Memoirs of the village Vol 1- The Village Square

         

I grew up in a small community in Akwa Ibom state called Abak Ifia. It is made up of mostly farmers and raffia makers, my grandmother was a teacher,a head teacher and so was my grandfather,so although we werent rich,we werent poor either. 

Abak Ifia has a Village Square,this is the place were consultations and meetings were held by the elders and village Chief. The Village square is a large open area,surrounded on all angles  by tall willowy trees ,this made the inner part of the square very dark and eerie. Right in front of the square were statues of past village chiefs in a sitting position holding the staffs of office.

It is believed that all village chiefs in Abak Ifia were buried in a sitting position,hence the need to place the statues over their graves ,maybe to show that those ancestors though dead were still very much a part of the community. 

It was also said that village chiefs were buried with  human heads to accompany them to the land of the dead and also serve them there.

Whenever a chief died,there were usually no announcements from the town crier,but news somehow filtered out and people avoided lonely pathways or faraway farms for the fear of being beheaded and buried with the chief,you see the dead chief would be given seven human heads to accompany him to  the land of the beyond!!

Whenever i had to pass through the village square,i'd hold my breath and run as fast as i could through the path to the Mission ,if it was near evening, the fear would triple.

 Chirping birds and the  sway of the trees and the shadows cast would send shivers down my spine. i would run as fast as i could all the while imagining when another chief would die and how i would never want to accompany a chief to the land of the dead.