand out for me.

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But then, there are other cultures aside from mine that I would love to practice, and that's the Yoruba greetings! I have lived in Yoruba land for ten years now, and I tell you for free that these people are A1 in the way they greet and respect people. Both their children and adults are trained to embrace this culture, and I admire that a lot. The manner in which they kneel to greet is admirable; the way they respect people is contagious. Their greeting style may not be my culture, but I am learning to adopt it. It speaks more of respect and maybe one kind of their food, Ewedu, due to how nutritional it is. I am learning to love this food and vibe with them.

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Finally, I would love to leave you with this question: is there any culture you would love to practice, even if it is not yours?

Images are mine.