Origin of the four market days in igbo land 1
The Four Market Days in Igbo Land In Igbo land, there are four important market days: Eke, Orie, Afor, and Nkwa. These four market days are so important that they are observed in all the communities in Igbo Land. The four market days were first introduced to Igbo culture during the time of the fifth of the Nri line of succession (Eze Nri I). The story goes that one night, the king's servant, Adamma, brought four wise strangers to the king's palace. The four men were disguised as deaf and dumb, and they did not mention their names or mission to the kingdom of Nri. Each of them was carrying a nkata, which translates to basket. Adamma took the four men to the king's chamber and presented them with an oji - kolanut. However, the four men did not greet the king warmly but did not accept the oji later that night, the soothsayers showed the wise strangers where to sleep, but at some point in the night, a rat sneaked into their room and started to eat from the first basket belonging to Eke. Oye woke Eke up and said, “Eke, a rat is in your basket,” and Eke ran away. The rat did the same thing on the other baskets, and all of them told each other their names. The strangers, who had previously been called ‘ni bialu ike ekwu ike’ (visitors that don’t speak’), were surprised to hear their names spoken by Eze Niyofor I.
The next morning, the king went to the strange people’s room to welcome them and to carry out the morning kola nut ritual. As Adamma was breaking the nuts, the king began to call each of the strangers by name.The visiting wise strangers asked for water to clean their hands and face; and took the oji they had been presented.
After consuming the oji, the King
received four earthen pots
and instructed him to keep them
in front of the shrine of Nri Menri
before the obu
with each pot facing the sun.
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