Stella Dimoko Korkus.com: Asoebi Craze In Igboland

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Tuesday, February 04, 2020

Asoebi Craze In Igboland




Just where did Ndigbo borrow this asoebi culture from? Things were not always like this







How do you guys cope with this ‘asoebi’ thing because I'm really not understanding again o.


Imagine, I have 4 nylon sacks of asoebi clothes i have collected in the last 1 to 2 years alone that i want to give away. Within this same period, i have given out several too. As i write this, i have 3 with the tailor for February 2020 events and the month has just started. I have 4 more not yet sewn for upcoming events as you can see in the attached picture. Some people get offended if you attend their functions but don’t wear their asoebi. They see it as if you don’t want to identify with them.


Due to raging feuds in some families, i sometimes get 2 different asoebi clothes for the same event.
 On a weekly basis, i get invited to all sorts of events; burials, weddings etc and i am expected to wear asoebi to all of them.


Just where did Ndigbo borrow this asoebi culture from? Things were not always like this. It does get a bit too much i should think.


My hometown Enugwu-Ukwu, in Njikoka LGA of Anambra state is making moves to ban the asoebi craze, limiting it only to members of the immediate family of the bereaved. Already burials have been compressed into one day activity only, and menu during burials limited to 2 choices only. Hopefully, the asoebi policy will work too but that is scratching the surface.


Ndigbo biko nụ, we have to look into this.


By Uche Nworah

87 comments:

  1. Aso-ebi culture originated from the Yorubas.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aso Ebí is the party uniform for relatives in Yorùb culture, while Aso Egbéjodá is the uniform for society in an event.

      People of this generation use it to milk people dry which shouldn't be so.

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    2. Ehn ehn must you follow everything Yoruba's do ? don't you have your own culture and traditions.

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    3. wow... All I saw up there was Enugwu-Ukwu. I'm from there too.

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    4. The most annoying thing is buying Ankara of 3k and tailor will want to collect 7-8k to sow it. Abeg I don't have money for any asoebi this year.

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    5. Anon 14:32 . Yoruba ‘s copy omugwo from Igbos too.”

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    6. The Yorubas didnt copy Omugwo. They have Olojojo Omo. You can google it. The only difference between it to the Igbo version is that, the mother in law stays with the couple for Olojojo Omo or the new mum goes to stay with her mother in law. And they are suppose to care for the new mum and baby. They use hot water to massage her under, bathe her and the babies etc. It is because a lot of people have forgotten the true meaning of their cultural rites (including the wedding rites) that they misinterpret it, abuse it and take advantage of it.

      I read on this blog that Yoruba mothers in law now expect their daughters in law to cook for them, run errands for them and attend to them after childbirth. It isnt suppose to be like that and it was never like that. It is the mothers in law and aunts in law that take care of the new mum and baby. While family's kids run errands for all of them.

      P.S.

      Aso-ebi (Family Attire) - for relatives only

      Aso egbe (Group Attire) - for friends and loved ones. It isnt compulsory. It is not always even given as an option, i.e. some people dont choose any for their events. It isnt a necessity.

      Aso egbejoda (Group Contributed Attires) - attire that is used to raise money for an event by a group of people, i.e. the money for the attire from that specific group is used for the party or part of the party's needs.


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    7. And oh, furthermore, for Olojojo Omo, the new mum's mother stays for 40 days while her mother in law stays longer. Some stay for a month, some stay 3 months, some stay longer than that. It depends on the culture of the family she is married into as well. But she has a right to have her mum stay with her for 40 days at either her marital home or the husband's family home.

      Delete
  2. I went for a wedding 2 weeks ago, but I did not sew the cloth. It currently sits somewhere In my house. This year, I plan to limit it to the barest minimum.

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  3. You are a tribalistic and low key racist Nigerian. Daz all i see in your write up.

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  4. A lot of people do the asoebi thing to try and see if they can make money for their event by doubling or trippling the price, sometimes dey will realize more people will owe them than the ones that will pay

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  5. Both the word *asoebi* and the craze you speak of were borrowed from the Yorubas, who do asoebi for any event you can think of. e remain for them to dey do asoebi for waking up and asoebi for recieving monthly salary. It is their OWANBE culture


    I weak sometime a girl's family did asoebi on her SS3 graduation

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hahahahahahahahahahahaha. Asoebi for ss3 graduation🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 you no well

      Delete
    2. 😂😂😂😂😂😂

      Delete
    3. Ebi means relatives. Aso ebi is meant for family and relatives

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  6. And yet people complain of not being financially buoyant.

    Stop buying!

    I stopped wearing asoebi long time ago after I had a very bad experience.

    I will come to your party well dressed for the occasion, buy you present and also spray you money if necessary, but I will never buy any aosebi.

    Asoebi used to be a Yoruba/Edo thing, but I think it is now compulsory all over Nigeria.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Same here, I hardly buy asoebi.

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    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    3. Same i dont buy. It's not by force oh.

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    4. it's a Yoruba thing not Edo.

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    5. You are right Ms. A. One of my resolutions this year is to cut it. Its just inconviniencing oneself to make people happy.

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    6. Over here the money you'll use to sew ashoebi will be expensive than the money you spent in buying... instead of me to buy, I will go to river island or Debenhams to shop for better dress

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    7. it's a Yoruba thing. Even from the name. Aso - Ebi

      Delete
  7. Somebody lost a loved one and he or she is tasked with heavy financial burden, is the loss not enough burden already?
    And the wedding aspect of it is nauseating. People spend a lifetime fortune to wed and borrow also only to become penury after the events.
    That is the genesis of most chronicles we read here. And the ladies are always like "let my wedding be like my mates". In the end you are the one to suffer it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm tired of this asoebi thing too. Birthday, you sell asoebi,
    Wedding, asoebi in different styles sef,
    Burial/funeral, asoebi(when you're not even sure where the person is going🙄),
    Matric, asoebi even graduation too,
    Childbirth asoebi,
    Naming asoebi,
    Thanksgiving asoebi,
    Leaving Nigeria asoebi and so on.
    For a Yoruba person, this list is not even extensive. Federal government should just ban it...mbok

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hahahahahahahahahahahaha. Which one is matric asoebi and childbirth asoebi again😂😂😂😂😂😂🤣🤣

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    2. 😂😂😂😂😂🤣

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  9. Seriously the asoeboi crase is too much. I remember then when we buried my dad 20 years ago, though I was just a little gal in pri.3, but I can recollect that it was only our immediate family that wore a particular cloth...it wasn't even called asoebi. The uniform is usually used to distinguish the members of the family from others.
    But nowadays, when u attend burial, u see different uniforms everywhere.
    Asoebi is worn in almost every occasion now, even during priestly ordination, it is the asoebi that u will use to know how many people came for each of the ordained.

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  10. It was copied from the Yoruba's.
    Same way they wear Yoruba attire during their traditional wedding.
    I’m tired of my people sometimes.

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    Replies
    1. Nne your people must be from a different planet because ndi igbo don't wear youruba attire for their traditional wedding except one of them is youruba then they wear both igbo and youruba attires. My friend from anambra married an edo man, during their traditional wedding they wore both outfits.

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    2. Which yoruba attire? Is it isi agu abi what borrowed attire are you talking about?

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    3. Anon 13:40, I wasn’t talking about my people specifically but igbos in general. Do you know how many times I’ve seen Igbo couples( both bride and groom being Igbo) wearing agbada, aso-oke and fila for their trad?
      If you follow all these wedding pages on IG, you’ll notice it’s not a rarity. It’s been normalized.

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    4. keep quiet anon. Most of the traditional people wear to church is Yoruba up and down. Even for weddings i have seen plenty bride and groom change into native agbada and iro buba lace for the night party.

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    5. @Euphoria, i agree with you. It irks me when i see Igbos (both bride and groom) wear yoruba traditional wears for their traditional wedding, something the Yorubas would NEVER do. Is that your culture?

      And no, this is not a tribalism thing.

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    6. But Euphoria is right. My friend wore Yoruba outfit for her wedding. Herself and her hubby. Complete iro, buba, ipele and Agbada. I know this because I helped her get them and sent them to her as she didn't get married in Naija. She's full Igbo. Her husband is as well. Don't be quick to call somebody a liar if you haven't experienced or seen something. She wore the outfit cos she loves it and they both looked really good. She wore three outfits.Two George outfits and the Yoruba outfit.

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    7. Agbada is senegalese culture, and uniforms have always being un the east but not these way, you see married women wear uniform 'nkpulu oka' for burial or horse hollandaise but not these type that they change Ankara for every occasion.

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    8. But a lot ofbyoruba ladies are also learning how to cook Igbo soup because they dont really have much native soup.

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    9. Anon 18:28, obe egusi, obe apon (which the Igbos call ogbono), obe ofada, ikokore (porridge/stew version), obe ata dindin, obe eja, obe eja tutu, obe eja osan, obe efo, obe efo elegusi, obe egusi onikoko, gbegiri, ila alasepo, ewedu alasepo, obe ata ati ewedu, obe ata ati ila, obe egusi Ijebu, obe awo, obe onigba, obe eja dindin, obe imoyo, obe shombo, obe eran, I can go on...those are some of the Yoruba stew/soups. It is an insult to constantly write online or even tell false facts offline about a culture you dont know.

      A lot of Nigerian women are learning to cook food from both southern and notherner parts of the country as part of cultural assimilation.

      Moreover, some of our ingredients and cultural rites in general are similar. Like the Ijebu have ogiri. And from the internet, I learnt the Igbo also have it. The ijebu version is called Ogiri Ijebu, same as their Garri. Garri Ijebu is completely different to other Garri.

      Stella, stop hoarding my comments!

      Delete
  11. You're facing the challenge because you lack the ability to say No when you ought.
    Nobody pointed gun on your head that you must buy. You're just a man pleaser.

    ReplyDelete
  12. One idiot of a girl that have not even seen husband just deceived I and my girl friends and sold asoebi cloth to us. Up till now we are still waiting for her to tell us the date of her wedding. Infact I have dash my mum the cloth 😁

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hahahaa😂😂😂😂

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    2. Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Maybe she wants you people to sew the cloth now to avoid rush rush🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

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    3. Maybe the wedding got called off and she's embarrassed to announce it. Cut her some slack

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    4. Hahahahaha you don't say😃😃😃

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  13. It’s not by force to buy! If you don’t want to buy don’t! Attend the event if you can, give gift to those celebrating.
    I can’t kill myself.

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    Replies
    1. You are right CFV. This year, I have made up my mind abeg

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  14. I don't buy asobi, neither do i wear nor attend parties.

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  15. I am Yoruba and we never in my family did any of the aso ebi nonsense. In fact everyone knew where my father stood on this issue that no one dared to offer us any aso ebi. When he died people we told people to wear what ever they had in his favourite colour and we the children did the same. We just need to discipline ourselves on this issue and stop wasting precious resources.

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  16. If asobi is nt free forget it,I will wear what I have, I hate nonsense

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  17. I remember one of my husband’s friend wedding I attended without wearing asoebi, the bouncer said it’s only my husband that can sit down where they reserved for couple’s friend cos he is wearing asoebi but I can’t go with him, my husband was very angry and embarrassed he told us to leave, that how can he sit in a different place from his wife, some of his friends begged him to stay, they made a separate space for us and others that came with their spouses who didn’t wear asoebi....the funny thing that happened is most people that sat at the designated place for couples friends didn’t get food, some just managed to get drinks they sat down squeezing their faces and complaining but on my table we ate, drank and got plenty souvenirs, we even got phones as sourvenir. In my mind I was happy I got bounced, if not ehn I will be among the people complaining. Weeks after the wedding we saw the groom and he apologized to my husband about what happened that it was one of his friends that gave the bouncer that silly instruction.

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    Replies
    1. Ah! That one can make the asoebi melt off someone's back and make them lose appetite for weeks.

      Delete
  18. When my friend did her wedding,she bought asoebi but didn't sell it instead she gifted it. If it touches your heart you can choose to give her money IF YOU WISH.

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  19. If i can recall correctly, back in the day asoebi was only for family members "aso" cloth "ebi" family. And it was the yorubas that wore same clothing during an event. I remember back then in the 90s people would attend weddings with what they had and the hosts of the events along with their family members would wear the same fabric. But around early 2000 the whole craze started and has gotten worse now. Asoebi wasn't sold for my wedding but my sisters decided to buy the same fabric and used that. My brothers wore what they wanted. These days, your presence at the event is not even important, just buy the asoebi and you can refuse to turn up if you like. Sometimes you will even receive your "thanks for coming" souvenir immediately after purchase.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is not completely true, in the east the family wore same outfit for burial and the women's group have a particular hollandaise they wear for burial and another for wedding, eg catholic women wear the same uniform for function everywhere in the east, once you see those women you can easily tell what occasion they are heading for but it is that same uniform not that the family will sell any Ankara to anyone.

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    2. In the east, during burial people come with hollandaise, or nigerian wax,yams money etc as a gift to the dead, you will see plenty nigerian wax placed by the side of the coffin.

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    3. We're not talking about Uniform clothes for church, Baptist women also wear uniform clothes (WMU) Yoruba made Asoebi popular. They do a lot of parties. Everyone knows this and they pick clothes for these parties

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  20. is not by force to buy asoebi, if i don't have power i will tell you no need to stress myself on that.

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  21. I just see asoebi of one's little way of supporting the people doing something. It's never compulsory, u either buy or u don't. When I can afford, I buy (even if I don't sew it) and when I can't afford, I don't buy. It's no Biggie. Nigerians are just find of complaining of everything and anything

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  22. An old classmate just posted on our group chat of her up coming wedding and guess d amount? 35k for d lace
    In this bubu regime, I will count 35k to buy aso ebi? She is very high on water

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    Replies
    1. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣. Peppa, high on water kwa? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

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  23. Asoebi is a Yoruba thing. I think it started in the 90's most tribes have emulated it. Some people pick Asoebi for uniformity, some to make extra money but really, it's never a do or die affair. Nobody is going to put a gun to your throat to buy. If you don't want to, You can simply excuse yourself.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you say selling of Ado ebi is a yoruba thing I will agree with you but back then, families wore similar clothes for events but yorubas introduced the Monetary part to the whole thing.

      Delete
  24. Who sent you to buy? Did they put a gun to your face? You just brought this here so Igbos will get bashed by other tribes. Nonsense

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    Replies
    1. shut up castle and quit being childish. a topic for discussion is meant for bashing? why should igbos get bashed? everything una go turn upside down

      Delete
  25. It is not by force to buy aso-ebi. I want to use myself as example, in my place of work and church noboy brings aso-ebi to me because they know I will not buy.

    Aso-ebi is wasting of money. If you refuse to buy you wont be cruxify, but because majority of people do not want to be tag as enemy they buy even when they cant pay their Children's school fees.

    I got married about 20 years ago, I did not do aso-ebi. When I lost my mother I didnt do aso-ebi so how will someone come and force me to buy aso-ebi. Aso ebi ko, aso family ni.

    ReplyDelete
  26. If you don't buy my aso ebi no food for you-a popular Yoruba slogan goes like this no aso ebi no semovita

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    Replies
    1. You are so right about the saying

      Delete
  27. That's how my mom's friend tagged 70k for a branded ankara, during her mother in law's burial.
    My mom had to call her to know if she kinda made mistake with the sum, she confirmed that she meant what she wrote.
    Ooooooh chimuooo, for a lady that my mom didn't even know sef.
    Of course she declined and the lady didn't find it funny with her, my mum told her if you feel so strongly about it, give it to me for free, that was the end of discussion😂😂😂

    An ankara that is 6k you expect someone to cough out 70k as per CBN madam?

    ReplyDelete
  28. I'm Yoruba and I pray that churches should ban aso ebi for church members.

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    Replies
    1. Of what use is the ban? Don't lose your identity. Moderation is the keyword if sales is outside the church.

      Delete
  29. Bought a wedding aso ebi for 13k only for me to discover it's 4k in the market. Was not given any souvenir. Didn't buy her a gift. She don collect her gift indirectly.

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  30. We love saying things we are not sure of with confidence, it reminds me of August meetings with women and their wahala, same uniform problems in a different way and name.

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  31. Nothing wrong in identifying with the celebrating family in whatever event.And yes as the name implies, it's origin is from the Yorubas and dates back to the early begining just like spraying of money. These are all old Yoruba traditions that have been adopted by other tribes. It is not by force and you as an individual needs to be redponsible enough to say no and most especially when you cannot afford it. Aso ebi gives me the opportunity to sew traditional or ethnic outfits because you can never catch me going out to buy material. Another way to avoid spending so much is to look at the color and check if you have similar colors. You can always rock your similar material.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My grandfather died in 1973 (Yes, I was about 5 -6 then) and we, the immediate, extended and close family friends wore the same type of ankara as uniform. Of course, it was not called aso ebi, but "ofong ikpo". The Yorubas may have made it popular but it has always existed in most cultures in Nigeria. And spraying of money has also always existed. We have always "kop okuk or kop mkpo" when someone does performs great or does exceeding well in a feat. It could be dancing well especially our traditional dances, passing exams, etc but it is called spraying now; courtesy of the Yorubas. I am from AK/CR.

      Delete
  32. Aso ebi is a Yoruba thing and it precedes the 90's.
    It's an old thing maybe as far as the late 60's.
    Then there was also Aso Egbe which was of a different fabric than Aso Ebi.
    Why should govt or church ban it?
    All of y'all are adults if you can't buy you can't buy niyen. No body will force you. The ability to say no and mean it is an individual thing that doesn't need govt to curate. Soon y'all will ask govt to come mediate in family affairs.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Stella people young for your blog o. My wedding 35 years ago in Benin City. My siblings, close family friends wore same aso oke(1985)and so many turned up. During the traditional we sold and wore wax. I remember then in Benin as funerals are always well celebrated, we sold fabrics to many. I am talking 1980s. So if that was happening in Benin City, Lagos was surely selling aso oke.

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  34. I no dey buy or sell aso-ebi if you like squeeze your face.

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  35. Naso my old friend called me this year to ask if I will buy ashoebi of 12k this Buhari and sonwolu regime, and she want to give another person a job that am supposed to do in th wedding ceremony oo and is on Easter Monday ooo wey be better season, I kuku tell her, let's see how it goes cos am sure am not even attending the trad cos I will be working somewhere that day,
    I dont sell ashoebi and I don't buy if you want me to shew ashoebi for you na free I go collect am

    ReplyDelete
  36. alot of these issues come up to personal choices and how you are able to uphold your principles. asoebino be by force. i decided along time ago that i was not going to join the rat race in some aspects of life especially in lagos where i have long lived.i dont fake myself or others. i.e i dont do all that office buy buy then month end i use half of my salary to pay debts. i have a bag load of asoebi that i choose to buy cos i wanted to. i mostly buy some to show solidarity and dont even attend half of the events especially those outside lagos. some i buy cos i just like the fabric even though i wont attend. i have refused to buy some that i felt were too expensive. a resolution i made this year however was to also not buy if the fabric is not good quality. Dec I bought ankara for a colleagues fathers burial 4k, made a jumpsuit 10k only to find out that the fabric was fading. i was very upset so decided this year no more sentiments, even if i just want to identify with you if i am not convinced of the quality of fabric sef i wont bother. after all na my money

    ReplyDelete

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