MATRILINY AND THE SANCTITY OF YAM AMONG THE CROSS RIVER IGBO

Résumé

There are certain categories of property that members of the matrilineages among the Cross River Igbo area cannot dispossess of the offspring of their deceased brothers without his permission while he was alive. The seizure of the yam, which had, and still has, severe consequences checked the excesses of the Ikwu Umunne (matrikins) who readily swooped on their brothers’ property at their death. The paper concluded that the spirituality of, and the reverence accorded to yams, its cultivation and God, Nfijioku, prohibited its seizure.