Traditional Naming Ceremony
Naming Ceremony
On the 29th September 1956
In the dusty village of
Onicha-Olona, a male child
To Okeleke and Dele
Modungwo was born.
Forcing forth from Dele’s
Strong, young body was
A child with golden hair.
A rarity.
Flecked and slippery with blood
And bawling
Okeleke ecstatic
That his nwadiokpala
Has been born.
A prideful knowledge.
On the eighth day true
To tradition, to the child
A name was given.
At dusk gathered the kindred
With needed materials in
Front of the Diokpa
Who lifted the child to
The admiration of all gathered
And so commenced the naming
Ritual centuries formulated.
The honey he tasted and
Placed in the mouth of the child;
“May your life be as
Sweet as honey.”
A piece of dried fish he took
And inserted in the child’s mouth;
“May you multiply like the fish.”
Salt he took and placed in
The child’s tongue
“Salt is the sweetest ingredient
In the soup may you never
Be outshined.”
Alligator pepper was next
He cheeked seven seeds and the paste
In the child’s tongue
“Alligator pepper doesn’t indulge
In a disgraceful venture
So may you never.”
He dipped his forefinger
In a bowl of palm oil and rubbed it
On the child’s tongue and said,
“May your life be as calm
As palm oil.
He took some powdered white chalk
And placed it in the child’s tongue
“White chalk is a symbol of
Happiness and peace,
May your life be a happy one.
He lifted the child and said,
Your name is Chukwugozi
And so it had been.
Nwadiokpala in Delta Igbo is first son
Diokpa is the eldest man in the kindred
Chukwugozi is child blessed by God.
