By Chief Okoi Obono-Obla
The spiral brass bangles worn by maidens are an indispensable fashion style during the annual New Yam Festival in Ugep, Yakurr, Bahumuno, and some parts of the Biase local government area of Cross River State.
It is called Liman (the name for currency or money in Yako (Yakurr). It is a highly prized social symbol.
The spiral bangle (liman) is brass (brass is an alloy of copper and zinc) which has a golden color and is a currency (manilla) that was used almost in West, Central, and East Africa as a form of currency – means of exchange.
•Ugep, Yakurr maidens
In African societies in times past, bangles also called manillas served as a dominant form of currency for market purchases, bride prices, and burials. They also served as currency for one of the dastardly acts of human exploitation.
“The trading and purchase of slaves- fostered a system where the incoming voyage of Europeans took manillas to West Africa to obtain slaves, who were then taken to the Americas to live a life of bondage. The price of a slave valued in manillas varied depending on the time, place, and type being offered.”
Liman is also a symbol of wealth in Ugep and only a few families usually own them.
They are usually passed from generation to generation by female members of the family known as lejimo (matrilineal clan).
Males don’t inherit liman as a matter of tradition and customs.
When a female that owns a liman as part of her property dies, the liman is inherited by her daughters.
Where a woman doesn’t have female children upon her death the ownership will pass to her niece(s) from her maternal side. The niece from the deceased woman’s brother cannot inherit the liman except if such a niece’s mother is from the same maternal family as the deceased woman or she is born by a non-Yakurr woman who is married to her brother from the same mother.
A lot of people wear ankle bangles in Africa.
It is also worn by the Himba people of Southern Angola and Northern Nambia.
It is worn in the hands of a lot of African societies.
