UGIE EWERE: ORIGIN AND RECONSTRUCTION OF UBI

 

By

PRINCE EDUN AKENZUA,

Enogie of Obazuwa

Omo n’Oba, Uku Akpolokpo, Ewuare II, celebrated Ugie Ewere on Monday, December 24, 2018. The ceremony was the last in the series of nine ceremonies that now comprise Ugie which the Oba of Benin celebrates annually.

In the past, Obas celebrated ceremonies every month of the thirteen lunar months that make the Benin year. Over time, some of the ceremonies were discontinued. The latest to be discontinued was Ague. During Ague ceremony, citizens were forbidden from touching, cooking or eating new farm produce. The Oba does not behold non-indigenes nor is he seen by them.

It was during the Ague period in 1897 that Capt. Philip, the colonial British acting consul, decided, without invitation, to visit the Oba. Philip ignored the advice from well-meaning persons, including, his Itsekiri friends, Chief Dore and Chief Numa, not to go to Benin until the ceremony was over. He obstinately and deliberately went there. His obstinacy led to his death as well as that of six of his co-travellers. That gave Britain the excuse to invade Benin, dethrone the Oba and loot about 4,000 pieces of Benin cultural property.

Oba Akenzua II ascended the throne in 1933, thirty-six years after the invasion. At that time, the colonial authority had entrenched itself in the City. They caused many non-Benins to take up residence in the City. The influx of “foreigners” into the City made it inexpedient for the Oba to continue to celebrate Ague. Consequently, Oba Akenzua II celebrated it only once, in 1938, and decided to abolish it. The acrobatic Amufi, a prominent feature of Ague ceremony, was abolished along with it.

Excuse this digression.

Ugie Ewere ceremony brings blessing to every home in Benin. It began during the reign of Oba Ewuare I, about 500 years ago. I watched a TV programme recently in which the discussants said there are two Eweres: one, human and the other, leaf. They said when Prince Ogun was running away from his brother Uwaifiokun’s militia who were pursuing him, he took refuge underneath the foliage. Ebe ewere is not a wide leaf. A goat cannot hide underneath it, not to talk of a man. That story of Prince Ogun taking refuge under it is a myth. There is only one Ewere, daughter of Ogieka, after whom the leaf now known as ebe ewere, was symbolically named.

Ogieka was a prominent man. He was the Oba’s friend. He had three daughters namely: Ubi, Ewere and Oyoyo. Their mother died when Oyoyo was about four years old. Ogieka’s other wives did not have children of their own. He practically raised the daughters alone. Ubi was about sixteen years old. She was in an amorous but platonic relationship with a man from a village called Evboeghae.

Ogieka did not like the relationship. He wanted to break it, but Ubi secretly continued with it. Ogieka believed that the only way he would terminate the relationship was to betroth her to the Oba. It would also strengthen the friendship between him and the Oba. Ubi did not want to break the relationship nor did she want to marry the Oba. However, she could not disobey her father.

After the betrothal, Ubi moved to the Palace. She went there only physically; leaving her spirit behind, with her lover. She had a strategy in her mind. She would create the bad-girl image of herself, play the rude girl and be expelled from the harem. The strategy did not work. The Oba condoned all her antics because he liked her and also because she was his friend’s daughter.

Ubi composed a song which she sang every night as they played in the moonlight.

“Uki n’oba na, erhiovbe ba vbe Evboeghae, ogue degb’ode, ima miekela ye Evboeghae, Evboeghae n’okpevbo”.

(This shinning moon also shines at evboeghae, but an obstacle prevents me from going to Evboeghae, Evboeghae the Great).

No one knew why she sang it or what she meant by it. After a few months, she had exhausted her bag of tricks. The bad-girl image swept through the palace like wild fire. In frustration, she decided to commit a crime which she knew was an unpardonable crime in the Palace. She deliberately wet her bed that night. The act was discovered early the next morning. Very soon, the news went around. Ubi had wet her bed (“Ubi mu asa y’owa”). It was the last straw that broke the Carmel’s back. The abomination could not be condoned. The Oba ordered that she be sent back to her father immediately.

The maids in the harem got the opportunity to vent their hatred on her. There had been no love lost between them and her because she always got away with any crime she committed. They drove her out of the harem; beating her with burning fire wood, until they got to her father’s house at Idumwunogieka. She did not survive the burns thus inflicted on her. She probably did not expect that the repercussion for her latest act would lead to that tragic end.

Ogieka, just lost his eldest daughter; he was distraught. But that irredeemable loss did not traumatize him as much as the stigma the expulsion of his daughter from the palace brought on him. It could adversely affect his treasured friendship with the Oba. Thus between the devil and the deep blue sea, the only way out of the dilemma for him, was to atone for his daughter’s misbehavior. He decided to give another daughter to the Oba, in replacement for Ubi.

He broached his plan to his friend, Osuma. Osuma thought it was a brilliant idea. Osuma enlisted the support of another friend, Ayobahan. The two chiefs interceded on Ogieka’s behalf. They informed the Oba of Ogieka’s offer to give his second daughter, Ewere, to the Oba as wife, to replace the recalcitrant Ubi. After long pleading, the Oba accepted the offer. He ordered the chiefs to take Ewere to the Ihogbe for them to observe her character. Osuma, the Avan diogbeya and the octogenarian Ayobahan, fondly called Ọmaẹn n’ẹrokhi because of his old age, left the palace joyously, to convey the good tidings to Ogieka.

On the day Ewere was to leave for the Ihogbe’s, house, her younger sister, Oyoyo, broke-down sobbing uncontrollably. She would be the only one left at home after Ewere had gone. Affected by her tears, Ogieka, himself became emotional. With suppressed tears burning his eyes, he said to Oyoyo:

“Go, my daughter. Go with your sister, Ewere.  Both of you go and marry the Oba”.

At the prescribed time, the Ihogbe escorted Ewere and Oyoyo to the Palace, singing and dancing joyously all the way.

“Arhi’Ewere gie Omon vb’ugha – o

Ewere vb’oyoyo – o”

Instead of taking one wife to the Palace, the Ihogbe took two. It was a day of joy, of merriment and good wishes. From that day, the phrase “Okhian Ewere,” (The Ways of Ewere or Ewere’s journey) became a prayer. Now, when a loved one is embarking on a journey, one would wish him or her “Okhian Ewere” praying that the traveler’s journey will bring him or her joy and merriment. A safe journey.

On Ugie Ewere day, young maids commemorate the expulsion of Ubi from the harem. They would wake up as early as 4am, armed with Uwerhen and chase imaginary Ubi down the streets, as Christians today beat Judas Iscariot down the streets, singing;

“Akhu Ubi rhie,

Gie gharhie

Omwan ababe

Gie gharhie”

(We are chasing Ubi out –

Let her go home

Ubi the Witch –

Let her go home”)

They would go from house to house. In the process, they would be given some gift, money, by owners of the houses they visited.

Some women, nowadays, also go dancing from house to house, as the young maids do. They do not arm themselves with Uwerhen, as the young girls do, instead, they go singing, dancing; presenting ebe ewere to the persons they visit. No one gets ebe ewere before the Oba and no person other than the Ihogbe, is authorized by tradition to handle ebe ewere or present it to the Oba. It is a taboo for anyone else to do so.

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