[size=14pt]Significance Of New Yam Festival In Igbo Society Of Nigeria And In Diaspora[/size]

Written by Patrick E. IROEGBU
Wednesday, 11 August 2010 08:31
Significance of New Yam Festival in Igbo Society of Nigeria and In-Diaspora:



Emume Iwa Ji na Iri Ji Ohuru


Dr. Patrick E. Iroegbu



patrickiroegbu@yahoo.com



Across Igboland and among the Igbo of Nigeria in the diaspora, the month of August, as it is now, is gladdened with the celebration of New Yam called iwa ji and iri ji ohuru. This is best pictured in the framing of the ceremony by Chinua Achebe’s work as far back as in the 1950s.



As Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958) describes: “The pounded yam dish placed in front of the partakers of the festival was as big as a mountain. People had to eat their way through it all night and it was only during the following day when the pounded yam “mountain” had gone down that people on one side recognized and greeted their family members on the other side of the dish for the first time."



This brief submission explains the significance of the celebration of new yam festival in Igbo society and among the Igbo wherever they may live outside of Igboland. It answers the question, what is new yam and why is new yam such an important ceremony and identity of the Igbo of Nigeria? Why are Igbo children particularly ritually cleansed before partaking in the eating of new yam? The essay adopts a straightforward approach drawing from experience and participation in new yam festivities at home and in diaspora.





New Yam festival in Igboland of Nigeria or among the Igbo and their friends in Diaspora is always marked with pomp and pageantry. The occasion of Iwa Ji and Iri-ji Ohuru or new-yam eating festival is a cultural feast with its deep significance. The individual agrarian communities or subsistence agricultural population groups, have their days for this august occasion during which a range of festivities mark the eating of new yam. To the Igbo, therefore, the day is symbolic of enjoyment after the cultivation season. Yam culture is momentous with hoe-knife life to manage the planting and tending of tuberous requirements. Yam farmers in Isu Njaba of Igboland know this well.



Drawing from Nri, the ancestral clan of Igboland, Dr. Okechukwu Ikejiani states that “?WA JI” (to break new yam) is observed as a public function on certain appointed days of the year. It is the feast of new yam; the breaking of the yam; and harvest is followed by thanksgiving. An offering is put forward and the people pray for renewed life as they eat the new yam. An offering is made to the spirits of the field with special reference to the presiding deity of the yam crop. In the olden days, fowls offered as sacrifice must be carried to the farm and slain there, with the blood being sprinkled on the farm. Yam is cut into some sizes and thrown to the gods and earth with prayers for protection and benevolence. When the ceremony is completed, everything is taken home; the yams are laid up before the “Alusi” (deity) together with all the farming implements, while the fowls boiled and prepared with yam for soup (ji awii, ji mmiri oku) are eaten at the subsequent feast. Everyone is allowed to partake in this and those who are not immediately around are kept portions of the commensal meal.



Another significant aspect of the ritual not discussed by writers in this field is the preparation of children to partake in the eating and celebrating of the new yam - called ritual body wash, imacha ahu iri ji mmiri (consequently, ji mmiri, connotes fresh yam, new yam). The belief is that to take in a new thing into the body, it is important to cleanse the body and in this case a new yam deserves a clean body achieved through dedication and purification ritual. As a child, my own grandfather, a ritual expert and healer, never allowed all the children in our village to mark new yam festival without first of all gathering us together and counselling us on the importance of Ahiajoku, yam productivity and its diverse gender sensitivity, social and cultural miracle. He would lay on the ground some fresh grass and some leaves of ogirishi (newbouldia laevis) and other requirements such as omu (young palm tendril). These are employed to create a ritual space and contact with the earth and Ahiajoku to wash and protect the body. One at a time, each child is made to stand in front of this ritual ground and the ritual expert would render a powerful incantation or prayer while passing around the head and throat a bunch of the materials asking the child to spit out saliva on the ground. Across the body the expert also softly brushes materials as he prays for the good health of the chap to be fit to eat the new yam and celebrate the occasion peacefully. Parents took it upon themselves to present their children to the therapist to undergo the cleaning of the body and enacting accord of order and health in the enduring Igbo new yam festival setting.



Today, Igbo people in urban centres and in foreign lands celebrate new yam with equal amount of curiosity and zeal to re-engage their life-world and cosmological values.

http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/guest-articles/significance-of-new-yam-festival-in-igbo-society-of-nigeria-and-in-diaspora.html

Iwa ji has become celebration and equally a yearly event that has come to stay. Culture is dynamic and not like political gimmick. New yam festival is a big cultural event in Igboland and time to thank God for bumper harvest in yam and other farm varieties. In Igboland, men plant yam while women plant cassava and cocoa-yam etc. Man is the head of the family and also, yam is the head of everything in the farm in Igboland.

Iwa ji or new yam festival is a period when in-laws, friends and well-wishers are invited to come and join them celebrate new yam. It is also a transition period from old yam to new yam.

How many igbos plant yams?

Aloy+Emeka:

How many igbos plant yams?

Question

That is one of the biggest occasions in Ogidi. I love new yam festival, the only problem was the mean masquerades that come out at Iwa ji.

nice one!!!

In Igbo communities, the solemn role of eating the first yam is performed by the oldest man in the community or the Eze., as the case may be. The belief is that their position bestows on them the privilege of being intermediaries between their communities and the God of the land.

The local Igbo organization used to hold an Iri-ji Festival but they've since stopped. I always wondered why.

Travelista:

The local Igbo organization used to hold an Iri-ji Festival but they've since stopped. I always wondered why.

Which one, and where?.

.

Ndigbo in the U.K celebrates Iriji or Iwaji with the same zeal as Igbo people else where. Come this October, the Igbo Youths U.K will be celebrating her annual Iri Ji festival. Arrangements are in top gear.
I am in search of a hall that can accommodate between 850-1000 people.
Some of our features this year are: Igbo traditional dances-Egwu Nwanyi Asaba and Adanta.
3 different types of masquerade dance.
Some of the expected guest are: President general Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo Uk chapter, President General Izu Anioma U.K chapter, President Gen Etche Development Union, President Gen Ebonyi state Union, president gen Ibusa Town Union. More invitations are being sent out by now.
The deputy Nigerian High commissioner is also expected, the Igbo members of house of Parliament, and mayors.
Royal fathers expected are the Eze of Umuoma, in Ihitte Uboma L.G.A of Imo state and the Obi of Ubulu Ukwu, Delta state.

[size=14pt]The Nanka New Yam Festival[/size]
By Jerry Adesewo
September 4, 2010 11:48PM



The Nanka community in the Orumba North Local Government area of Anambra State, has observed its annual Oririji (New Yam) festival, with a grand finale, held on August 21. It was the highlight of the three-day festival, held at the Isigwunwagu Central School Field, Ifite Nanka.

The 2010 edition drew the Ozuzu Nanka (Sons and daughters of the town) who travelled from far and near to their ancestral home and joined the regent of Nanka, Igwe G.N Ofomata to commemorate yet another fruitful harvest.


[img]http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/dt.common.streams.StreamServer.cls?CONTENTTYPE=image/jpeg&STREAMOID=Oxr2C7ba4GiWYDOUwe6phC6SYeqqxXXqBcOgKOfTXxSCI0fWSLWUbG8NQ5lZBYyJnW_PgxgftuECOcfJwS6Jtlp$r8Fy$6AAZ9zyPuHJ25T7a9GKDSxsGxtpmxP0VAUyHL6IDcZHtmM2t7xO$FHdJG95dFi6y2Uma3vSsvPpVyo-[/img]
Igwe cuts the new yam. Photo: JERRY ADESEWO

The festival had earlier kicked off with the Iriji Igwe celebration on Friday, August 20, at the palace of the Igwe Ofomata. Usually held a day before the New Yam festival, Iriji Igwe is set aside for the traditional ruler to mark his own version of the event, usually seen as the dress rehearsal for the grand finale. The Iriji Igwe attracts a lot of attention, as all the chiefs and titled men in Nanka are expected to be in attendance. This year’s event was a grand celebration during which the Igwe took the opportunity to honour Nanka indigenes who have been making the town proud in different fields of endeavour.

The grand finale of Oririji Nanka 2010, held the following day, Saturday, was a success despite the fact that rain started falling early on the big day. Some apprehension greeted the heavy rains that started at eight in the morning. But as providence would have it, about noon when people were expected to start trooping from their homes to the assembly ground, the rain had stopped.

The first slice

The ceremony got underway with heavy drumming and dancing, heralding the arrival of the seven villages of Nanka. Each village usually turns up every year with at least one Igba (traditional) dance group. Each of the villages – Agbiligba, Enugwu, Ifite, Umudala, Amako, Ubahu and Etti – tries to outdo the others in adding colour and gaiety to the festival. The air abuzz with heavy drumming and dancing, festival goers danced their fill before the arrival of the Igwe himself.

Starting the official activities, the master of ceremony for the day welcomed the special guests, including Polycap Emenike, Peter Chinedu and chair of the occasion, Kofi Obijiofo – all prominent names among the Nanka people.

With the arrival of the Igwe, other aspects of the ceremony took off, starting with a prayer of thanksgiving for the new harvest year. Then there was the breaking and sharing of the kola-nut, followed by the main event of the day: the cutting of the New Yam. This involved the ritual cutting of a piece of roast yam, a task performed by the Igwe himself in the presence of Ozuzu Nanka. In days gone by, gods and goddesses were invoked to be part of the cutting and eating of the first slices of New Yam, but this is no longer so. The prayer is now done in the Christian mode, to choruses of ‘Amen’ from the gathering. The king then cuts the yam and eats the first slice. This represents the very first tasting of the New Yam in the Nanka community, as no indigene of the town is expected to have eaten it before this time. After the Igwe’s first taste, leaders of each of the Nanka villages would come forward (in order of superiority) to pick a slice on behalf of their territories.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/ArtsandCulture/5614102-146/story.csp

Iri ji

for Nigerians looking for yams in the US, you can get your ingredients here - http://www.nigerianfoods.com/search?type=product&q=Yam