“Bete anụ bete anụ ọkwa n'ahụ nnama!”
Contributed By Brown Isiodu, Umunjam, Mbieri.
[Variants Posted x 1]
Chukwuemeka Umeh: Mata anu mata anu bukwa so n'ahu efi.
for iFaT at ifont@groups.facebook.com
© ifont 2011, as it appears here.
A proverb of slaughter houses and cows. What can we say about that? Yeah, it is gory and not an easy sight. Yet in Igbo land as well as elsewhere, we consume loads and loads of the stuff. Meat, meat and more meat. The proverb means, 'Cut the meat, cut the meat; all this on the cow's flesh? Poor cow!' - I was paraphrasing. But if you can, look past all the blood and observe the sympathy which the elders had for their animals. If you stretch the imagination a bit, it is not hard to imagine the elders expressing this idea of care for cows to all of God's creation. When a great man or woman dies in Igbo land, it is usually an occasion for the slaughter of animals, especially cows. So rampant is the practise that as early as 1968 in his 'Ahiara Declaration', the late Igbo leader, Gen. Ojukwu, decried the practise of rich Ibos' slaughtering cows in christening ceremonies for their babies. Next time you sit down with your bowl of flesh, spare a thought for the poor cows.
A proverb of slaughter houses and cows. What can we say about that? Yeah, it is gory and not an easy sight. Yet in Igbo land as well as elsewhere, we consume loads and loads of the stuff. Meat, meat and more meat. The proverb means, 'Cut the meat, cut the meat; all this on the cow's flesh? Poor cow!' - I was paraphrasing. But if you can, look past all the blood and observe the sympathy which the elders had for their animals. If you stretch the imagination a bit, it is not hard to imagine the elders expressing this idea of care for cows to all of God's creation. When a great man or woman dies in Igbo land, it is usually an occasion for the slaughter of animals, especially cows. So rampant is the practise that as early as 1968 in his 'Ahiara Declaration', the late Igbo leader, Gen. Ojukwu, decried the practise of rich Ibos' slaughtering cows in christening ceremonies for their babies. Next time you sit down with your bowl of flesh, spare a thought for the poor cows.
The cow is merely proverbial here. It is about having numerous expectations from an individual (or situation) without regard for the limitations of the individual.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Agam. My education continues ... I was totally off my rocks ... but that's the beauty of a proverb. An interpretation is one of many ways of viewing a given proverb.
ReplyDelete