Uratta prides itself of noble and virtuous qualities or characteristics. These
include:
(1) Fearlessness or boldness
(2) Straightforwardness
(3) Kindness
(4) Generosity
(5) Honesty
(6) Decency
Although the above cultural values are some basic facts that about should be known Nde Uratta, we need not, however, go in detail into these virtues 3 now. But two quotations below could perhaps illuminate our understanding
of the evidently sterling qualities of Nde Uratta:
(1) “Those who have come in contact with any man, or woman, boy or girl, bred at Uratta will testify that the people of Uratta are very open.”
(2) “In the days of yore, the average Uratta person was open minded, but brutally frank, as he would always say things as they are. The Uratta person is proud. The Uratta woman [for example] is generally beautiful and proud and would not tolerate nonsense. But she was not arrogant. She was simply proud to be Uratta, and hence would prefer to marry in Uratta.”
Additionally, honesty and decency were the hallmarks of the Uratta person. Hence, in the olden days, every Uratta person carefully avoided whatsoever would land him into trouble, such as stealing, and thus bring him and his family shame and/or opprobrium. In short, misbehavior that tarnished the image of the doer and/or his family, just for money, was taboo. Local minstrels still extol the virtue of honesty and decency in the saying, “Iheanyi aso nso, nde mba ozo je ejiya abaa,” meaning that what the Uratta people forbid and detest is embraced by others (today) to make money.
There is no question that generosity, or hospitality, is the hallmark of the Igbo generally. But Uratta people, I must submit, seem to be the most hospitable, a characteristic that pioneer missionaries, who lived in Uratta, in those missionary days, duly acknowledged (see Ekechi, Missionary Enterprise & Rivalry in Igboland, 1972). Let me narrate a personal experience to illustrate an aspect of our people’s extraordinary hospitality towards guests cum strangers/travelers.
When I was a schoolboy, I came home one day from school. Naturally hungry, I expected my ready-made food—utara ji na ofe owerri. To my surprise and frustration, my mother (of blessed memory) had offered my food to a stranger/traveler that appeared obviously hungry and famished.
When I protested, she cajoled me into accepting the grounds for her action: that a visitor/stranger should be treated with kindness and empathy. With motherly exhortation she added: “Kamalu, you have to wait; another food is being prepared for you.” Oh! What a coincidence: we had read, in school, the story of John Ploughman (sic.), which offered a moral lesson!