CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Human behaviour is not only governed by rational decision making, sometimes often have shared values and standards of acceptable behaviour that members of the society are encouraged to follow. A culture of a society guides the behaviour and the thoughts of their members by agreed upon expectations and rules. The list of behavioural guidelines is typically referred to as social norms, while the unacceptable behaviours are tagged taboos (Fershtman, 2011).

A taboo is a prohibition against a certain act for moral or religious reasons. The word ‘taboo’ came from the Polynesian language where it means a religious restriction, or to break which would entail or attract some automatic punishment (Douglas, 2009). In simple terms, a taboo is a prohibited act.

Taboos were introduced to regulate the moral order of the society. They took their origin from the fact that people discerned that there were certain things which were morally approved or disapproved by the deity (Chukwuka, 2012). These are not contained in any written law but are preserved in the tradition. Taboos and superstitions were often regarded as integral part of traditional education. Taboos are put in place to safeguard the earth. Ekpunobi and Ezeaku (1990) opined that taboos are central to the socialization process, and thus ensure public peace, unity and stability of the society. In religious taboos, the forbidden item is believed to be unclean or sacred, and the taboo is imposed for protection against the item’s power. Violation of these prohibitions is considered moral, spiritual and social pollution of the land, requiring appropriate ritual for the purification of the offender and the community in order to appease the earth goddess (Obika, 2013).

In the traditional Igbo society, taboos were held in high esteem for the sake of preserving the land. Contravening any of them is regarded as abomination (nso ala or aru). According to Arinze (1970), abomination in the first place embraces serious personal and moral crimes according to Igbo morality. Taboos are not strange or new, it is a common thing for every town, culture or village to have one form of taboo or the other. Taboos actually vary from culture to culture, town to town and sometimes village to village. The people of Owerri North in Imo State are not any different. There abound some rules and regulations including taboos which are observed by the people of Owerri North. As well known, human behaviour is not governed by only rational decision making, every society (Owerri

North inclusive) often has shared values and standards of acceptable behaviour which members are encouraged to follow. There are certain behaviour or attitudes that people of Owerri North regard as taboos. Some of them include marrying an outcast popularly referred to as “Osu”, a woman leading or controlling a man, women owning lands or building houses (in their names), sleeping with one’s blood relation among others. Each of these behaviours are regarded as taboo as far as people of Owerri North is concerned. Such actions attract punishment either from a deity or the people of the land.