Uncovering the Secrets of Mbopo: A Pre-Marital Ritual of the Ibibio People

In a university settings, industrial training is mandatory to every student to participate and learn the practical aspect of the course of study. It all began in the year 2022 when I was in my final year. Also, I was assigned to a supervisor who guided and directed me on the project. As part of my course work in the university, i embarked on industrial training, after which, came a written part of the training. My topic was how fattening room ritual was performed. I wrote project about what I learnt and its implications. It was a great and memorable experience. Stepping out of one's comfort zone, sometimes can be boring but mine was interesting. I visited a fattening room for the first time in my hometown.
African women are said to have been looking beautiful, chubby, good health and wealthy. In fact, if a lady didn’t look large, it was assumed that the parents or the husband was poor and unable to feed her well.

In Ibibio culture where I belong, there is a practice known as ukuk Mbopo. Mbopo means fattening room. Ukuk Mbopo was a fattening ritual performed for every woman before she got married. It is a complex pre-marital cultural institution which marked the change of status from girlhood to nubile womanhood in Ibibio culture.

Every young lady must be a virgin before marriage. When the lucky man appeared and she was ripped for marriage, the old women in the society would take her through virginity test. If she failed it, she would be a shame to her family and she might never find a husband. If she passed the test, she underwent certain pre-rituals. Thereafter, she would be placed in a fattening room for 3–6 months.
No one would see her face for the period of 3–6 months except one or two old women that took custody of bathing and feeding her. She would receive special treatment, food and drink during that period. The only cream they would use on her during that fattening period was a special cream made mainly with a mixture of palm oil, turmeric and a few other local herbs. This cream was to make her skin smooth, soft, stainless and brilliant. Her only duty was to sleep, eat, rest, and walk around the confinement until she looked fat and healthy enough even beyond the time frame.
She could stay in that room for a longer period until she was fat enough to be presented to the public. The final day of the fattening ritual was a very big celebration, most times bigger than matrimony. People would come from all backgrounds, including relatives to celebrate.
The fattened maiden would be dressed with jewelries, beads, ornaments and beautiful attires, with very short skirts or wrapper and partly covered breasts to make the public see how beautiful and healthy she truly was. Of course, it would be the first and the last time the public would ever see her body so exposed.
Her hair was styled differently (Mbopo style), mostly with very long standing cap-like artwork. The Mbopo (maiden) was taken by women who dressed in beautiful traditional wears. Only women who had proudly undergone the process could be on the line to take her around, others would follow behind. She would be taken around the market and everyone would struggle to see her.
The outing of Mbopo took place on a big market day. In fact, it was a beautiful culture that people even named their children “Mbopo” to mean “beauty”. Unfortunately, it was an expensive practice that only the king, the noble men and the rich could afford it. But everyone afforded it because it was a show of power, wealth and nobility, especially for the maiden’s father. Even if the parents couldn’t do it for all their female children, the first daughter was necessary before the parents could buy their face on public.

Till this day, our elders still call a healthy and beautifully looking woman “Mbopo” to show admiration. Fattening up a woman to show good health and wealth is still common in my tribe today. For instance, when a woman is put to birth, she’s to be at home for at least 3 months without working or stressing herself. During that period, there must be someone to take care of her, bath and feed her well so that she would look fat and healthy when she finally completes the cycle.
Early in this morning, the Lady was given a big bowl of water mixed with garri. She was forced to drink it after massaging. After that, she ate cocoyam pottage called Ekpang nkukwo with enough ingredients. Different kinds of dish was given to her. I tasted the food myself. These are special dishes that makes someone look healthy and chubby. During the final day, she was celebrated in a bigger way. The implications are to train young ladies on how to keep their body and be faithful till the time of marriage. These are my experiences. Thanks for reading.
My entry for hivenaija weekly prompt
📝 Reflect on a time when you felt completely out of your comfort zone. What did you learn?