Abiriba Abia State -New Yam Festival Celebration
Author: Ike OkerePosted on Oct 08 2009
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In Igboland, there are so many festivals each depicting a particular event within the year. But out of all these festivals, the most profound and widely celebrated is
the New Yam Festival.
This festival has cultural significance for every community in Igboland and is celebrated annually. The dates when it is celebrated may vary, but it usually falls between August and September of every year to mark the event of the new yam crop.
A successful new yam festival is usually organised within two months, and people do not only come to celebrate the arrival of the new yam, but also the opportunity that God has given them to be alive to witness the harvesting of another season of yam.
In Abiriba, a town in Abia State-eastern Nigeria, the new yam festival is celebrated in a particular way from other parts of the Igboland.The occasion normally takes place within the second week of September each year and it is called Eke-mbu or the Eriji Ohuru.
It is worthy of note that in Igboland, culturally Abiriba people start planting at the beginning of the raining season in March. Every year yam or tuber crops as well as cassava and other root crops are cultivated within this period of the year. By July all crops are expected to have been planted.
The Igbo man starts preparing for the new yam festival celebration in August.
For Ndi- Igbo yam represents manliness, and he who can feed his family on yams from one harvest to another is a great man indeed. The Feast of the New Yam is a special occasion because it begins the season of plentiful abundance.
In Abiriba, another ceremony called Iriama festival is organised marking the end of the old yam season. New yam festival in Abiriba is always a great occasion as people come home with friends and well wishers for this event.
It is also a time to associate themselves with other events reminiscent of the festival. Such other engagements include; mass wedding ceremonies, burials, meetings and any other activities as outlined by the traditional ruler of Abiriba (the Enachioken of Abiriba and the council members) Celebrations occur over a period of four days.
People eat yam porridge, cook pounded yam, and roast yam. In the night, follows the traditional Obina dance which is performed by women. The festival is characterised by different dances, masquerade and others depending on how a particular community organises their celebrations.
Farmers carry yams to the village heads and elders of the society as they
congregate at different villages. People donate money and gifts in village gatherings, as they celebrate both life and bumper harvest. Women and men distribute alligator pepper and kola nuts which they give to their relatives and friends. There is so much to see and enjoy. It is definitely a festival that is worth witnessing when celebrated back home. It is like a type of Christmas carnival that takes place.
Watch out for the ICSN IRIJI coming soon in the month of November!
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