Fr Joeven MATUGAS sx
To offer a kola nut to the guest or visitor inside the Sierra Leonean tradition is still alive and frequently done today. I experienced it with the Limba and Koranko people. They welcome the guest to come into their chiefdom with kola presentation ceremony. It is a distinctive value that they are keeping and observing until now.
The kola is a tribute of respect, welcoming, appreciation for the coming of the visitor/guest arriving into their town or village. It conveys meaningful and significant gesture of hospitality of the host towards the guest. It is rooted in deep cultural understanding. And a sign of profound respect and honor in order not to offend the guest arriving into their own land. They must show a heartwarming greetings and welcome.
Moreover, it is also the intention and purpose of the visitor to come in their place. Before they lay down the formal talk and purpose of the meeting, first they will make kola presentation as a way of introduction before anything else. The kola becomes the bridge of the message, the communication conveys between the visitor and the host.
During the presentation ceremony, the kola nut is wrapped in a kola leaf. This kola leaf is not the leaf from kola tree itself but from another kind of tree that usually grown in the swamp. And the board of this tree is good in making furniture. It is a wide and broad green leaf. The host usually represented by the town chief or in absence the section chief or the paramount chief with the elders and people of the town/village. The chief asks his assigned man to beat the drum to let the people come and gather. They ask the guest to sit down on the assigned chair. They will unwrapped the kola and put it on a clean dish. For the Koranko they used the cup or glass with water as a symbol for cool heart means peace. Then one of the elders come to take and hold the cola and begin to give the opening speech explaining their cola tradition to the guest. After a while he will hand over the kola to their chief or to any other elder person present and give it over to the visitor. When the visitor received the kola in his hand, it is now his turn to respond and give the message. His or her message is what the people want to hear. They are expecting what this visitor is bringing into their place. After the visitor`s message, the kola can be now chewed. First they use to ask the guest to take a bite as sign that he accepted the hospitality offered. As long as the visitor has finished talking then the presentation ended. Then the visitor and the host can now discuss formally the purpose and intention of the coming.
There is no required number of kola to be presented but usually they used three or four. There are types of kola as well; the red and white kola and the bitter kola. Both can be used for the presentation ceremony.
The Kola Nut is used and offered during the following ceremonies:
- Marriage (engagement and wedding celebration)
- Guest/Visitors
- Circumcision ceremony
- Secret society
- Three days, seven days after burial
- Herbalist
- Pul na Do or the naming ceremony
- Bride price
- Funeral
To offer a kola nut to the guest or visitor inside the Sierra Leonean tradition is still alive and frequently done today. I experienced it with the Limba and Koranko people. They welcome the guest to come into their chiefdom with kola presentation ceremony. It is a distinctive value that they are keeping and observing until now.
The kola is a tribute of respect, welcoming, appreciation for the coming of the visitor/guest arriving into their town or village. It conveys meaningful and significant gesture of hospitality of the host towards the guest. It is rooted in deep cultural understanding. And a sign of profound respect and honor in order not to offend the guest arriving into their own land. They must show a heartwarming greetings and welcome.
Moreover, it is also the intention and purpose of the visitor to come in their place. Before they lay down the formal talk and purpose of the meeting, first they will make kola presentation as a way of introduction before anything else. The kola becomes the bridge of the message, the communication conveys between the visitor and the host.
During the presentation ceremony, the kola nut is wrapped in a kola leaf. This kola leaf is not the leaf from kola tree itself but from another kind of tree that usually grown in the swamp. And the board of this tree is good in making furniture. It is a wide and broad green leaf. The host usually represented by the town chief or in absence the section chief or the paramount chief with the elders and people of the town/village. The chief asks his assigned man to beat the drum to let the people come and gather. They ask the guest to sit down on the assigned chair. They will unwrapped the kola and put it on a clean dish. For the Koranko they used the cup or glass with water as a symbol for cool heart means peace. Then one of the elders come to take and hold the cola and begin to give the opening speech explaining their cola tradition to the guest. After a while he will hand over the kola to their chief or to any other elder person present and give it over to the visitor. When the visitor received the kola in his hand, it is now his turn to respond and give the message. His or her message is what the people want to hear. They are expecting what this visitor is bringing into their place. After the visitor`s message, the kola can be now chewed. First they use to ask the guest to take a bite as sign that he accepted the hospitality offered. As long as the visitor has finished talking then the presentation ended. Then the visitor and the host can now discuss formally the purpose and intention of the coming.
There is no required number of kola to be presented but usually they used three or four. There are types of kola as well; the red and white kola and the bitter kola. Both can be used for the presentation ceremony.
The Kola Nut is used and offered during the following ceremonies:
- Marriage (engagement and wedding celebration)
- Guest/Visitors
- Circumcision ceremony
- Secret society
- Three days, seven days after burial
- Herbalist
- Pul na Do or the naming ceremony
- Bride price
- Funeral