A PEEP AT HOW OZU NWA ADA IS BURIED IN NNEWI

A PEEP AT HOW OZU NWA ADA IS BURIED IN NNEWI

Ini Ozu Nwada ( Burial rites of a Married Nnewi-born Lady) Custom in Nnewi is almost as Old as Nnewi itself , Nnewi Born Females are highly regarded and respected in Nnewi Society . They are force to reckon with .

When an Nnewi-born Married Lady dies , certain burial rites are performed by her Father’s family and husband’s family before she is finally buried .

At the moment of her death , her husband or members of her Husband’s family send to her father or members of her father’s family message informing them of their daughter’s demise.

On the day of the burial , the deceased will be carried from the morgue straight to her father’s compound, it is said that this is a way for the deceased to bid her father’s family the final farewell , however , it must be noted that this is a modern trend .
However , in the olden days , the corpse is taken from the mogue straight to her husband’s house for burial.

On the first day of the burial ceremony, the deceased father’s family will be fully present at the home of husband of the deceased to witness the burial of their sister .

IBUNA OZU NWADA
This particular burial rite takes place on the second day of the burial ceremony, the deceased paternal and maternal grandmother’s family will submit a piece of wrapper each to the father of the deceased family .
The Family of the father of the Late Nwa Ada will then go with the wrappers and some drinks to the home of the husband of the deceased. They will be welcomed and entertained specially after the wrappers have been submitted to the deceaced Husband’s family .

The deceased husband’s family will in turn gather some of the deceased cooking utensils used by the deceased when she was alive , utensils like knives , cooking spoons, ots etc ,they will also get wrappers, an enlarged picture of the deceased, a native hen and big cow or goat (optional) which will all be handed over to father of the deceased family which they will take home with them.

The daughters and daughters in-law ( if she has any ) of the deceased will follow the family of the father of the deceased home, where they will perform what is known as IBU OZU NWADA traditional rites.

The deceased father’s family will carry some of these items mentioned above home in a local meat preserver (ngiga). On getting to the deceased father’s house, a big coconut fruit will be cut into pieces in front of the compound, a native gun is shot many times signalling the community that their “daughter” has arrived home.
The deceased daughter(s) and daughter(s)-in-law will dance around with their mother’s enlarged picture,afterwards they will be entertained by the deceaced father’s family.

The enlarged picture of the deceased is then hanged in her father’s Obi and the ngiga (with the items inside ) is hanged at the entrance of the compound or at the Obi (where the picture was hanged ) .
This concludes the ceremony of Ibu ozu nwada