31/05/2025
"The Kola Nut and the Wisdom of the Ancestors"
A Story Inspired by Igbo Culture
Long ago, in the heart of Ala Igbo—the land of the Igbo people—there lived a wise elder named Papa Uchenna. He was known throughout the village of Umuaka not only for his grey beard and calm eyes, but for the stories he told, which carried the spirit of the ancestors and the truth of the Igbo way of life.
Every evening, as the sun melted into the red clay earth, the children of the village gathered under the udara tree, waiting for Papa Uchenna to speak.
On one such evening, he held up a kola nut in his wrinkled hand and smiled.
> “Do you see this?” he asked.
“This is not just a nut. This is our way of saying, ‘You are welcome. You matter. You are home.’”
He cracked it open, shared it among the children, and continued:
> “In Igbo culture, we do not begin any important gathering without the kola nut. We present it with respect, pray over it, and break it. It teaches us the value of community, respect, and hospitality.”
The children chewed silently, listening closely.
“Once, a young man named Obinna left the village to seek riches in the city. He wore a suit, carried a phone, and forgot how to greet elders properly. He did not know the sound of the ogene anymore, or the steps of the egwu nwa, our traditional dance.”
> “But when trouble came, when the city rejected him, and the world seemed to forget his name, where did he return to?”
The children answered in unison:
“Home!”
Papa Uchenna nodded.
“Yes. And when he returned, what did we do? We did not ask about his wealth. We gave him the kola nut. We welcomed him with the beat of the udu drum and the scent of ofe nsala. Because Igbo culture is not about how far you go, but how deeply you stay rooted.”
He paused, then pointed toward the moon above.
> “Our ancestors watch from the moon, from the stars, from the winds. They speak through our proverbs, which are the palm oil with which words are eaten.”
Then he told a proverb:
> “A man who does not know where the rain began to beat him cannot know where he dried his body.”
(Nwoke amaghi ebe mmiri bidoro m’atu ya, amaghi ebe o bidoro ikpo ya.)
And with that, the children clapped, and Papa Uchenna bowed slightly, the way all Igbo men greet the earth — with humility.
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What the Story Reflects:
This tale captures core Igbo cultural values:
Community and hospitality (symbolized by the kola nut)
Respect for elders and tradition
The power of oral storytelling
Proverbs as tools of wisdom
Ancestral reverence
Identity and rootedness
Ken Nkem
Nelly Onwuzulike
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