MOURNING WIVES, MOTHERS, FATHERS, AND CHILDREN'S DEATH IN ANCIENT AND MODERN ETTE
Mourning the death is one of the serious traditions attached to death and burial in Ette. The magnitude and duration of mourning from family to family and from age of one deceased to another. All mourning terminates after the burial ceremony except women mourning their husbands.
MOURNING UNDER AGED CHILDREN AND GROWN-UP (UNMARRIED)
.Children between one to fourteen years are mourned for a week after which the parents or the immediate family may resume their normal life and activities. Grown-up between fifteen to twenty years may be mourned for about two weeks, and slightly more for those above that age.
MOURNING FATHERS AND MOTHERS DEATH
.For those who have the money to do the immediate burial, mourning is limited to four weeks of death. In other way, the family may resume their normal activities few days after the burial ceremony. But where burial is not immediate, postponed or fixed far in advance beyond a month or two, mourning may be limited to two weeks to enable the children resume work and source for funds to enable them give a befitting burial. Where the father or mother survived by under aged children, burial is always done by the husband immediately and mourning terminates.
MOURNING WIFE'S DEATH
.Mourning wife death is a little bit different. Where the deceased woman had working class children and who are well to do, burial may be conducted and mourning is limited to four weeks of death. Where the woman is survived by under aged children and the husband only, burial is always done by the husband immediately and mourning terminates. For women in this category (those survived by under aged children) husbands at liberty to be present for ceremony, any items they could afford. Another way, where the children are tender aged, the burial could be done when they grown-up, in this case, mourning can terminates three to four weeks.
PLACE OF BURIAL FOR MEN
The burial place for any man is his matrimonial house or personal house. Any man of age who has no house of his own would be taken to nearby bush and buried in a hurriedly assembled mooch house made of palm fronds. This is mockery and it is a very serious issue because every man of age is expected to have a house before death. It doesn't not matter if the house is a thatch one. Then for under age children and boys, any suitable place as may be decided by the family.
ETTE (ETE) LOCATION
Physically, Ette is presently located on the border between the Igalas in Kogi and the Igbos in Enugu States. It is this dilemma of location that the colonial masters wrongly truncated the Igala and Idoma speaking people of Igala origin into the Eastern region in 1924 for administrative convenience.
To the North it's bounded by Odogomu, Ejule-Ofante and Ofante all in Olamaboro LGA of Kogi State, and to the South it's bounded by Amaka, Angba and Angba river all in Igala-Mela LGA of kogi state. On the west, it's bounded by Ogugu, Ogene, Adumu and Emonaja all in Olamaboro LGA of Kogi State, and to the East by Umopu, Aji, Umueze, Ikem ( which were formally Ette territory before the war) all in Igbo Eze North LGA of Enugu State.
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