In celebration of cultural beliefs and cultural heritage, a community in Rivers State has held a festival for some teenage girls who they tagged as virgins at Iria ceremony on Saturday, December 3 in Ogu town, Rivers State.
The virgins were displayed half naked, covered up in paint.
According to reports, the Iria Ceremony is practiced in some parts of Nigeria, it is mostly predominant in the Delta tribe. The ceremony is a celebration of feminism, preparing the tribes girls for marriage.
The belief of the tribe is that, as every girl is born, they develop romantic attachments with the water spirits of the tribe. The ceremony is aimed to help the girls “detach” themselves from the spirits so they may marry.
The girls are withing the age range of 14-17 and the process is for them to become “wife material”. Before they can start, they have to stand in front of their entire tribe to have their naked bodies painted and inspected to insure their virginity.
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