In the Ubang culture of the Cross River State, where men and women speak different languages and understand each other, the biblical Tower of Babel seems to have been replicated. The little-known rural community in the Obudu Local Government Area of the state is located between two mountains. The people of Ubang are seen with a sense of surprise and respect by the neighboring villagers, who know about this extraordinary development. The Ubang people know how others feel about their particular talent, which is why they tell their story in a way that makes others green with envy. Chief Joseph Ale Iyiang narrates that the community was blessed with two languages on a visit to this community, a village head at the time since they were the first creation of God among men. He said, "Ubang is presumably the first creation of God because it is the only community with two languages in the world." He further related that at the moment they were more than the size they are. But the separation was necessary because of some internal problems.
In accordance with him:
We were about eleven communities about 150 years ago, but we are three communities today because of inter-tribal squabbles.
Also, he said that the broken out communities were submerged into other neighboring communities, reducing to only three the communities that currently constitute the great Ubang; Okweriseng, Ofambe and Okira. 5400 people are estimated to be the total population of the Ubang community and the name of their language is Ubang. The female describes the goat as "obi" in the village, but the word for goat is "Ibue" in Ubang's "male language."
For women, the word for cup is "ogbala" and for men it is "nko" Also, Yam, 'ketung' for men and 'iri' for women and many others are one of Nigeria's staple foods. However, since children speak the female language until about ten years of age, males and females are able to understand each other. It is assumed that maturity happens when a child begins speaking the male language and it is considered odd in the culture if a child does not change language at a certain age. The name given to the version of the men is 'ziebenche' while 'iziebenyinye' is called that of the women. Furthermore, speakers of the Ubang language are known to be quick learners of other languages. The languages of neighboring ethnic groups, such as Alege, Okpe, Bete, Boki, Ijagam, and Utugwang, are very easy to understand. But it is very hard to grasp these neighboring villages, possibly because of their uniqueness.
The Ubang culture is dominated by the religion of Christianity, as about 65 percent of the population of the community is Christian, while the remaining 35 percent are traditional. It is quite surprising that people in the community still rely more on herbal drugs for treatment. They still believe very much in traditional marriage, even though they are predominantly of the Christian faith, so their marriage rituals still have certain aspects of traditionalism and cultural heritage. The people of Ubang are renowned for cocoa farming, in addition to their unique language. In the Ubang culture, they also conduct trading. Goods such as cutlasses, iron arms, knives, hoes, pans, plates, bracelets, anklets, and local necklaces are traded. The big setback with the Ubang community is the lack of good highways, which is why the community is less visited by visitors and travelers.
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02-05 07:14:41very good one yo know