OZU OKPOO” , THE MYTHS AND TRUTHS .

OZU OKPOO” , THE MYTHS AND TRUTHS .

Ichie Amaraemeta from Otolo, who collapsed on his way to his shop this morning , died at the hospital, leaving behind a pregnant wife and two year old son, Obinna .
Its a big tragedy , especially when you highlight the fact that Ichie Amaraemeta’s Only surviving brother who was in the care of Ichie Amaraemeta has down-syndrome , thereby unable to give Ichie Amaraemeta a befitting burial.

The only property that would have been sold so as to get money that will be used to give Ichie Amaraecheta that beffiting burial , is a piece of land that will be given to Obinna, the only surviving son of Ichie Amaraecheta as “Ana obi”. Selling it for a “mere” burial is out of question.

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According to Mazi Ndu , the head of Umuezentu , the “Umunna” where Ichie Amaraemeta belongs to , Ichie Amaraemeta will have to be buried immidietly , without any funeral rite ,
“When Obinna becomes mature and make some money, he will have to bury his father with his full funeral rites , agaghi eni Ichie Amaraecheta ka okuko” Mazi Ndu said

Years Later , Obinna buried his father as “Ozu Okpoo”

Ozu Okpoo in Igbo land was very common in the olden days , especially during the war , when most of the youth left their parents at home, for war. When their parents died in their absence, the kinsmen (or kinsman) available buries the dead , hoping that the son that went to war will return alive to bury the father.
The parent will be buried as “Ozu Okpoo“

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“Ozu Okpoo” can also occur when the remains of the deceased is in dispute. For instance, When a titled person dies and his family cannot afford the things required to bury him , he is committed to the mother-earth while his funeral rites are postponed until his family is able to provide the things needed for his burial.

Then the titled man is Buried as “Ozu Okpoo”

Lets also Take the case of Mr Okafor Ofor from Okpuno Nnewichi who died on Dec 2023 , his family fixed his burial for Jan 7 , 2024 , however , his corpse was put into the mother-earth immidietly because his family didn’t have money to spend on keeping his corpse in mortuary, coupled with the fact that in Nnewi , no burial is held between December 1 and Jan 2nd of the follwing year.

On January 7 , 2024 , the funeral rites of Late Mr Okafor Ofor will be done for him as “Ozu Okpoo” .

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In a Nutshell , when a corpse is buried without any funeral ceremony , for the funeral ceremony to be postponed to a later date for whatever reason .
That Funeral ceremony is called “Ikwa Ozu Okpoo” , while the “already buried” corpse is referred to as “Ozu Okpoo”.

NOTE: The names and places we used here are all fiction, we just used them for this particular illustration.