As Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958) describes: “The pounded yam dish placed in front of thepartakers 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 greetedtheir family memberson the other sideof the dish for the first time."
This brief submission explains the significance of the celebration of new yamfestival in Igbosociety and among the Igbo wherever theymay liveoutside of Igboland. It answers the question, what is new yam and why is new yam such an important ceremony and identityof 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 andparticipation innewyam festivities at home and in diaspora.
New Yam festival in Igboland of Nigeria or among theIgbo 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 feastwithits 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 publicfunction on certain appointed days of the year.It is the feast of new yam; the breaking of the yam; andharvest 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 spiritsof the field with special reference to the presiding deity of the yam crop. In the olden days,fowls offeredassacrifice must be carried to the farm and slain there,with theblood being sprinkled on the farm. Yam is cutinto some sizes and thrown to the gods and earth with prayersfor protection and benevolence. When the ceremony is completed, everythingis taken home; the yamsare 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 eatenatthesubsequent feast. Everyone is allowed to partake in thisand those who arenotimmediately around are kept portions of the commensal meal.
Another significant aspect of the ritual notdiscussed by writers in this field is the preparation of children topartake 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 thatto take inanewthing into the body, itis important to cleanse the body and in this case a new yam deserves acleanbodyachieved through dedication and purification ritual. As a child, my own grandfather, a ritual expertand healer, neverallowed all the children inour villageto marknew yam festival withoutfirst ofall gathering us together and counselling us on the importance of Ahiajoku, yam productivity anditsdiversegender sensitivity, social and cultural miracle. He would lay on the ground some fresh grass and some leaves of ogirishi (newbouldia laevis)and otherrequirementssuchas omu (young palm tendril).
Today, Igbo peopleinurban centres and inforeign landscelebratenewyamwith equal amount of curiosity and zeal tore- engagetheir life-worldand cosmological values. Not long ago, the six geo-political states of the Igbo gathered at the NationalTheatre in Lagos and uniquely celebrated the New Yam Festival, with Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu andothers leading therite asa unique heritage and integral thing of the Igbo World.
Incelebratingthe NewYamFestival, the whole community sharesin this harvest and thanksgiving called “Afia-ji Oku”. Celebration is extended to the open market squares and streets where spectacular dances, songs and running around in organized groups, includingall forms of jubilationand role reversalsare played out and hailed ina carnival mood (ima ijere, ima ahia).
As the biggest of yam communal rites, it is described asiri ji ohuru, iri ji mmiri, iroofo, ofala and ibu ji aro (the latter being common among the people of EhimeinMbano of ImoState. The Ibu ji arois thelargest marketoutingfanfare where a unique yam called “ji aro” is jubilantly carried to the big market when it is in full session on a chosen traditionalbig market dayand time by the very head leader of Ahiajoku deity of Umuezeala community in Ehime area. As observed, aspecial site of Ahiajoku deity around the marketis paidhomage with prayers and items such as kola nuts, fowls and yams.
A thunderously high ovation is echoed by market men and women upon sitting the big yam – jiaro, decorated with young palm tendril, fowl and traditional dancers on approach to the market andinside the market as the celebration catches a moment of pushing and jumping up and down by onlookers tocatch aglimpseof the huge yam and the carnivals around it. In Ehime area, new yam cannot be eaten until ji aro goes to and returnsfromthemarket of Nkwo Umuezeala. Not only stories held that catastrophes and strange things happen in the locality at any time the rule and taboos around ji aro tradition areviolated or ignored but also specific cases and references to individuals and families affected due to subversion against ji aro are commonly and typically known. Assuch, the community as a whole celebrate and preserve the heritage annuallyin August called onwa ano Umuezeala (forth month of Umuezeala people). At a time I conducted fieldwork on Igbo Medicine andculture; I had paidattention to the rites of new yam and interacted with the village where ji aro has a high esteem for individual and community renewal. Indeed, the meaning of ji aro can only be fully understood by living with the community andexperiencing it firsthand in the month of August every year.
Guests of the celebrating community pour out inlarge numbers to appreciate their hosts with excitement and applause as dances and songs, shooting of guns by youngand old, drummingand sounding of thebig woodengong,and indeed, all else provide avibrant social ambienceof lineage, kinship, neighbourhood, workplace, school, business and friendship connections. Compounds, pathways, local rivers and streams, including markets and deity sites are cleared andkept clean for indigenes and guests to have afeel of the geographical beauty of the community. A community facingnewyam festival – from home to stream and market arenas experiences the best of its cleanliness and physical features as an important part of the meaning of the festival also. Different communities describe this aspect as clearing roads festival while others attribute itto mean the same thing as new yam festival which equallyconnotes harvesting, clearing and cleansing.
Dr. Okechukwu Ikejiani further states that the meaning and significance of the name “Afia-ji Oku” is worth explaining. For him, the idea behind “Afia-ji Oku” seems to indicate exertion, industry, to strive after, henceto trade; “ji”, to lay holdof and “Oku” riches. Thus, the full meaning is: “Industry or trade brings wealth.” In those days, yam largely constituted wealth. A man is evaluated by the size of his yam barn (Oba Ji), large household and ability to earn a good living and help others in society. The rite of new yam is to re-enact a bounty harvest and wealth for the celebrants. The importance is further capturedinseeing the newyam festival as a tradition, and one of which culminates the end of a yam farming cycle and the beginning of another. That is perhaps why in Igbocultural setting, invitation to the festival is open to all and sundry – friends, neighbours, kin relations, acquaintances, in-laws, etc. The carnival mood and graciousness at extending invitations and welcoming every visitor and guest means thatthere isplenty of food toenjoy as opposedto lack of food to live on.
In Igbo society, the culture of cutting, iwa; and eating, iri; of the first yam is performed by the oldest man in the community or the Eze, King. Privileged by the elder-ship and title-ship positions in society, it is believed the senior members of the community mediate between the ancestorsand gods of the land. The totality of rituals around the new yam eating express the community's appreciation and renewal with the godsfor making the harvest of farm yields possible and successful. As confirmed by Dr. Okechukwu Ikejianiand other observers and informants, new yam is not eaten until due rite is accorded to the god of yam called Ahiajoku, ifejioku and ajoku. Igbopeople answer names rooted to the deity of yam such asNjoku, Nwanjoku. Alsotitles are taken after the deity for distinguished farmerssuch as Eze-Ji, Owa-ji and Mma- ji. In 1979, whenProf. Michael Echeruo delivered the inaugural AhiajokuLecture, he carefully observed the deep significance of yamand yam festival as thougha male crop, it identifies with a beautiful Igbo cultural identity and heritage. Varieties of the yam tuber were introduced to Igboland in thelate 19th century by the Portuguese traders and explorers of farm produce. Along the West African coastal belt, yam cultivation and celebration is also well known. But why new yam festival is highly pronounced in Igbo even more than in other none Igboyam producing communities is bestexplained to mean how the Igbo cherish, adore and intensively farm the crop as akey staple commodity with amasculine fanfare. Of course, there areseveral sexualnuances associated with Ji, yam, king of crops,as a male crop and a male thing. For insight, see Iroegbu Patrick’s book, Marrying Wealth, Marrying Poverty (2007). Marriage in Igboland cannot occur without Ji as a male power, to behold.Cocoa yam isasupportive crop- kin of yam much as male is to female.
Celebrating the New yam fest iscommon with energetic men’s, women’s and children’s cultural dance troupes, in addition to fashion display, role reversals, Igbo masquerade jamboree, heavy drinking of palm wine, folklores, commensality and reciprocity all of which are synonymous with the iwa ji and iri-ji ohuru in Igbo life and culture.
abundance and hanging out together. Accordingly toUgo Daniels (2007), this isalso noticed in other West African regions such as in some Ghanaian communities where the feast is dubbed “Homowo” or “To Hoot at Hunger” Festival. Here the people ritually mock against famine and apparently hope for a good harvest so no famine will hit the people in the coming year.
Essentially, theharvest of yamand the celebration of the deity of the land given the New Yam festival consist in expression of the people’s religious belief inthe supremedeity as a giver of yam and donor of good harvest. With the coming of the new moon in August (onwa ano oronwa asato), marked is the preparation for the grand iri ji ohuru festival; but again the time and moodof preparation varies from one autonomous community to another. The New Yam festivalissuch ahighlyappealing event to the extent that dominant religions such as Christianity, in particular, Catholic Dioceses and Parishes have enculturated iwa ji and iri ji ohuru in Christian worship and celebration (cf. Chris Manus 2007). Informants referred to cases where Iri Ji Festivalis called Ji Maria, Ji Madonna and Ji Joseph to venerate the Holy Virgin Mary as the Mother Earth and of whole produce to glorify God. This is a development that shows how dynamic cultures are embraced for change and continuity. Typically, New Yam Festival provides a heritage of dances, feasting, renewal of kinship alliances, as well as marks the end of one agricultural season with a harvest to express gratitude and thanksgiving to the society, gods, friends and relations. Thanks to IPUNA, it is a fabulous New Yam Festivalin Edmonton of Albertaforthe Igbo and their friends. NewYam Fest is as cultural asit brings life, identity renewal, solidarity and progress! Enjoy. Igbo Kwenu!
No comments:
Post a Comment