The existence and use of
exceptional customs and traditions in African myths, songs, poetry and tales cannot be adequately accounted for in terms of socio-anthropological ideas.
Such incidents as traditional burial and marriage ceremonies as well as wrestling can be regarded necessarily as expressions of actual human experiences conveyed in strict accordance with the principle of verisimitude to life. This offers the “mirror” or “charter” of traditional code of conduct.
There are such fantastical incidents and situations best seen and understood as being essentially the products of an artistic process evolved out of the peoples traditional and moral realities. In this way, the use of such incidents in all their grossness and psychological improbability is in itself only a manifestation of the cultural principles of art.
The process of justifying the idea of African Culture as a valid and aesthetically satisfying art form has produced in ways, not quite intended, a number of important and desirable effects on the people. Some of the more habitual and distinctive modes of moral cultural expressions are employed and used by different ethnic groups as integral parts of their artistically creative process.
These forms of expression can be audibly noticed in an instance of the actual performance of a given ethnic group and composition.
For example, the Kalabaris, Ikwerres, Ogba and the various ethnic groups in Rivers State have elaborate funeral obsequies and have identified various forms of burial and marriage ceremonies for various classes of people. Just as the Kalabaris as an independent body per se have two main degrees of marriage showing the different extents to which the woman belongs to the husband, so the Ikwerres, have three main categories of burial ceremony, and marriage. For older people or chiefs who die, the Kalabari have elaborate wake-keeping ceremonies at which the corpse is moved from bed to bed in rooms of increasing elaborate decoration. For the Ikwerre, several cows ranging from 6 to 10 are slaughtered for the burial of an old man of about 100 to 120; years for an average person of 50 to 70 years, one cow is killed with a tortoise, goat, dog and a cock in a ceremony to be performed by the first son of the dead man. These rites are not accorded to anyone below the stipulated ages.
For many African Cultures, the actual condition of traditional forms are often very difficult to analyse and describe accurately. For many cultures, there are forms and effects that are not given proper attention in the Nigerian context. The idea of the traditional African use of the various cultural elements as additional modes of traditional expression has now became sufficiently recognised that these elements are generally considered as very important dimensions of aesthetic appraisal of our cultures and customs.

Shedie Okpara