My year reached, we heard ourselves singing: dawn songs of girls becoming women in Ogbogbo, Okrika, Rivers State, Nigeria, January 1990

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Periodical article

Title:	My year reached, we heard ourselves singing: dawn songs of girls becoming women in Ogbogbo, Okrika, Rivers State, Nigeria, January 1990
Authors:	Gleason, J. Ibubuya, Allison
Year:	1991
Periodical:	Research in African Literatures
Volume:	22
Issue:	3
Pages:	135-148
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Nigeria
Subjects:	girls' initiation songs songs (form) Cultural Roles arts literature
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/3819713
Abstract:	An analysis of songs sung at dawn by girls while performing their coming-of-age rites (Iria rites) in Ogbogbo township on Okrika Island, not far from Port Harcourt, in southern Nigeria. Traditionally, Iria was a necessary prelude to marriage. Nowadays, it is no longer necessary to perform Iria in order to be viewed, by the community and by one's self, as a real woman. The songs offer information on how Okrika girls feel about men, about sex, and about their bodies. The transcription and preliminary word-by-word, literal translation was made by Chief Allison Ibubuya. Notes.