Preserving Igbo Cultural Dogmas via Literature;- Festivals Of all the hallmarks of the rich Igbo cultural heritage are series of various major and minor festivals held in many Igbo communities at selected periods in the year. Some are celebrated annually, biannually, etc. During these festivals, there are often displays of culture such as traditional instrumental music, dances; masquerade dance shows, wrestling matches, riddles and other forms of entertainment which are deeply rooted in the people’s tradition. Aside the annual New Yam Festival which is celebrated in many Igbo communities, there are also several other festivals which some Igbo communities hold sacrosanct as their mark of identity and ancestry. For instance, Nri kingdom celebrates Onwa Agwu and Igu Aro, Awka celebrates Imo Awka, Abagana celebrates Ede aro, Nnewi celebrates Afia Olu, and Arondizuogu celebrates Ikeji, Owerri celebrates Oru Owere, and so it is with various other Igbo communities. In Chukwuemeka Ike’s Toads for Supper, he writes about Ikeji festival. Excerpt; “Some threatened to flog him till he bled if he made the mistake of coming home during the Ikeji festival” (p 60). In Onyeka Nwelue’s The Abyssinian Boy, he makes a reference to the Ibu-Uzo festival celebrated annually in Ezeoke-Nsu. “On last year’s Ibu-Uzo festival, Mama-Nkeukwu had screamed that nobody was going to cook anything in the house that day, because it might look as if they were part of the pagan feast” (p 137). In another excerpt, he writes, “Benjamin stepped out of their mud-zinced house and looked to the sky. Oh, the Ibu-Uzo festival had passed and it remained only Christmas to look forward to, he murmured as he stepped into their kitchen” (p 166). Here, Onyeka Nwelue does not only educate the reader that there’s such a festival known as Ibu-Uzo, but also gives a hint about what time of the year it is held. Also in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart where he writes about Okonkwo’s wrestling prowess in matches, the celebration of the New Yam, these are references to direct the reader about the rich cultural festivals of the Igbos.
Posted on: Sun, 23 Nov 2014 08:26:00 +0000
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