IZZI NNODO CELEBRATES NEW YAM FESTIVAL (OJIJI)

Izzi people celebrate their Ojiji (New Yam Festival).

Actually Izzi land is located in the South-Eastern part of Nigeria. It is in one of the tribes of Nigeria-Igbo. When it comes to the way of life of the people of Izzi, Ojiji cannot be left behind as it is a major feast per say.

In Ebonyi state, it is not skeptical that Izzi Nnodo is the central of all other traditional make ups. This is because the Izzi or Izhi as called by the people do not make caricature with any african traditional religion as it respects the faith and godly belief of their fore fathers. In a short note, Izzi land is known by their integrity, accommodating value and peaceful co-existence.

Commonly, there are ways of counting calender by the people of Izzi which is quiet irrespective of the English calender. The Izzi culture, like any other people, has twelve (12) months in a year. The twelve month is divided into different seasons of the year, of which the major ones are the raining and the dry season.

A year is being counted starting from November to October and these two seasons falls within the stated period of months. The raining season is the period of planting of crops that are meant to be harvested during the Ojiji festival while the dry season is the season of enjoying the harvested crops without much farm work to be attended to.

Izzi has five days in a week according to their method of counting and not seven days as seen in English calendar. The days of the week are:

Azua

Iboko

Okpo

Nkwegu

Ophoke which is seen as the resting day.

The people of Izzi practice shifting cultivation system of farming because of the availability of large area of land. This means that the people cultivate different crops including yam which is used for the new yam festival.

The Mode of New Yam Festival in Izzi Nnodo
Izzi Nnodo tremendously celebrate new yam festival so well. At first, the clan leaders would schedule a conference where they would map-out the date of the day it should be celebrated.

A week before the new yam celebration, the elders from Amegu would go to the Ojiji shrine to offer sacrifice to thank the gods for leading the Izzi people out of the period of scarcity of food which is experienced during the dry season.

These elders are set apart men of rituals who have never eaten anything new till the very day they go to the shrine make the sacrifice. They reserve old water from the previous raining season to drink until the ojiji day.

They are not allowed to eat new groundnut, new corn, new yam etc anything new in the year cannot be eaten by them until the ojiji day.
Also, a week before the celebration, new yams are allowed in all the markets of Izzi land and it becomes the announcement of the celebration proper and it is an invitation that the festival will hold on the next Iboko market day.
But if the elders refuse new yam into the market the celebration will not hold on the stipulated date. Son-in-laws Send new yam and other food items to their mother-in-laws as a way of celebrating with them, it is the mark of remembrance of your in-laws.

It is always fixed for the Month of August when the yams minuscule seeds on the leaves might have dried. Then it would be promulgated pronouncingly.

Before the feast day, the road sides leading to the farms are always cleared. Equally, each man will clear the sides of the path that led to his compound-from the boundary between his and the neighbor’s. Everywhere is usually sparkling clean especially one’s compound.

If anybody refuses to clear the portion supposed for him, definitely he will be sanctioned a heavy financial penalty. It’s been done so because some me who are too indolent give prone to uncleanliness of the environment which gives rise to viral diseases. They are forced through delegate who act lugubriously as though they are the ones that implemented the law. If the law breaker tries to be obstinate, his cooking items would be taken to the head of the village. By then, they will pay fine for their seized property before supplication for the penalty otherwise it wont be released.

Like in the olden days, the New yam festival of the people of Izzi is always a holiday. That is to say that working is not being encouraged. Not even the herbalists and the Inyangas are allowed to treat sick people on this day. Except the Sangomas whom nature granted permission to heal and protect the people.

The head of the family is the one who harvests the required yam with stick. He goes together with the son(s) who would carry the yams while returning. If he is late, any other male child replaces him. It is normally harvested a day before the D-day.

HOW TO CONSUME THE NEW YAM (JI OPHU)

The yam is washed and pealed very fine. Then, it is cut and put in a pot, Some people add salt to it while some don’t. Consequently, some persons get the yam roasted and then have the epicap scraped off. To get the sumptuousness of the savoury dish, it is eaten with onions fried with palm oil together with googs, pluted pumpkins and fishes.

In the same vein, women after having consumed either the boiled or roasted yam, are expected to go back to their kitchen and make foofoo with the new yam by pounding it in mortar. Then it can be best served with broths like: Achi, akparata, egusi and esussa stuffed with meat..............