At the same time of year, when the seed corn and yams lie awaiting rebirth in the womb of the Earth Mother, the unmarried girls of Elele carry out a ritual similar in many respects but with certain points of difference. Here the images are modelled from clay supplied not by the parents, as is usual in other parts, but by the bridegroom. These must be rubbed and smoothed for seven days and each is surmounted by a head, the coiffure of which is carefully copied from that of the girl herself. Every evening, food offerings are carried to the place where the Eki are set up, while the girls dance and sing before them. The bridegroom must provide from sixty to a hundred Awarawu manillas during this time, which are accepted by the parents as part of the dowry. Often these strange images are modelled with breasts in addition to the male emblem. Is it an unwarrantable assumption to think that this may possibly be intended as a primitive attempt at picturing the ideal marriage, in which male and female attributes play equal parts? This peculiarity is not confined to the Eku but is even more marked in many Ibudu, as for instance the one already mentioned at the Umo Alipo compound, Omo Chuku (see p. 66). Some time after all the Eki have been set up in the farms, compounds and bush round Elele, preparations are made for the carrying out of a further ceremony, called Nwan Aja, _i.e._ Child of the Earth, which is said to be closely related to the festival already described. For this, the unmarried girls of Elele go out to the bush and search round until each has found one of the great mounds thrown up by termites. ‘With the help of relatives she digs down into this until she comes to the heart of the cave, named in our speech Wekwe Eruru.’ The floor of this looks like a mountain range in miniature. Breathless with excitement, the little maid counts the number of peaks; for just as many as there are of these, so many babes she will bear. With infinite pains, that not one may be broken off, she cuts round, then lifts the flat, roughly circular mass to her head and carries it home. This is a time of great anxiety; for, should any part break away during the process, the number of fallen points denotes--alas!--the still-born babes which fate will send her. [Illustration: FIG. 38. The Wekwe Eruru]