Our culture is our identity.

Hello, everyone.

I welcome you to my blog. From when we were growing up till today, we have been made to understand that culture, in a layman's terms, "is the total way of a group of people's life." Culture is not for a single person, and it encompasses all that concerns this group of people. It encompasses their dressing, their food and dishes, their dos and don'ts, and their language. Every culture has a language that is unique to them and them alone; they are known for it, and whenever that language is heard, anyone can easily identify where you are from, or they will know the people who speak the language.

The same thing happens when we come to clothing and attire. There are so many cultures and traditions being practiced around the globe, but we can easily identify which is which and distinguish one from the other by the language, dishes unique to them, dressing style, and so many other things that are known to be unique to the particular culture. Some cultures even resemble each other, but trust me, there will always be that distinctive feature; there will always be a slight difference no matter how small.

In my country we have quite a number of ethnic groups, but the Igbos, Hausas, and Yorubas are believed to be the most popular and well-recognized ethnic groups, and that has given rise to the WAZOBIA, which a lot of people must have heard about, which is a combination of the word "come" from the language of all three ethnic groups. Both dressing, language, type of food they eat, and most of all their attire or style of clothing are used to distinguish a Hausa man from an Igbo man and an Igbo man from a Yoruba man.

I am proudly Igbo, which is an ethnic group that is predominant in the southeastern part of the country. We are known for a lot of dishes or food and soups like egusi soup, oha soup, white soup, onugbu soup, and okazi soup. We have other dishes like okpa and abacha, which always come in handy when you cannot lay your hands on those that take longer to prepare. We also have a unique language; once spoken, it is easy to know it is the Igbo language—no other language sounds like it.

As Igbos we have different festivals we celebrate; some are celebrated annually, and some are celebrated twice in a year. Soon festivals like the new yam festival will start making waves; there will be masquerades coming to perform and serve as entertainment both for indigens and even guests. We also have how we dress and are easily identified by that; we have the Isi Agu (tiger head) attire. Once worn, it is easy to conclude you are Igbo, as Igbos use it for celebrations and for traditional practices.

For me, I feel culture is our identity; that is what we are known for, and it makes it easy to differentiate one person from the other.

_{All images used are mine.}