Tag Archives: Nigeria

Money Spraying

Text:

“People will come forth and spray them with money to show love and support — and oftentimes, if it is something like a service of songs, it’s also financial support in a time of need. So essentially, the celebrants are just dancing in the middle, and then people will come with dollar bills or sometimes five-dollar bills. Typically, it’s small amounts because what matters most during this act of celebration is that there are a lot of bills on the floor. People essentially shower the celebrants with money.”

Context:

The informant is a 21-year-old of Nigerian descent who recounted a money spray at her own graduation party. A common practice in Nigerian celebrations, especially those with Yoruba and Igbo roots, is for guests to dance up to the person being honored and press or toss currency against them as a blessing and a show of collective support. She recalled the experience as joyful and deeply validating, noting that the loving words accompanying the spray added a layer of emotional richness that far surpassed the monetary value of the act itself.

Analysis:
Money spraying is a cross between material gifting and ritualized blessing — economically meaningful, and symbolically prophetic all at once. The bills are not for the practical transfer of wealth. Their value is in their accumulation and display. A floor covered with money is a visual statement of the collective love, communal investment in the future of the person being honored, and the strength of the social network surrounding them. This is consistent with what folklorists refer to as “gift folklore”: exchanges in which the social relationship enacted and reaffirmed is more important than the object given. For the diaspora, where Nigerian and American cultures coexist, the money spray also serves as an assertion of ethnic identity, a way to mark a celebration as uniquely Nigerian, even when it occurs far from its place of origin.

Igbo Kwenu

Text:

“I’ve noticed it’s really popular in moments of gatherings, especially in moments of sorrow, or in a time where encouragement and bravery are really needed, or just when there’s a lot of difficult energy around — it’s just a way to rally and show support. It usually starts with a male of some sort, and he’ll say it, and then people will join in little by little, and by the time he repeats it for the last time, the whole crowd has said it: Igbo Kwenu.”

Context:


Igbo Kwenu is used as a rallying call at a variety of communal occasions — funerals, graduations and celebrations, the informant said. She first learned it from her Nigerian family, but has seen it used by older people in the community and children of immigrants in the United States. She recited this to her at her school graduation, to encourage her and lift her spirits. “Igbo Kwenu” goes beyond a literal translation, as she stressed that this would not fully capture its meaning, and it serves as an invocation of the collective Igbo identity and resilience.

Analysis:


Igbo Kwenu is a call-and-response oral tradition that ritually builds community in real time. The stacking structure — one voice, then another, until the whole crowd is joining in — is a manifestation of the social solidarity the phrase is meant to celebrate. It is not only expressive but performative in the folkloristic sense – to say it together is to act together. The phrase’s most versatile quality is that it can move across emotional registers; it can be used in grief and in joy, in crisis and in triumph. Its primary function is not to name a particular feeling but to invoke the community itself as a source of strength and support. This versatility is especially important to the diasporic life events in Igbo communities. Igbo Kwenu becomes a folk performance on the move, one that proclaims cultural identity and group belonging in any context.

Yam for Pregnancy

Text:

“Something that a lot of Yoruba and Igbo and just Nigerian people in general will do during their pregnancies is eat a lot of yams. There are many positive associations with yams — they’re seen as a nutritious food, a staple starch in Nigeria, found in many dishes. My mom said that when she was pregnant with me, she ate a lot of yams. And her mom did as well — my grandma gave birth to twins, and my grandma’s mom did too, and my grandma was a twin. I think it’s a good luck thing. It won’t always mean you’ll have twins, but it’s just a superstition.”

Context:

As the informant notes, this practice is common in Nigerian customs related to pregnancy and health. The belief, common among the Yoruba and Igbo people to whom her family belongs, has been passed down through at least four generations of women in her direct family line. She reflects that she has already thought of following the same practice eventually. Nigeria is the world’s largest producer of yams, supplying more than half of the world’s yams, meaning that cultural importance in Nigeria amplifies a value that goes far beyond nutritional benefit.

Analysis:

This belief is a colorful example of sympathetic folk medicine: yams are a food associated with abundance, fertility, and foundational nourishment in Nigerian culture, and it is believed that those same qualities will be imparted to a pregnant body. The association between yam consumption and twin births is particularly interesting — twins are sacred in Yoruba culture, associated with good fortune and spiritual power, and this may be why the belief has such strong associative logic. The documented history of twins in this informant’s family over generations empirically supports the folk belief, at least in the family’s narrative. The community’s encouragement to eat is also an endearing form of support for women during a biologically vulnerable period. Whatever the yams do or don’t do, the practice is an act of cultural continuity: each generation of women who eats yams during pregnancy takes part in a chain of care and tradition that links them materially and symbolically to their mothers and grandmothers before them.

Nigerian Red Handkerchief

Text:

T: “In Nigerian culture, there’s this, like, there’s a significance behind, like, a red handkerchief, right. That’s like if you’re carrying it, it’s kind of like a sign that, like, you have, like, powers, like, certain, like supernatural powers. It’s like, like a charm almost … It’s like a medium to, like, exhibit those powers, you know. And it’s like, and there’s this thing called, they call it, like, juju or jazz where it’s like, it’s just, it’s basically just witchcraft. Like … Yeah, that’s the best term to call it. Just, like, use certain charms and things, like, you know, to, like, do magic.”

Context:

T comes from a Nigerian family and has heard the legend of the “red handkerchief” passed down through the generations. In the culture, it is believed that if someone carried a red handkerchief then they had supernatural or magical powers. It is almost like a Scarlet Letter, in the fact that it symbolizes something else.

Analysis:

The Nigerian Red Handkerchief is a legend because it something believed to be true, based in the real world. This legend seems to be both emic and esoteric as it is an insider’s perspective of the significance of a red handkerchief and it communicates something within the group, not to those outside of the group. It carries cultural significance since it is predominately recognized with the Nigerian community. It also carries familiar significance as it is a legend passed down through generations of a family.

The Legend of Eze Nri

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Story:

Accoring to the Informant, The Nri Kingdom, one of the oldest and most sacred kingdoms in Igbo history, is said to have been founded by a divine ruler blessed by Chukwu (the supreme god). According to legend, Eri, a spiritual figure sent by Chukwu, arrived at Anambra and established a community. His descendants later formed the Nri dynasty, with the Eze Nri (King of Nri) serving as both a political leader and a spiritual intermediary. The Eze Nri was not a conventional ruler but a priest-king, responsible for performing rituals to cleanse the land of abominations (nso ani) and maintain harmony among the Igbo people. He held immense religious influence, and his kingdom was known for its peace, diplomacy, and sacred authority rather than military conquest.

Context:

The informant, an Igbo elder, grew up hearing stories of the Nri Kingdom from their elders. They learned about the legend through oral storytelling, cultural ceremonies, and historical discussions within their community. For them, the legend represents the spiritual depth of Igbo heritage and serves as a reminder of the role of tradition in leadership. They see the story as a way to understand how pre-colonial Igbo society was organized.

My Interpretation:

The Legend of Eze Nri shows how the Igbo people saw leadership as something that needed to be both political and spiritual. The Eze Nri wasn’t just a ruler in the usual sense; he was seen as someone chosen by Chukwu (the supreme god) to maintain balance in both the physical and spiritual worlds. This idea of leadership suggests that it’s not just about making decisions or leading a community, but also about keeping peace with the gods and ancestors.