| We have observed that there could be at least one clan or family compound that could stand on it own as a village. A bigger village has between one to about thirty small compound units. Most Bassa compounds are very large. This is so as to accommodate the whole clan or family members that make up the compounds.
The compounds are built either in a round manner or in a rectangular way. A round compound is possible if the round type of houses are built. If however the rectangular (being the new model houses are buildings) type of houses are built, the compound takes a corresponding rectangular shape.
(PICTURE OF ROUND HOUSE)
In each compound, the most elderly man becomes the head of the family. The day-today administration of the family rests on him. He is also seen as the spiritual leader who performs sacrifices and other traditional functions like child naming for and on behalf of all the members of the family.
A compound is made up of small round or rectangular houses that harbours all the members therein. The round house types have been the earliest and more traditional to the Bassaman. Mclnth (1976) observed that the round house actually appears to be the oldest and most proper architectural type in West African part of the African continent. This roundness is further related to the belief that man emerged from a hole in the earth crust.
Bassa houses are built of mud bricks and covered with thatched grass roof. If the is a round house, it is made on the ground. Able-bodied men then lift it up and place it on top of the house. If for a rectangular house, the roof is made on top the house. While every man has his own house within the compound, each woman married into the family is also allocated a whole house/room to herself. This is probably done to provide for adequate privacy to each member of the family.
This issue of privacy also makes for the spatial nature of Bassa villages. In this area, Omokhodion (1988) notes that:
“Apart from the form of West African architecture, spatial provisions reflect concern for individual privacy as well as formalized distancing needed in magic, ritual or for religious purpose”
While male children sleep in their father rooms, their female counter-parts are housed in their mother’s rooms. A boy is however allocated his own house as he approaches maturity and stage of self-accountability consequently, male children eat from the same calabash with their fathers while the girls do likewise with their mothers. It should be observed however that each family in the compound can have its own separate farm though within the land belonging to the clan. Some families could however join hands to have a common family farm. While that goes on in the farms, at home, the women in a compound cook separately according to their families.
Normally, a man leads his family in the farm work and controls the product of their labour. The family the tie disintegrates as the children get married and desire less control from the parents.
The Bassa are polygamous. A man marries as many wives as he could feed. Each of these wives has her own house within the compound. In the night, it is the women that join their husbands in their houses or rooms as the case may be. If a man has many wives, each of the women go to sleep with the husband at different days in turn. The woman that has the turn to sleep with the husband in a particular night provides water for the man to bath when he comes back from farm the following day. If a woman is nursing a child, she is temporarily excluded from the list of those who have the great privilege of sharing the night’s joys and discussions with their husband. She however resumes her duty as soon as the child is weaned. But while she still nurse the child, the husband visits her in her room very early in the morning. It is at this time that she receives her own portion of the intimate discussion with her husband. If a man also marries more than one wife, they provide themselves with a time-table of how they would cook for the family. They do this on rotational basis. When it is the turn of a particular woman to cook, other women do not however sit down and fold their hands waiting to be fed, they all help their counter-part.
While the Bassa men participate in communal labour to help one another in the farm, their women also engage in such communal labour at home. This is in the area of grinding of guinea-corn, millet, or maize meant for cooking food. When it is the turn of a woman to cook food, especially in the evenings, others women in the family or even compound help her to grind whatever she would use.
A TYPICAL BACKYARD OF THE BASSA COMPOUND
Apart from the communal labour in the farms and in the grannery for the men and the women respectively, the Bassa also eat their food in a communal manner. In this, all the family members that make up a compound gather together to eat, if not from the same calabash bowl, from the same vicinity. Thus if, for example, there are four families in a compound, the wives of each of the families would prepare food separately. This they gather at the same place, that which belongs to the men is taken to umuamua were all the men and male children in the compound gather to eat, either from one bowl to another or from their separate bowls, and that which belongs to the women is gathered at the same spot in the courtyard, and all the women and the female children gather to eat. This system of eating enhances good family relationships. Also as children eat from the same bowl with adults, it makes it easier for them to be taught about eating manners.
A typical Bassa compound is divided into two sections. There is the men’s side separate from the women’s side. At the men’s side of the compound is a place reserved for them. This place is called Umuamua. An umuamua is a place where the shrines of the family or even clan gods are situated. Thus most sacrifices pertaining to the family issues take place at this seclusion. It is also at the umuamua that men receive their visitors; and family squabbles settled. Though umuamua seems to be a place reserved basically for the men, women could freely parade the place with reservations when sacrifices that are performed only by the men is taking place. Also when a woman is menstruatings it becomes a taboo for her to make presence at this seemingly sacred place. This is because it is at the umuamua that sacrificies are offered daily to the gods, which is normally accompanied by the shading of the blood of goats, chickens, dogs, and other preys that are used for such. Thus the gods are used to blood and would therefore not tolerate the presence of human blood, indeed coming from a woman in form of menses.
While unuamua is specially reserved for men, women correspondingly have their afternoon relaxation in the udulo or ugbahu. This is a hut that is usually built either in the centre of the compound or in-between two houses. Sometimes it is even situated at the back of the houses. The hut built round with sticks. Thatched grasses are used as walls and for the roof. Items that usually occupy an udulo are large water pots, hearts, etc. the water that is used in the compound is stored in these large pots. In the afternoons and during rainy season, women cook their foods in the huts. In the evenings however, they do all cookings on the hearts that abound outside the udulo, in the compound. Each woman in the compound has her own heart near the door-mouth of her rood.
Surrounding a Bassa compound could be seen piles of firewood, ituli. Bassa women occupy most of their time during the dry season cutting down firewood to be used both during that time during the rainy season. Thus very large piles of firewood are usually collected and arranged neatly at the back of the houses of each married woman. Apart from the piles of firewood, the Bassa also have their bathrooms at the back of their compounds. In most cases there are no specially built bathrooms, people have their bath in the open, damming the consequences of an eye seeing them. In deed, in the olden days, the Bassa do not care much about being naked, at least even if partially.
Also at the back of Bassa compounds is found a placed called ukpe. This is a place that all Bassa women of a particular compound or neighbouring compounds go to do their pounding of guinea-corn, millet, and other related crops. All the big mortars are left permanently at the ukpe, usually under a tree that provides shade. Izhere is another place that could be found in every Bassa compound. This is a hut that contains grinding stones used by the women to grind anything corn. Izhere could be situated either at the back of the compound or somewhere within the compound.
IZHERE: A WOMAN GRINDING ON THE INENE PICTURE Ubizo is place where every refuse of every type from the compound is thrown. This is also at the back of the compounds that are close to each other could decide to maintain one ubizo. After many years, the place could be seen raised up due to constant dumping of refuse. In the olden days when there were no latrine digging practice, both young and old could be seen defecating at the ubizo anytime of the day. As has been said earlier, land is plenteous in the rural areas where the Bassa live. There is therefore room for extension of compounds to reduce the effects of congestion. Thus when the people see that a single compound can no more contain everybody especially as male children continue to grow and get their own wives, the compound is the extended. Thus a clan could have many family compound in a village. |