If you are a foreigner to the way we do things over in Nigeria, or let's say you visiting for the first time. There could be some things that might be strikingly odd to you especially for the first time. It may seem odd in the sense that you have not seen it before, probably you might have heard of it but you just haven't seen it. It is like experiencing things for the first time. Well that's the thing with the Nigerian culture, it is new to those who do not know about it but a regular thing for those who are familiar with it.
To others in the world, the word hi could be enough to pass the message of greeting to the other person but when it comes to Nigerians, that is never enough. Every ethnicity has its unique way of greeting and even different words for greeting but the goal in the end is the same and that is respect. Ranging from the Yorubas to the Hausas, their greetings differ but all the same is the respect. Especially when dealing with the elderly. If you are conversant with blog writing, you will know that I have spoken a lot about different eccentricities of our culture and one of them is the respect for elders. If there is one thing you need to know about the Nigerian people's culture, no matter the tribe, it is strongly rooted in respect. If you ask me, I believe that respect is the genesis of every tribe in Nigeria. It is more like our fore fathers had a round table discussion about setting - up the different tribes in the country, but they could all agree that one thing which must be present is respect, no matter what and to crown it all up respect for the elderly.
For the Yoruba people, their greetings is sync with the time of the day and who is greeting. If it is a male greeting, he has to prostate and if it is a female, she has to kneel when greeting. You know that shaking hands with people is not a part of the Yoruba people's tribe. For more details, if it is a younger person greeting an elderly person with a handshake, that is considered a sign of disrespect. Here is the cultural difference. But the need for respect is needed.
For the Igbo people, their greetings has ties to the well being of the family. It is a part of the greeting to ask about the family. It is seen as highly expected from the other side to ask about the family, which brings about the Igbo word Ndewo. It opens up questions for discussion revolving about the well being of one's family. It is considered cold hearted when such questions about the family's well being are not asked.
While for the Hausa people, their greetings could last several minutes as it also opens the door to further discussions. You could expect to hear words like Ina kwana which means how was your night and from there, the discussion moves on.
With it comes to the Nigerian culture, the respect is rooted in the greeting but it springs up from there. There is always more to come and an opening to further discussions about other things. This why our parents can spend minutes in the market having a lot of conversations especially when they run into someone of their tribe and they try to bargain price in their native language.
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