SLC-S25/W3 | Community World Tour: Landscapes & Sacred Sites"

Greetings dear steemians and welcome to my blog as you are about to tour with me to a sacred landscape in my community. My community is located at Oruk Anam in Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria. Oruk Anam is the biggest local Government area in my State of Origin. It has many sacred places and for this contest I will show you just one.

We have some Sacre site like thick forest known as Akai

We have other scared place call Aden Etehne very big and thick scary forest meant for sacrifices.
There are many streams that are always used for sacrifices and in a particular time if the year no one is expected to go to the stream.

This is Idim Atai (Atai Stream)

Storytelling about the stream

People in my village believe that this stream has a brother and they are called Idim Atai and Idim Etok. The picture here is that of Idim Atai. (Idim here means stream in English).

So each year they will sacrifices for the streams according to custom and tradition.

One year they will sacrifice for the Atai Stream and the next year they will sacrifice for the Etok stream.

So if in 2025 they made sacrifices in Atai Stream, it therefore means that in 2026 the stream will be free for use.

But if there was no sacrifices done the previous year and someone goes to the stream, the person will not come back alive.

The essences of the sacrifices is to appease the gods and goddesses of the stream.

So if they don't sacrifices and someone goes there, the person will die and his or her corpse will not be found.

They claim that the gods has taken that soul for their sacrifices.

The next year they will sacrifice for the other stream and it will be free for use.

So it therefore means that the two stream cannot be free for use in a particular year.

Rules and regulations covering the use of this stream

• No stranger is allow to enter the water alone without at least one villager.

• No woman with menstrual period is allowed to enter the water, if she does, the woman will face the wrath of the gods.

• A woman who just gives birth to twins babies is forbidden from entering the streams until she is cleanse in the evil forest.

• A manslaughter is not allowed to enter the stream and if he does, he will not come out alive and his corpse will not be seen.

This stream is seen by people in the community as a Sacre stream and as such people respect all the rules and regulations covering the use of the stream.

People bathing and fetching water from the stream

This stream is a source of water for people in my community aside the rain water.

There is no pipe borne water here and the one borehole we have is very far from a lot of people.

So this is where people get water from and since this is where people drink from, they don't accept women with menstrual flows to enter the water.

People also bathed in the water while some fetch water from it as well as washing clothes there.

While growing up, I asked why people are bathing in inside the water and at the same time others are fetching drinking water from it.

The answer was that the stream cleanse itself simultaneously since it is a flowing water.

I had no option than to believe it but now that I am in the city for many years, I don't drink from this water again.

I use to go to the community with my drinking water, the one that will be enough for me throughout my stay in the community.

This stream has served us for years while I was growing up in the village until I left the community to the city where I live now.

Selfie of myself going to the stream

When I was visiting the community, I asked my mother about which of the stream is free for visiting and bathing, she told it is this Atai River, So I went there with my friends.

It been years I last visited this stream, sometimes when I want to go, I will be told is not free for assessing and I will go to the other stream (Idim Etok).

Myself in the stream and friends

There something I unique about this stream, the thing is that if a grandchild of this community violate the rules and regulations stated above out of ignorance, the gods will forgive the grandchildren but it shouldn't be a repeated action.

There is what we call the God of the grandchildren and this grandchildren must not be the one that is born and live in the village.

It should be the one who stays very far away from the community and knows nothing about the laws.

This is the drawing of the place

SteemAtlas location and coordinates

[//]:# (!steematlas 4.7204212 lat 7.6730905 long Ikot ukpo stream[//]:# (!steematlas 4.72296932 lat 7.67253399 long Ikot ukpo stream d3scr) d3scr)

Google map location and coordinates

4.7204212, 7.6730905

TYPE LESS SMILE MORE Phrase

"Mmon mmon eyet idioknkpo"
meaning that it's only water that cleanse badness that badness do not cleanse water.

So anyone who committed bad things or slaughter someone will be judged by the water.

In this community the stream always justify people's action.

Man's slaughter do not go near this stream because they will not come out alive, their corpse will not even be seen.

I am inviting @manuelhooks, @mesola and @dove11 to participate in this contest