Rain Festival

once upon a time a local folktale had it that ,in every seven years an individual within the age range of Fourteen to fifteen would be selected from each family in my village, most especially boys. This caused huge disagreement between the "IGHOO" and the villagers .

The IGHOO is a moving tree ,so tall that in every seven years when one of its leaf fell to the ground, the first person to behold the leaf became the King of the rain festival.

Today is Ekweu which means the eve of the rain festival, my mum has worn her pillow out with tears because I had been selected by IGHOO as the next king of the rain festival. As a boy of fifteenth I am to seat for some kind of examinations that would help me get into the university next year and all my dreams to study medicine and surgery so and to lift some burden off the shoulder of my parents had been shattered .

As a matter of fact our custom demands that the king of rain must not set their eyes on their parents or siblings after the festival hence the kings regime lasts for only two years after which he and the boys that were selected too would be put into a hole filled with reptiles and dangerous animal. Many individuals never made it out alive of the hole so this caused pain and sorrow to the individuals family.

During a rain festival the king of rain dances in the rain for hours, he eats in the rain ,and sleeps in the rain . The IGHOO says this is mandatory for it cleanses the land and makes it fetile.

As the next king, I would spend a night with the IGHOO, accompanied by several other boys that were selected too, the only difference between me and these boys selected is that I was the one to behold the leaf that fell off the tree and they were only selected because of age range. As we ate and drank at IGHOO place, I studied the moving tree, it smiled back at me and I looked closely and could see a dark figure in the IGHOO, I rushed my meal and my colleagues were surprised as I told them I had to sleep early so as to prepare my mind for the festival in the morning. At midnight I had strange voices, when I got up to know what it was , I saw a part of the tree open as though it had an entrance, I also heard splashes of water as though someone took his bath. I laid down pretending to sleep then came kuyiyi the village criminal coming out of the bush. He went straight to the tree and entered into the tree. I wanted to scream but Jade who was lying next to me covered my mouth with his palm and whispered "juma i saw him too keep calm".

The next morning , dark clouds covered the whole, village of Zntahuwiwi and as we wore the festive clothes made from the skin of an ewe, we could hear the villagers beating the drums of joy, the time came for us to walk down to the village square, we matched in two's. When we reached the village square I searched the crowd with my eyes to see if I could see my parents and my siblings, at least they should be here because after the rain festival we will part ways forever. Atlast my eyes met with my younger brothers, he looked so pale, tears stampede on his face, I started sobbing too suddenly a force dragged me and pulled me up , I heard screams of people below. I looked up and saw a helicopter, John the engineer that owned a three thousand rice mills in different parts of the world and his friends had come to my rescue. As we flew he told me that my mum came to him seeking help and he had to help. All of a sudden it started raining and my clothes became wet inside the helicopter, I could hear my mum's voice from afar saying juma " please wake up" please wake up ,when I opened my eyes I saw my relatives gathered around me they all looked worrisome and my bed had been soaked with water, she said she had been waking me up for hours . As she hugged me I whispered into her ears mum it was a dream. I had a terrible dream last night ,I was king of the rain and she said to me none of my children shall ever be king of the rain .

(A sweet story from a darling (my Leo) to me)

Thanks for reading lovelies and have a beautiful weekend.

Copyright ©️ Gianna-B, 2022 and all rights reserved.

Image credit:All images taken from unsplash.com