| The Bassa generally make their abodes in small village settlements. This is discussed in chapter eleven, is to enable them practice their well acclaimed professional activities-farming. Land is one of the major factors that determines the acquisition of large farm plots. This type of large portions of land cannot be acquired in the towns and cities where there is a large concentration of people and where development is fast taking place. Thus the place for such abundance of land for extensive farming is the country-side—villages. The Bassaman therefore thinks it wise to avoid the unnatural enjoyment of the towns and cities and plant himself almost permanently in small village settlements where he will have the freedom, the raw materials (land and seedlings), and other natural incentives that promotes his occupation. Bassa villages are made up of between one to about thirty family compounds which has a special layout pattern, normally oblong in shape with a backing of trees and shrines directly linking each major compound. Each clan or family builds it compound the way it deems fits on the piece of land allocated to it without anyone being inquisive about it. Some families could even set up their compounds afar off from other village dwellers. This creates a situation in which one would have to go through bush paths to get from one compound to another. A village is surrounded by bushes. Prominent among this is a place that is called uhangwu. This is a place where the protective god of the village is housed. The uhangwu is made up of many tress that provide a good shade, and small shrine huts that serve as the living houses of the village god, Ijile. (For a fuller understanding of ijile, see chapter serven). As pointed out earlier, Bassa villages are made up of small clan or family compound units. Each clan could carve out a particular area for all members of the families in the clan to erect their houses. Thus in such villages. Compound are referred to in relation to clan groupings rather than family housing units. In certain cases however, each family unit has its own compound, making it possible for a clan to have many compounds scattered about the different parts of the village. |