Palm wine, a traditional drink, and more...

In Nigeria and even extending to Africa, palm wine is one of the natural drinks usually tapped freshly from the sap of palm trees. It's a drink enjoyed by both men and women in Nigeria, especially in the eastern part, where this natural drink plays a vital role in our tradition.

When I was a child, I remember my dad having two healthy palm trees, which he used to tap palm wine for family use. Although he wasn't a palm wine tapper, he hired one who usually brought fresh palm wine to my home every two days. One of the days, I followed my dad to the farm, and we both observed how the process was being done. Although I can't remember all the processes in detail, I will do well to tell you briefly about the local production of palm wine.

The local production of palm wine.

The first step is sourcing for a very healthy palm tree 🌴, preferably a tall one. Then a palm wine tapper will climb the palm tree with the help of a rope,and when he gets to the palm fronds area, he will make a v-shaped cut with a cutlass, deep enough where the palm wine will be dripping out from . Then he will make a connection using a small pipe or an improvise where the wine will rush to a container. A plastic container or this local calabash will be placed just below the cut where the wine will be dropping naturally;, it must be held firmly to avoid falling down. After proper fixing by the tapper, he will leave the container there while the wine will start dropping gradually after two hours. The next day, the fresh wine will be collected from the tree 🌴 by the tapper, and he will fix the container again. This procedure continues until the cut is dried up or the palm tree gets weary and can't produce wine again.

Even though palm wine is an alcoholic drink, the freshly tapped one is usually sweeter than the fermented one, and the alcoholic content of it is very low. A lot of nursing mothers believe that palm wine increases lactation, and they drink it a lot around where we reside. Practically, it works, but I have never tried it because of the little alcohol content in it, which isn't healthy for my newborn. However, this palm wine has become my favorite drink since I discovered the high content of sugar in my body; otherwise, it's been minerals all along. Although I do not drink it always, whenever I want to drink it, I go for freshly tapped palm wine.

Palm wine and my tradition.

Since I was a child, I have watched all traditional marriages and other events done with palm wine as the major drink for the occasion. In terms of traditional marriage, no family is allowed to use any other drink in place of palm wine. It's a culture that must be obeyed while fulfilling marital rites traditionally. Take a look at this local calabash below 👇.

This was during the marriage ceremony for my younger sister. The groom's family must fill this calabash for the occasion while the eldest man gets a cup of wine from the calabash and then give to the bride to go search for her husband wherever he is seated before they can officially be allowed to sit in the same place during the traditional marriage ceremony.

When I did my own marriage, I followed the same culture, and till date, it's been how everyone obeys this particular culture with palm wine in my tribe.

Thank you for reading.❤❤

_{This post was inspired by the #inleo community and my entry to the #MarchInleo monthly topic Day 28. Please check out the announcement post to get involved}.

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