Jipte, Bahouoc Cultural Ritual

This practice was introduced in Bahouoc village of West Region since its foundation.

Jipte is a cultural practice applied on women who marry Bahouoc men. This ritual is always done one month after the birth of a first child. Bahouoc is a village found in Bangangte Subdivision, Nde Division of the West Region.

Women from Bahouoc are not concerned unless they get married to Bahouoc men. This cultural ritual is always practised on the woman by her co-wives if she is in a polygamy home. It can also be administered by her husband brother's wife if she is in a monogamy home. Women performing the ritual require some items before it is done. These include one bag of maize, one bag of salt, one bag of traditional "Koki" beans and twenty litres of palm oil. The items are handed to the women by the woman's mother. After the reception of these items, an appointment is fixed for the next day.

The women visit the baby's father the next day to collect plantain, maize and other ingredients to prepare "Kondrès" and "Nqui" which are the traditional meals. While some of the women prepare the food, two other women go into the house to prepare the woman concerned. Before she is taken out, the two women undress her and shave her pubic hair, head and wrap a loin cloth around her body.

Her body is then rubbed traditional kaolin clay or "Calabar" and she remains bare-footed till the end of the ritual. After this, the woman walk round the neighbourhood for about 45 minutes and at the end they all go back to the house singing and clapping with the woman concerned in front. When they reach the house, every body eats and drinks except the baby's parents. At the end, those women share everything they collected from that couple only among them.