My2017:welcoming the new year-my sweet/bitter experiences

Hello world, welcome to my blog

Am a native of ikot obio atai in itu local government area,Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.
I currently stay in the city of Uyo, here people welcome the new year in a special way.
At 31st night Christians go to church to praise /worship God for leading them all the way from January to the end of the year.
For the traditionalist/ritualist, they make sacrifices to their gods. Sometimes human sacrifices
Food and drinks
Depending on the individual involved, they are different kinds of drinks taken on this day.
I took a soft drink
Ranging from soft drinks to spirits and red wines
Different varieties of food too,
at my home, it is ekpang nkukwo (a native food), it's very delicious, I'll give you guys some photos i took

This 👆 is called ebre in my native dailt(yam in English).
It is the kind of yam used for ekpang
👆 here is called ikpong in my dailet
This is the ikpong after pilling it and putting it in water ![IMG_20180102_111801.jpg](
👆 during hand creeting
👆 the emia leaf used to rap the ekpang
You can use immature cocoyam leaf or any large edible leaf (combination of ikpong and ebre)

👆 time for folding the ekpang into the leaves ![IMG_20180102_122938.jpg](
👆 palm oil used under the pot with periwinkles(mfi in my dailet).
![IMG_20180102_122925.jpg](
😂 👆 that's my local pot you know called ataba in my dailet 🤗.
There's a saying that when you use firewood to prepare ekpang nkukwo it's sweeter and the ataba pot adds to the sweetness too 😉.

👆 that's firewood #imagesourcepixabay
after raping all of the ekpang, you put your seasonings on it like salt, pepper, Maggie all to taste (though you won't taste it then) , fish, kpomo, and any kind of meat you will like to use.
You then pour in hot water into the pot either after putting it on fire or before.
You don't use cold water as it will remove the rapped leaves from the raw ekpang.
And as you pouring in the hot water, you pour it in one side I.e don't put it all over as it might still remove the leaves
Finally put your pot on fire and cover
After some minutes(depending on the amount of firewood you use), it will boil then it's time to taste and add more condiments if necessary.
When it has boiled for some times you use your knife to cut the ekpang so it won't be long after preparation (it depends on you sha).
I like it long.
Then your ekpang is done after cutting and it's not raw inside
Wao... Dm me for your ekpang nkukwo floor , it's potable and for those that the raw one ratches when pilling and hand creeting

I love my culture 😄.
That's the sweet part of how i welcomed my 2018

The bitter part is that while all these went on,
I was seriously sick and i thought i wouldn't make it till today a saying goes that "only he who feels it knows it "

that's me on drip on the 1st

Me @31st night when everyone was shouting happy new year and making calls 🙈

I want to use this medium to tell the world how much i love my mum, she is the best thing God has given to me. She has taken care of me since 1996...its been 21 years now n still counting. She's my nurse, doctor, sister, aunt, and mum.

Thank you @blocktrades for this opportunity to make a post about my culture, am grateful. Thank you @anomadsoul for giving an idea about this contest am so loving it

Happy new year