The ontology of Nkwu-elu and its relevance in Igbo African socio-cultural society and beyond

Abstract

Nkwu Elu, which literarily translates ‘Up-wine’, is a specie of Palm wine, and most popular of the traditional palm-wine among Igbo Africans. Its popularity is not fortuitous. It is often harvested from up; hence the name Nkwu Elu – Up-wine. ‘Up’, in this context, means ‘above the terrestrial surface’. Thus, up wine means wine that is extracted from the palm tree above the soil surface. This very wine cements a kind of vertical relationship between man and God. This relationship, even though is of unequal status, can be bridged with the instrumentality of sacred wine, which has an inherent force of a unity between Heaven and Earth, the departed and the living. It is this understanding that necessitated the thoughts of Igbo Africans in accepting as unrivaled the substance of Nkwu Elu and its inherent sacredness in rituals and ceremonies. In the context of this acceptance, this paper will be committed in x-raying the utility of palm wine, its preservability, varieties and cross cultural currents of thought. It also tends to discuss the possibility of extending the values beyond the shores of Africa. However, we recognize the phenomenon of aversion from the use of epiclesis based on the traditional beverage as the paper admits there are some dangers posed to the lives of those involved in this activity.