Itan Vbe Edo (Part 2)

ITAN VBE EDO - EDO PHILOSOPHY 2

1. Aighi ye ọrriọvbere mu igie
2. Agha gbere ọden ana te ẹmwanta .- Truths are revealed or told in jokes or during jokes 
3. Agha te ọta ikolo, aighi mianmian ẹdẹ
4. A gha rrulẹ sa amẹ, a ghi digiẹn gbe adẹn
5. Owie na ya tuo nomo khue
6. Agha sẹ Ẹdo, Ẹdo rree - When One Arrives in Benin, Benin is Distant” ,  a saying brought to my attention by the scholar of Benin culture, Joseph Nevadomsky, from the Ẹdo founders of Benin, the famous Nigerian city, brings into focus relationships between space, time and cognition. In just one line, this expression sums up a fundamental preoccupation of the human quest for knowledge across the centuries. It evokes the dislocation between appearance and reality  and the need to bridge this gap through understanding. To a significant degree, the quest for knowledge is driven by the notion that there is more to existence than appears to be so on the surface, than is obvious to immediate perception. This gap between the apparent and the real is suggested by the saying that even when one has arrived in the city of Benin, Benin remains distant. What more challenging drive to exploration can be conceived than the bafflement of finding that the location, the city one has travelled to reach, remains distant even after one has arrived at it? Your physical self is present, your mind and senses are fully alert to your surroundings, but you realise that the place is still beyond your reach. Of course, every location within which human social life takes place cannot be encompassed purely by physical presence in that place or by corporeal perception of the place alone. Every habitat, every organisation of social life, creates a network of meanings that are distinctive to that place as well as sharing, to some degree, in a universal semiotic universe. This shared body of possibilities of meaning constitutes the human race understood in terms of the configuration of its ways of understanding the cosmos. In relation to this body of understanding as it shapes the relationship between the spatial and the social worlds, is the knowledge of the affiliation between space and the people who use it, a knowledge developed across time by groups of people as well as by individuals, an awareness  demonstrated  both explicitly and implicitly.
   Truly, one may arrive in Benin or any other city, settlement or corporate structure, particularly for the first time, and that place would remain distant. It would be as one spends time understanding such a place that Benin, for example, as physical construct, and Benin as cognitive possibility, move closer to merging. ''Agha bu' Edo, Edo (ghi) bu ovban'' : "As one journeys into Benin, Benin journeys to meet you", my development of a contrastive but complementary concept in relation to “A gha sẹ Ẹdo, Ẹdo rree”: “When One Arrives in Benin, Benin is Distant,”translated into Bini by Alex Osifo, evokes this process of conjunction between physical presence in a complex physical and social location as Benin, and increasing cognitive penetration into the significance of the physical and social complexity of the city.[Analysis by Toyin Adepoju]
7. Akpawe amien ogieva odionwere evbo ghe rria. - If good leadership could have a succesion, the nation or community will have a continious development not more destruction. thus, let-s emulate good behaviour.
8. Aighi ye evbe ne egbe ya tọlor ọmwan ya tọloe, rhunmwunda t'ọbolo - You don't use the way your body or skin inch or scrash you to scrash it, else it will pill off.
9. Agbon ighi s'ah lo - life is not always enough equating human's want and desires. This is sometimes used as a male child's name in Edo culture 'AGBONISALO' or 'AGBOISALO'. "Agbon"- life, earth, world, domain. "ighi" [negative connotation] - not, will not, cannot, or can't "s'ah"-´sẹ + ah´ - enough (for) one, or enough, while "lo" - use, live, enjoy, utilize, manage etc. "Agbon ighi s'ah lo" - as an ancient Edo philosophy is use to emphasize the insatiable nature of human wants and desires, as they also wish to live more than human life spam on earth. This philosophy is very important as it shape egos, and vain consciousness, that despite all planned, achieved and countless illusions, life is certainly timely and nature supersedes human inventions and intelligence.
10.  Ah tor rrie ọkpa ma sẹrẹ ah fianwu rrie ẹmila.. - One better eat chicken to live long than eat cow to die young.i.e. Prevention is better than cure. A stitch in time save nine. Look before you leap. Don't keep what you have to do today for tomorrow because tomorrow have its own responsibilities. Slow and steady wins the race. Like a bicycle rider, to keep your balance, you must keep moving. Don't proceed if cannot visualize the end from the start. “Ah tor rrie ọkpa” - 'one eat chicken to live long', “ma sẹrẹ ” - 'better than', “ah fianwu rrie ẹmila”- 'eat cow to die young'. “Ah tor rrie ọkpa ma sẹrẹ ah fianwu rrie ẹmila” as an ancient African philosophy is mostly to emphasize prevention, precaution, moderacy and discipline as the case may be.  
11. Igho ighi te emwin n'ọkhianren - money do not speak or tell what gave birth to him or what made him.
12. Ah ma ýanren uhunmwun ighi yae rru ese -- one does not use the head that is not his/hers to sacrifies or give away
13. Emwin dan, t'oye dan - bad thing is a bad thing.i.e. two wrong cannot make a right.
14. N'eighi rre owa oh gbe olakpa - it he that is not in the house that boost beating the police
15. Erran na de ýanren erran, n'okukhunmwun ah ka fian - when a tree or wood top wood, it is the one on top of others that should be cut first. 
16. ẹdẹ uwu ihoho fo" or "ẹduwuirofo  - the day you die your mind goes and your existence terminate like a chicken. 
17. Ovbokhan ighi ku mianmian owa" - A child does not play to forget home.. Home is home .. Edo Owa ye. Edo uyi edo, Edo n'imose! Edo Kpolor!
18. Urrukpa gha lae owa, ebiebi rrie -- When light enters the house, darkness goes/removes itself.
19. Ah ghe omwan rrua -- You look at someone to push
20. Ah ma saba iwolo, aighi wolo - if not strong, equip, knowledgable and intelligent enough to take or do a thing , don't do it. i.e. don't start what you can't finish or don't advance if cannot visualize the end from the beginning.
21. Uýinmwen omwan yevbe ukpon n'ah tan ye oven - ones character is like a cloths spread on the sun. 
22. Ne usẹsẹ ighi rrie isan, ne usẹsẹ ighi won amen orhogho - The suffering man doesnot eat shit , the suffering man does not drink flood or gutter water.
23. Ne ẹighi gualor igbina, ighi rhu ẹmwen -- He who does not want or like fight do not look for trouble.
24. Omwan ighi mwen iyeke, eighi ze etin - one who does not have back/support does not boost
25. Ewaen ma lele, etin, etin gha ye okuo eighi de -- if might/strenght does to war without wisdom/intelligent, it shall not return safe/alive
26. Amasomwan ne ọh gbere ọvo.
27. Aighi mien n'ọh hoho n'avbare.
28. Aighi ze ne enerowa - you do not choose for one not at home -- i.e. Everyman should be responsible for his or her own dids..in other words man is the architect of his own fortune.. 
29. N'orhenren ọmwan vbe ose ighi gie ọmwan vb'ikhọrion - N'orhenren ọmwan vbe ose ighi gie ọmwan vb'ikhọrion - A true friend who knows one in good times will not laugh at one in bad times. Good friends in bad times are good friends in good time. Real friends in good times are real friends in bad times.  "N'orhenren ọmwan" - He/one who knows one or a friend, "vbe ose "- in good times, in beauty, in wealth, in prosperity, in success, etc, " ighi gie ọmwan" don't monk one, don't laugh one, don't bully one, etc. "vb'ikhọrion" - in bad times, in uglyness, in failed times, etc.  "N'orhenren ọmwan vbe ose ighi gie ọmwan vb'ikhọrion" in Edo - African philosophy is use to emphasize the worth of a true friend especially in time of needs. in other words, A friend in need is a friend indeed
30. "Aighi mien iye osonmwen" - there is no worthless mother. A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts
31. "Vbe ne ah ye errie ah de" 
    - You fall the way you are. The way you lay your bed you ly. What you reap you sow. One does not plant corn to reap yam. Again, Don’t say what you can’t do. "Vbe ne ah ye" - How you are. "errie ah de" - how you fall, also emphasize self responsibility and discipline in the African philosophic conotation. Again to demonstrate that one is the architect of his own fortune or misfortune.
32. Omwan no kpe ema ne omwenmwen ke vbe omwenmwen ne ogbe yo, Okpa ore iran khin.
    :- There is no difference in the person who drums for a mental person to dance and the mental person that danced to the beat.
33. Ẹhihi se ovbie Azen , odae vbe egbe, ọh ma ghi ye ọghe ẹrrẹ n'ogbele re – The ant bit the child of a witch, she is annoyed and grivious, but forget others she have been killing and eating. i.e. What goes arround comes arround, what you give you get. Don't give what you woundn't take. Stand for truth where and when ever you find one irrectective of ethnicity or race. Like the popular saying, an eye for an eye finally end the whole world blind.- “Ẹhihi” - Ant. “se ovbie Azen” - bit the child of a witch. “odae vbe egbe”- 'it is paining her'. “ọh ma ghi ye ọghe ẹrrẹ n'ogbele re” - “she has forgotten others , she have been killing and eating.” - this philosophy however may looks irrational literaly but have deep philosophy conotation in the African contest of socio- idealism. Basically use to emphasize fairness, equity and justice where and when necessary
34. Aiye akpolor mu emila ye Edo  - The king is not saved by the size of his army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. BUT BY HIS WISDOM AND INTELLIGENCE
35. "A l´egbo miegbe  ore ọghọ ye" - Sometimes your absence make your presence apreciable
36. "Agha gue oko se adase eze obele ma na ghi gua, a ghi ye ekhoe gua" - When you paddle a canoe to the middle of the sea and the paddle fails to move the canoe, you use the mind to move it
37. Ugbe na deghe ghe ode eghi ru omwan aro" - 
    meaning, to be forewarned is to be forearmed. A situation you are completely aware of and prepared for can hardly overwhelm you
38. Ogha se eghe okpa, te ovie" - There is time for everything.
39. Ogha se eghe umwekhen, te omo" - Time to sow and time to reap
40. Ede gha gbe, ede gha mu - Everything have their time. There is reason for every season
41. Ahianmwen gue oto ru eghian; ona ya tin yaen ulelefe, ulelefe no tin yan  ma mien ghee oto oh ke zore - A bird that flew from the ground only to perch on an anti-hill; is still very much on the ground
42. Ose na mien vbe emwin gha logho, oni ore ose omwan" - A friend in need is a friend indeed
43. "egui ighi ze ikpakpa ne ovbiere ze ihion" - the tortise can not have thick back and the child have a sponch abck, meaning what you give is what you get, you can't give what you don't have and can't reap what you don't sow. 
44. Agha rhule se amen aghi digien gbe aden
45. Aghi ri'okhuo y'uma n'eve. 

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