Thursday, November 29, 2007

SALVE REGINA (HAIL HOLY MOTHER MARY)


SALVE REGINA


Salve Regina,
Mater Misericordiae
Vita dulcedo
et spes nostra salve


Ad te clamamus,
exsules filii Hevae
Ad te suspiramus,
gementes et flentes
In hac lacrimarum valle

Eia, ergo, advocata nostra
illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte

Et Iesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui
Nobis post hoc exsilium ostende

O clemens, O pia, O dulcis, Virgo Maria.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

MARRIAGE IN IGBO TRIBE NIGERIA
Marriage is a legal union between a Man and a Woman coming together to live and stay together happily as husband and wife. The aim of marriage is not only for procreation. It is a sacred institution as well as a vocation, because not everybody is going to get into marriage. Religious and Priests do not marry because that is their vocation, which they heartily accepted. Unequivocally marriage is sacrosanct and very important in life.
There are many tradition and cultural settings in Nigeria and there are more than 80 tribes in Nigeria and so many different languages in Nigeria. There are three main Religion in Nigeria Christianity, Islam and African Traditional Religion. But my Focus is on Christian marriage.

with kindness while the children in turn also love their parents and honor them.














In Nigeria marriage is one of the highly regarded traditional values. We have other values like, respect for the elders, respect for the authorities, committing no adultery, respect for human life, respect for expectant women to mention but a few. We so much believe in the sanctity of marriage and the traditional union existing and only between a Man and a Woman and not other way round, in Igbo tribe in the southeastern Nigeria from were I came from, in Africa and Nigeria in particular, that is why divorce is not so popular over here in Nigeria. Although the issue of adultery still persists which is one of the sins which has eaten deep into our Christian lives and it has destroyed many homes. The issue of adultery has caused so much traumatic and psychological problems to families in the world. It has separated many children from their parents, parents from their children and families from their homes. However in Nigeria marriage with children are highly regarded especially male children, which in our cultural and social setting the significance of their heir is what matters. Some Christians in Nigeria remarry when their wife is unable to give them children especially male. Children come from God, male or female that is what Christians should know. Marriage is not only for children, because it is also a call and ordained by God. They’re many families and homes without the fruit of marriage or childless yet they have strong faith in the lord and remain good Christians. In Nigeria some men who are about to marry normally impregnates their partner before marriage. The reason they do that is to make sure that their wife is fertile yet they called themselves practicing Christians in Nigeria. In some Catholic dioceses pregnant bride are not allowed to wear wedding gown into the church during wedding mass. This might be part of the measure to check pre marital sex and to discourage men trying the fertility of their partners before marriage.
Love is very important in marriage because a true Nigerian Christian marriage is that which all members of the family love one another.' The husband love and treat his wife with kindness, the wife love and should not usurp authority over her husband, parents should also love their children and treat them with kindness while the children in turn also love their parents and honor them.
TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE IN IGBO TRIBE












(WINE CARRYING CEREMONY)






















After Christian marriage in the church the bride and the groom must have to travel to their home town in the village to perform the traditional marriage right. It is a must in Nigeria and virtually all the tribes in Nigeria observes this traditional marriage right it‘s popularly called Wine Carrying ceremony or (Igba Nkwu Nwanyi) in the southern part of Nigeria called Igbo tribe. And this tribe is mostly Christians ranging from Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Protestants and other denominations with Catholicism as the majority religion in this Igbo tribe. Traditional marriage in relation with the Christian marriage goes together. Sometimes couple performs this right with money if they don’t want to celebrate it in a bigger way but it is imperative that the bride has to take her fiancĂ© to her kinsman and when the fiancĂ© is very far away the member of the bridegroom must represent him and every thing will officially performed and the bride price will be paid.

IMPORTANT OF CHILDREN














Children are very sacred and important in every community, husband as the Pater Familias or head of the family in christian marriage should look after their homes and be God's fearing just like St Joseph the husband of blessed Virgin Mary and father of Jesus Christ did, for a happy marriage produces a happy parents, happy parents produces happy homes, happy homes produces happy children, happy children makes a happier family, and happier family makes a happiest society.

Monday, November 05, 2007

POLSKA/NIGERIA VIEWS


Uneqivocally most Poles are very Religious and has a strong root in catholicism. Majority of poles are Roman catholic though there are few other christian denominations that exist from information i gathered. In other hand i was born and nurtured in Nigeria. My parents are from Nigeria. Nigeria is a very large country in african continent. there are many religions in Nigeria but the most three popular ones are Christianity, islam and Traditional Religion. In all this denominations Roman catholic has few percentage of population more than the rest of other religions. So catholicism is not the only religion in Nigeria just like it is majority in poland.There are various culture in Nigeria just like it is in poland but unfortunately in Nigeria there are many tribes and different cultural settings that existed in Nigeria. There are over 80 tribes in Nigeria and i came from the tribe called Igbo in the south eastern Nigeria majority christians in general and Roman Catholic, Anglican and others respectively and in particular.i discovered that in Rzeszow and Poland there is a strong tradition of a relationship or union between a man and a woman. In some other places even in Nigeria there existed some few places were you will notice a relationship that existed between the same sex although it is illegal in my country but few practice that, but in poland is not like that even if it existed i have not seen or heard about that.
Again In Poland there is regard for the sanctity of human life, life is very precious to poles even though in Nigeria we had such belief in the right to life but some violate that for example termination of pregnancy or abortion is very common in Nigeria but not approved but many still practice abortion. But in Poland from the fact i recieved there is right to life no abortion .Greater percentage of Poles are very hospitable and peaceful in Nature my experince at train station in warsaw when i arrived poland for the first time proved to me that poland and her citizens are very kind and lovely people. they do not cheat or decieve people forigners in there country.Before coming to Poland i knew quite well that there is low employment in Poland so i was never surprise with that because i knew and read in the news about many poles leaving there country to other countries like ireland, United kingdom and U.S.A. But fortunatley there economy is improving better than it used to be in the past decades.The idea of racism existed but very little in Poland, it is a cankerworm that has eaten deep in the lives of some white men especially those that are not religious, but in Nigeria there is no such thing like descrimination or racism in Nigeria. Nigerians saw white men as second God and always give anything to make any white or even forigners happy.
From my point of view polish women are more friendly than there men. some experinces showed that making a friendship here is more of with polish Female. i have never seen any of my Nigerian brothers here who can boast of having a polish male friend if not only women and girls. But in Nigeria we make a lot of friends with any class young, old, men, women, boys, girls, rich and poor alike . we live together and friendly with all.Finally without fear or favour i personally like poland and her citizens even though there is low level of employment for forigners. My experinces here and relationship i have had since i came here proved to me that poles are very peaceful people, they are contended with what they have and above all very hospitable and trust worthy unlike in my place oif birth. The life of late Great pope John Paul II summarizes the very essence of how average poles are like.