AFIKPO NEW YAM FESTIVAL HOLDS AUGUST 26 AS PROF URO-CHUKWU DELIVERS 4TH OKPUDO IKEJI LECTURE
From Omaka OKOH (Abakaliki)
The annual Afikpo (Ehugbo) new yam festival will hold on Eke, Monday, August 26, 2024.
The New Yam Festival is one of the top festivals in Afikpo.
The festival begins with a series of activities weeks before the final ceremonial day. First, a large council of elders meets in a solemn conference called Ngidi-Ngidi to decide the date of the festival.
The Ngidi-Ngidi comprising the Onikaras and Essas Traditional Ruling Council of Elders, the highest decision-making body in Afikpo North (Ehugbo land) finally met at Obu Ezi Aghabi, Amaokwu Amagballa in Ehugbo and announced the date for Ikeji or Iriji festival.
The New Yam Festival is one of the top festivals in Afikpo.
The festival begins with a series of activities weeks before the final ceremonial day as stipulated by centuries-old traditional practices handed down from generation to generation.
And to intellectualise the festival, Chief Iduma Igariwey, a one-time chairman of Afikpo local government area and currently represents Afikpo North/Edda federal constituency, instituted an annual lecture four years ago.
The 4th Okpudo Ikeji annual lecture is scheduled for Sunday, August 25, 2024 at 2:00pm at Rt. Hon. Iduma Igariwey’s premises, Ogwu Ovum, Mgbom village, Afikpo. Prof. Henry Chukwuemeka Uro-chukwu will deliver the lecture titled "The Ikeji (New Yam) Festival in Afikpo and Edda: Food Culture, Lifestyle and Health.
"Uro-chukwu is a professor of public health medicine and nutritional biochemistry and an international scholar who has contributed greatly to knowledge and community service both within and outside Nigeria.
The Okpudo Ikeji annual lecture was instituted by Rt. Hon. Iduma Igariwey to articulate and project the cultural heritage of the people of Afikpo and Edda Federal constituency to the global community.
Iduma Igariwey was a one-time chairman of Afikpo local government area and currently represents Afikpo North/Edda federal constituency.
On the eve of the festival day, a ceremony called Ichu Aho takes place between late night and the early morning hours preceding the festival day.
During Ichu Aho, youths enact a symbolic ritual of chasing away the old year away with lit torches and other flammable materials.
This symbolic chasing away of the old year is done in order to clear the way for the New Year.
As the first day of the year (the festival day) the locals (some of them just returning from the Ich Aho ceremony) offer prayers for the New Year and prepare for the feasting that will take place throughout the day.
Most households will entertain immediate and extended family members, neighbours and visitors from out of town.
The traditional New Yam Festival dish is pounded yam and “ohe sarara” (a white colored soup made with chunks of ground egusi seeds and assorted meat).
The rest of the day will be spent exchanging visits, gifts (especially for children who visit uncles and cousins) eating, drinking and catching up with folks. Some family groups and town associations also use the occasion to host annual meetings and fund raisers for various projects
