CROWTHER JOURNAL OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES

The reality of life shows that certain level of wisdom scarcely finds proper expression in the plain language of our daily life. In Africa, such level of wisdom can only be expressed through proverbs and wise sayings. Etche has a number of proverbs and wise sayings, just like many other parts of Africa. One of such proverbs is; “?chulá ?jà gbá ?s?”. Culturally, ?chulá ?jà gbá ?s? is used to denote that an individual is in a hurry to leave a place that he has unfinished tasks. That is the social dimension of it, although from the literally dimension, ?chuchu ?jà means that “an individual should not run after offering a sacrifice”. Sacrifices are serious religious practices in Etche traditional setting. It is done in reverence to God and divinities. Coming out from Right Reverend Monsignor (Dr) C.C. Agu shows a proverb with high level of reverence, coming from a serious mind. The seriousness of this proverb also extends to its application and underscores the seriousness of relationships in Etche cultural sociology. A place with a culture with such level of sociological relevance should be able to have its people live in love, harmony and make consistent progress in their affairs. But unfortunately, this seems to be lacking in Etche land. This paper therefore, seeks to apply the use of this proverb in directing the social life of Etche people towards a united front. It adopts hermeneutical and descriptive methods of analysis, with opportunities of global application.

Open Full Text (PDF)