OHAZURUME - Unizik Journal of Culture and Civilization

Dinwanna is a culturally approved relationship among young bachelor and a spinster, which replicated marriage but not actually, a legally form of marriage. The practice is mainly found among the people of Imerienwe in Ngor-Okpala Local Government Area (LGA) of Imo State, who cherished this cultural heritage because of its socio-economic importance. The problem today is that, dinwanna, a form of sexual renunciation among the partners involved has lost almost its ethics. The misconception and abuse of dinwanna have caused more harm than good. The institution of marriage is at stake because of the gradual acceptance of the abuse of dinwanna as a short way to marriage. Thus, the marriage institution, is gradually losing its ethical and legal imports. The Imerienwe community is stigmatized because of the deviation from the rationale of dinwanna. This calls for an ethical appraisal of the phenomenon of dinwanna, which is tailored towards the reorientation and placing more value on cherished cultural heritage. The objective of the study is to assist most especially the contemporary youths to understand how dinwanna was practiced and also to cherish sexual renunciation. The study poised that ethics should be valued as the bedrock of human existence and development. Different eras of sexual renunciation were considered in the study. The research further postulated the merit and ethical relevance of sexual renunciation/dinwanna. In the course of the study, it was discovered that dinwanna was an ancestral heritage. It was practiced without dismay, until some factors contributed to the loss of its values. The study recommends making marriage easier for our young people and placing more interest in checking and disciplining of the young ones to ameliorate the abuse of sex. There is a need to emphasize more of good principle of life and personal determination to lay a good legacy, knowing full well that there is a consequence of every anomie.

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