Daily Times Nigeria Friday, December 23, 2016
Features
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Fattening Room: A dying tradition among Efiks The origin The ‘Fattening Room’ has a rich history among the Efiks. Historically, the people had embraced it as one remarkable aspect of their culture, which enhances their being and distinguish them from among other various ethnic groups in the region and across the country. However, critical observers, including old and new generations of the Efiks, have offered reasons for the collapse of the tradition. Indeed, Pa Okon Etim Udoh is one of them. Over a keg of fresh palm wine provided to stimulate his memory, 75-years-old Pa Okon Etim Udoh, of Ikot Bonde, in Uyo, offered some clue into the history and current developments about the culture, saying that, in the beginning, the fattening room was to prepare a maiden to become a successful wife and mother. He said, “The original purpose of isolating the Efik maiden was not to make her fat; it was to induct the young maidens into the ancient knowledge and art required to be successful in womanhood and motherhood, which are key structures of family building in the good old Efik tradition”. According to him, “In the 30 days period, the young maiden is taught the skills of domestic science, especially in areas of cooking and cleanliness; understanding the management culture and politics of the immediate and extended family in married life and, above all, the art of taking quality care of her husband, especially in the very sensitive matter of love making.” He said, “However, the branding, popularly known as, “fattening room,” gained notoriety because the essence of staying at home for so many months eventually results in weight gain.” Efik scholar and building engineer, Aniedoabasi Inyanguwem paints a deeper picture of the origin of the culture. He said, “Mothers in Efik are known to be very thorough in teaching their daughters everything they need about feminism, womanhood and motherhood, and even the way a lady should walk, talk and carry herself in and outside the village.” Inyanguwem said, “You will hear a typical Efik mother rebuke her daughter for sitting carelessly; “come on, sit down properly! Don’t you know you’re a girl?” and “Don’t stand like that.” He said, it was something girls looked upon that everything she needs to know about motherhood, womanhood, and about love making, her mother and grandmother will teacher her. According to him, “Those things were both expected and accepted; the day she is circumcised, they’ll tell her why she is being circumcised.”
The fattening room, a culture once adored by the Efiks in the present day Cross River State, South South Nigeria, is fading, no thanks to civilisation, among other issues. Features editor, GOD’s COVENANT SNR, explains why families now abandon the tradition
Maidens dancing after a successful fattening operation. Inset: A fattened lady
He said, “In her first menstruation, she is told the significance of it and taught how to manage it properly and discretely. Then, when her breasts fully mature, she is taken through the use and value and challenges the breasts will mean and pose in her life. They will tell her the meaning of making love and lecture her on how to please her husband, the dynamics of love making and the very important necessity of satisfying her husband.” He dismissed as lies, the myth that Calabar or Akwa Ibom women use charm to snatch husbands from their friends, or neighbours, saying, “There’s no Calabar or Akwa Ibom woman that would go out of her way to make juju to take over a man’s heart. It is her training, her comportment that matter. It is the attention they give to their men with knowledge and skill of their training that also suffice.” He said, “Let me give you one example of one man who went to work in the Nigeria Ports Authority. “When he leaves for work, the girl would change the bed sheet, clear his bag, wash his pants; and when the man is bathing, she scrubs the heels of his legs with a sharp stone. She gave the man so much attention.” Noting that this attitude was typical of those women in those days, he said that, “She would give him tapioca and cover
it with some tapestry. When he’s eating and he coughs, she would reach out, touch his neck and say, ‘Sorry sir’; and give him water to drink; and, watching him closely, she would ask, ‘hope you’re okay?’ He said, “This pampering works on everybody. There’s no charm to it. The Efik woman will blow your mind in all aspects of domesticity and in romance. There’s no medicine about it.” Child bearing One important advantage of the Fattening Room tradition is to teach the girl about giving birth. According to him, “When the girl gives birth for the first time, she is taken to her mother’s home where she would be looked after as a mother, no longer as the girl she used to be before she got married, so when she returns to her husband, she is a full blown woman and looks fat and succulent; then, people will say ‘yes o, you’ve done well’ because, this is done at the total expense of the bride’s mother. Of course, in those days, being fat was a sign of wealth!” Why exactly has the tradition been abandoned? Inyanguwem added that, “Well, all the while, the fattening room culture has some challenges. When you’re taking your daughter to the fattening room,
all the diabolical attacks of the family, community and of perceived enemies will come play.” According to him, “Majority of the girls die while still in the fattening room. The mortal rate got so high that families began to run away from the fattening room tradition. A culture that began solely to prepare a young maiden to be a wonderful wife and mother and a pride to all, began to involve the hiring of herbalists with all their concoctions to ward off evil attacks in attempt to preserve the life of the maiden, and so on. After sometime, people didn’t think it was worth their while.” He said, “Another problem was the distance; nobody was prepared to take a pregnant wife to the village to go and deliver and spend months so that she will be groomed to handle motherhood, so the culture started going down. It is no longer in vogue, especially now that nobody wants a fat wife fresh from the fattening room anymore”! For him,”People find that you work in the ministry or some corporate organisations; you have a full wardrobe, then, you return from the fattening room and all the clothes in your wardrobe are condemned because you’re now fat and probably short as a result; not many Calabar ladies are tall; so, nobody wants to go through that anymore.”