Hunting, a leisure for Ebira farmers

In the dry seasons, Ebira farmers have less work to do. They do mulching and shelving of corns. Though the work could be more for those with big farm lands, the season provides leisure for farmers with less farms who engage in gaming as an alternative to 'rest' as they wait for the rains that will herald the beginning of a new season.

The dry season which usually fall between late November and May, is the period for planting corns and beneseed. The farmers busy themselves with fewer activities except for weeding and mulching to sheild the yams from the heat of the sun.
This period, there is less food. Water yam is harveted mainly during this time of the year as most farmers would have exhausted the yam tubers through long distance sales and direct consumption. The rich farmers feed from their 'reserve' of tubers stored in the barn or burried in the soil. The subsistent farmers may lack the meals of pounded yam in their homes. Proteinous foods like beans become the order of the day. Meat, a perceived rare diet is available by hunting. Though birds parade the farms almost throughout the year, the farmers are more interested in their eggs and proceeds from their sales than direct consumption. To satisfy their proteinous need, they go for hunting.

The hunting, mostly done through bush burning, begins in the evening. As the sun's heat subside, the youths prepare for the business of the day. They gather clubs, sharpen the matchets and get red coals or matches for the burning. The hunt leader dresses up in a tattered looking costume with a hat perched on his head. In some cases, a song is used to charge the youths as they set out for the expedition.

...to be continued