UKE

 UKE

(GODS AND MEN)

(Original folklore by Ubah Ikechukwu Anthony)

There is a belief that when Deities are forgotten, they cease to exist; when rituals are no longer offered in their name, and their names are not mentioned in reverence, they are rendered powerless. The gods know this, and all mortals do too.  No mortal dared them for the fear of incurring their wrath. The gods are also thought to put hardship upon their subject to punish them, or just to draw them closer to them in times of crisis, just to empower themselves.

When the people of Amandi returned from battle as the vanquished, the Uke became unpopular among the villagers. The Amadioha had given Omimi victory over them and so, they lost their farm lands to them and their blood wet the thirsty earth. This was contrary to the prophecies of the oracle of the Uke shrine. He was mobbed and maimed the days after their defeat, leading to his death a few moons later. On that day the shrine of Uke was desecrated, his statuette along with his sacred stool and sacrifice bowel, were razed and the shrine brought down to ashes on the foot of the mighty twisted Iroko where it housed.

Seasons came and went, few and fewer people made mention of Uke or offered sacrifice. Majority of the villagers pledged their faith to Amadioha, some worshiped their clan Chi, and a few lived without the gods.

After two decades, the streams that bound Amandi from Ikpa village dried up, the river banks kept pushing backwards and the land it bore was littered with fish bone and scales. The trees turned yellow and the land was bedded with brown leaves and dry grass. The member of every household who could still stand remained indoors to tend to their sick and hungry. The clouds where brown and the empty village square and pathways were patrolled by dry leaves being swept around by the dry unending hamartan winds which sway and whistled round the near-ghost-town. It had been over 16 moons since water from the heavens touched the ground. Their barns had long gone empty, and in their silos housed only grain dusts and dead weevils. Their cows were so lean and looked like blankets paced on wooden frames, dropping dead on the vast fields of flaked earth, one after the other under the scotching sun.

The people of Omimi had angered Amadioha. Being the most feared and revered god in the kingdoms near and far, it plagued the entire kingdom under its guidance with the famine to command more respect and reverence. The Amandi people were unprepared; they had no oracle or deity to warn them of the approaching shadow. Among the neighboring kingdoms, they were hit the most by the famine

On eke, the main market day, a loud cry from the Igwe’s palace greeted the morning sun. His son gave up his ghost to the night. This wasn’t the first death in the palace or in the kingdom, the youths died prematurely in the year, but it was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. The Igwe sent out the town crier to summon all the elders to his palace.

“My people, we cannot lay down on our mats and wait on death to take our spirits to our ancestor, we need solutions now. As you all know the hare to my thrown is no more, your linage and mine will gradually be whipped out of the surface if we don’t put our heads together”.  The Igwe said in a teary tone to the assembly of elders and ndi ichie(Chiefs)

After series of dialogue and arguments, Ichie Okogwue who was the oldest among them rose up and spoke.

“Igwe and my fellow elders I greet you all, we have wasted a lot of time running around in circles. As we speak, our neighbours and their Ndi Ichie have consulted their oracle and offered sacrifices to appease the gods. We at Amandi, we have no knowledge of the root cause of our problems. Some of us have travel far and wide in search for solutions and have come back with different tales. We have no supreme deity of our own and no Oracles to ascertain from the gods what we are being punished for. Some have offered series of sacrifices  to their chi but to no avail. The only thing we know is this, Amadioha has failed us. Never have we faced such perils during the era of Uke and his priests.  I say let us go back to Uke and beg for forgiveness, it is our only hope”. Iche Okogbue ended stamping his staff on the dry floor before sitting.

After a moment of pitch silence, everyone agreed with him and went ahead with the plan. The Igwe sent words over to the son of old Uke high priest, asking him to consult Uke and brings words to the palace.

After three market days, the village square was once again reoccupied by humans, as the entire village came together for the first time in so many moons to hear the words from the mouth piece of Uke and the price to be paid. Joy filled the kingdom when the gods finally spoke. Uke had offered to bring their rains back and cure their sick.

Yes, the news was good indeed, the gods had forgiven them, and promised rains before the next market day.

On the next nkwo market day, the sky bleached, and the rains came as was promised. For the next four days, it rained none stop. The rivers reclaimed their banks, and the streams reappeared. In two market days, the fields turned green again, and crops began to grow.

The Uke demanded the every family came to the shrine to pay respect, make requests and pledge a sacrifice ahead of harvest season.

Every household in the village did as they were told. They all visited the shrine, made chants and incantations in honour and praise to Uke, after which they made personal requests and promised various sacrifices in return to the anticipated favours.

Adindu and his house wife visited the shrine as did the rest, they were slaves and so the fertility of the land meant little to them, they lived off the wages the earned from the Igwe’s palace. They asked Uke to grant them their freedom, a land of their own to build their hut and farm on. He promised to offer a jar of wine, two white hens and ten tubers of yam the shrine of Uke.

Few moons on, one of the Igwe’s wives was delivered of an heir. Out of joy, the Igwe rewarded a few of his hardworking slaves with their freedom, a land to live on and a piece farm on, with a handful of cowries. With the little money Adindu had, he built his hut and farmed the land. These were all he ever desired. The next thing on his mind was building on what he had. His desires had grown from humble to noble. He wanted to be an Nze(a title for wealthy and respectable man) and needed all the money he could get.

The harvest was rich, the river was crowded with life and the village flourished. It was time for their deity to have its reward. Most of the villagers kept to their word and offered their thanksgiving to the Uke.  Some refused to fulfil their promise to their god despite series of reminders. Adindu looked down on the treats made and focus on buying more seedlings for his yam farm with the proceeds of his rich harvest and the loan he acquired. Even his wife’s warnings crashed against the rocks.

The harvest season is here again and early harvesters have commenced, drums rolling in celebrations for rich yield across all village. Anxious Adindu anticipates a bountiful a huge yield too so he hired labourers, thus hiring extra hands to bring in the rich yield. Upon arriving his wife and the dozen men would only watch, as nothing could hold him back from rolling his unclad body on the dusty, thorn littered floor of his farm. The grains he grew were gone, roaming feathers left behind tells the tale of the feast which his farm hosted nights before. Large beetles have made homes out of every tuber of yam and cassava underground.

The enterprising Akubuike had expanded his farm with loans from money lenders. His produce is gone, and he is left with debt to pay.

Sleep departed from him, his voice and apatite too. Withdrawn from all and locked in his hut, he saw and spoke to no one form 6 days. Drifting in and out of reality, it his searching mind found the truth he sort. He dashed to the shrine to plead for mercy. He forgot too soon, it dawned on him, this was the axe of the gods, it is the punishment for his disobedience.
At the shrine, he offered the sacrifice of; 2 jars of palm wine, three white hens, and 15 tubers of yam, in excess of the promise he made.
The gods speaking through the voice of the oracle has rejected his sacrifice, and Adindu in ghostly gait returned home to face his fate.

After two moons, his debtor collected everything he owned including his farmland and hut. Broken and homeless, he and his household returned to the Igwe to plead for a chance to work as a slave to survive.

They say, "the gods are wise",
Some say, "everything is predestined and the gods have no hand in it",
Others say, "the gods only watch and listen",
A few say, "there are no gods".
For the Amandi people it is simple, "there is God, and there is man, and they have an understanding".

Anthony Ikechukwu Ubah