Fattening Room: Efik Dying Culture

Onyike Patience
     

The fattening room is an ancient practice among the Efik. Fattening room is a place where young women experiencing puberty are taken in to be trained and prepared for womanhood. In those days, fat was seen as a sign of prosperity, fertility and beauty. African men in those days loved fleshy and rotund women hence the fattening room.

It was a privilege to be accepted into the fattening room since it signifies virtue, sexual purity and proven virginity. Gaining weight in the fattening room was a sign that she possessed all the above mentioned qualities.

THE Efiks

The Efiks are an ethnic group located primarily in the southern Nigeria, and Western Cameroon. Within Nigeria, they can be found in the present day Cross River state and Akwa Ibom state. They speak Efik language which is a member of the Benue- Congo sub family of the Niger- Congo language group.

The Efik people are known for their artistic skill, rich food, culture and traditions. Their main occupation is agriculture. That is why it served as seaport exporting rubber, palm oil, cocoa, and timber. Calabar, one of the first regions invaded by the British, has been inhabited for over 2000 years.

Fattening Room Procedures

In the fattening room, an Efik woman is groomed and nurtured to know how to care for her future husband and what it takes to look after her future home. For an Efik young woman, it is the responsibility of her father to mandate her to enter fattening room as it is believed that the girl’s chastity is the father’s responsibility. The father of the girl pays for what is called ‘Eme’ (coral beads) to appease ‘Nku’ (the river goddess of the house) before she is accepted into fattening room. This shows that the girl ‘s parents are rich enough to cater and provide for their daughter.

The girls are not allowed to have visitors except for the elderly women in the community who come to teach them on marital customary codes and acceptable social customs and behavior. The girls are fed with food rich in carbohydrate and fat regardless of their appetite. They are also given all round beauty treatment from head to toe, using ‘ndo’ (white chalk) and other massage oil made from natural plant.

The training and beauty treatment is done for about one month or more, while the girls are housed differently in private and away from the public as they undergo preparations for marriage and womanhood.

Before the end of their stay in the fattening room, the girls are circumcised by their mothers. This is to reduce her sexual drive and activity, and remain chaste till marriage, and also faithful in their marriage.

At the end of the Nkugho, the girl is conventionally /formally revealed to the community to show how plump and beautiful she has become. Well-wishers and potential suitors are invited to watch her dance.

Regrettably, the fattening room practice is fast declining and going into extinction due to modernisation /modernity.

Onyike is an Assistant Chief Museum Education officer