Onyishi is a common term or name normally taken as surname or title by person/persons whose father is the most eldest in a village or one who is the most eldest in Nsukka or its villages.
In otherwords,Onyishi simply means the oldest,head or leader be it man or woman.In normal Nsukka settings,once an adult be it man or woman becomes the oldest in his or her village, he/she picks up the title Onyishi. For one to be Onyishi in a village, the person be the most eldest in that village. The person in question has to host the entire village and well wishers after which he will be given the staff of office just like the ceremonial mace but here it's called Aruah in Nsukka culture.The Aruah is only for the men whereas the most oldest women receive nothing as their staff of office.Onyishi is never campaigned for and it's believed to be a thing of nature.
The Aruah, in the recent years has been disputed by some Christians who claim it's form of idolatry thus giving their colleagues crucifix on attaining such age.
The Aruah which is about 200 by 4 cm in length and width respectively is four in number. The aruah is carried in bulk by the village head daily to his ancestral home commonly called Obu in the mornings. On getting to the Obu,he prays in the presence of the Aruah using kola nut and left the Aruah there till the dusk time.In the evening, the Onyishi goes back to the Obu and return the Aruah back home.This practice continues like this until the present Onyishi dies.
This practice has been in existence for centuries. In Nsukka or Nru Nsukka precisely, you can get an aruah that is over hundreds of years though not yet recorded due to the late arrival of the needed technologies in Nsukka.Thus, making the family name onyishi very common to the Nsukka people.
According to one Mr.Atugwu Kenechukwu from Nru Nsukka he said that every Onyishi in Nsukka has a mode of dressing which is normally a red cap with a red feather (called "awu")fixed on it,a short branch of stick gotten from a known tree called Ohoo,and a hand bag.In every gathering an Onyishi must always hold that ohoo on his hand whenever he speaks on matters concerning the people.For emphasis sake,he said that no village is recognized in Nsukka without an Onyishi as its head.
Ohoo acts as a symbol of office too and it's held by all the Onyishi and the oha whenever the person speaks on matters concerning the people. Ohoo is not transferred from the demised Onyishi like the Aruah.Each new Onyishi gets his own ohoo before his coronation day.
It's a common belief in Nsukka that if one lies with the ohoo in his hand, the person will be struck dead by the ancestors.
Demise of an Onyishi
If any reigning Onyishi dies,the man taking over from the deceased has to visit the funeral home of the demised Onyishi and perform some rituals before the burial proceeds. Note: this practice is limited to the men taking Onyishi since that of the women does not necessarily need the ritual process.
After the rituals normally in the presence of the corpse and sympathizers including men and women.The daughter of the incoming-onyishi collects the Aruah-ceremonial mace(traditional mace here) from the deceased home.On collecting the aruah,she proceeds to her father's compound.Normally,she carries the aruah on her shoulder creating a procession which the incoming Onyishi and his well-wishers join proceeding to his house while the burial goes on.
Worthy of noting that the rituals are done in various ways now due to the era of Christianity.The most typical way of doing the rituals is that the incoming Onyishi prays before the corpse with kolanuts and cock(a fowl which he must kill there) declaring that if he has hand in killing the demised Onyishi he is taking over from,let him die before one month or so.
When aruah is brought home,the incoming Onyishi will not touch it till one good month (according to the Igbo calendar) known as izu-esa Igbo calendar that is 28days. At the one month,the new Onyishi will then be coronated by the various Onyishi(s) from within his area Nsukka and other title holders called oha.