There comes a time in the life of every girl when she is no longer a girl and yet not quite a woman.
It is at this stage that her parents prepare her for the ceremony of COMING OF AGE.
In the Calabar and Rivers Provinces of Eastern Nigeria, this ceremonies are performed in Fattening Rooms, ranging from six weeks to six months depending on the results wanted.
Fattening rooms are, as the name implies, places where girls are deliberately overfed to make them grow fat.
But a fattening room is much more than that.
It is the place where the tribe's conception of an ideal woman is artistically produced.
For the people of Calabar, the ideal woman must be plump, for a plump girl is considered beautiful and healthy.
The belief is that size depicts wealth and status.
The girl is therefore overfed by professional elderly women.
Whilst in the Fattening room the girl is not allowed to do any hard work.
The elderly women either bath her or supervise her bathing.
She is not allowed to play any vigorous game nor have any excitement.
Beauty is believed to consist not only of a plump body but also a smooth skin and graceful movement.
So the body of the girl in the fattening room is massaged and oiled to perfection.
Her skin is cleaned with bentoniteclay, camwood amongst others.
These give her body a smoothness and a glow which most cometics cannot give.
The fattening room does not just add a good dose of flesh to her hips, it is the place where the would be Calabar bride is taught what no other tribe has taught their women.
How to develop the habits and character that endears her to her man.
She is also taught the development of the hips that is believed to prepare her for wifehood and motherhood.
These are the hips that keep the eyes of men fixed on where she wants them to see.
She is also taught on how to take care of and satisfy her man. You are free to run wild with your imaginations as to what I mean by satisfying her man your guess may or may not be correct.
The girl is also taught indigenous dances and the culture of her people as well as the history of her family and tribe.
The FATTENING ROOMS did produce some of the most beautiful women in the world.
