Yam is the most important crop and the staple food of the Igbo people. It is also the first crop to be harvested. At the end of the rainy season in early August, the New Yam Festival is held, symbolizing the conclusion of a harvest and the beginning of the next work cycle. The New Yam Festival is a celebration depicting the prominence of yam in the social and cultural life of the Igbo people. Celebration is very culturally based occasion, tying individual Igbo communities together as essentially agrarian and dependent on yam. |
The origin of yam, the chief among other important staples in Igboland, is transmitted in a myth that articulates a revelation that Chukwu, the most powerful Spirit of the Igbo communicated to Eze Nri, the divine King of Nriland. Nriland is recognized as the cradle of Igbo civilization and the centre of further dispersal. According to Ikenga Emefie Metuh, the mythical narrative goes like this:
Eri, father of Nri, and Nnamaku, his wife, were sent down by Chukwu, a sky God. When Eri came down from the sky, he had to stand on an ant heap as all the land was then a morass. He complained to Chukwu, who thereupon sent him an Awka blacksmith to dry up the land. While Eri lived, he and his dependants were fed by Chukwu and their food was Azu Igwe, Fish from heaven. When Eri died, this food supply ceased. Nri complained to Chukwu, but was told that in order to get food he would have to kill and bury his eldest son and daughter. When Nri objected, Chukwu promised to send Dioka from the sky to carve the ichi or facial cicatrization marks on the foreheads of the two children. After Dioka arrived and cut the ichi on the faces of the two children, Nri cut their throats and buried them in separate graves. Three native weeks (twelve days) later, shoots appeared from the graves of these two children. From the grave of his son, Nri dug up yam. He cooked and ate it and found it so pleasing that he fell into a sleep so deep that his family thought him dead. When he awoke, he told his astonished family what he had done. The next day, Nri dug up cocoyams from his daughter's grave, ate them and likewise slept again. This is why yam is called »son of Nri« and the cocoyam called »daughter of Nri«. The first-born son and daughter of Nri are marked to this day with the ichi to commemorate the event.
New Yam Festival is a thanksgiving festival otherwise known by different names among various sub-ethnic groups in Igboland. The ceremony is variously known as Iri Ji Ohuru, Iwa Ji, Emume Ifejioku, Ime Ahiaolu, Emume Ahianjoku, Iro Ofo, or Ofala. Each community holds the rite on its market day. The Okpala, that is the eldest Oji Ofo (person who is held as the most upright and just; the one who commands moral authority in an Igbo community) is the recognized ritual head. The rite is usually performed under an Ukwu Egbu tree, an Ukwu Abosi tree, or an Ogirisi tree. On that day, the most fattened yam tubers donated by an accomplished Di Ji (expert yam-cultivator in the community) are displayed. A huge cock, several kola nuts, kegs of dry gin and jars of palm wine, alligator peppers, and other small ritual items such as nzu (white chalk), nchara (yellow chalk), and edo (red chalk) are gathered. The ritual master cuts one new yam tuber into four pieces and praying at the same time. On a four-branched Otiri stick (red milky stem), the leader sticks the slashed new yam pieces. Then he cuts the throat of the Oke Okpa (cockerel), smears the blood on the floor of Nwa Ala Ubi (yam spirit) shrine.
Any of these incantations may be sung, chanted, or simply be said aloud during the ceremony. In other variants of the ceremony, the master blesses and thanks Chukwu (Igbo High God) who has given yam to the Igbo people. At the end of the communal ritual part of the festival, some slices of yam are roasted and eaten hot with red palm oil, while the rest are boiled with the chicken for the elders to consume as New Yam Pepper Soup.
The evening prior to the day of the festival, all old yams are consumed or discarded. The next day, only dishes of yam are served, as the festival is symbolic of the abundance of the produce. Traditionally, the role of eating the first yam is performed by the oldest man in the community or the king. This man also offers yams to god, deities, and ancestors. It is believed that their position bestows the privilege of being intermediaries between their communities and the gods of the land. The rituals are meant to express gratitude of the community to the gods for making harvest possible.
The ceremony is an adult male ritual that takes place in an open space under the shade of a sacred tree often located at the exit of or the entrance to the Ogbe, the kindred house clusters or village. The festival marks the beginning of the first harvest and the eating of new and fresh yams in most Igbo homesteads. It is an appeasement ritual with thankful prayers in a rite marked by the slaughtering of live animals, the pouring of libations, and the invocation of the ancestral spirits and the local divinities. The presence of women at the shrine ground is forbidden. The explanation of the physical absence of women at the ritual ground can be deduced from the mythical narration of the origin of yam in the Igbo socio-religious world view, which tells that God only gave a man the »gift« of yams.
New Yam Festival has its origin in the Igbo homeland and cultural world. Narratives on the festival are widely transmitted in Igbo oral history, tradition, religion, and culture, but the intricacies of the structures of the festival are hardly known by most postmodern Igbo people.
Eri, father of Nri, and Nnamaku, his wife, were sent down by Chukwu, a sky God. When Eri came down from the sky, he had to stand on an ant heap as all the land was then a morass. He complained to Chukwu, who thereupon sent him an Awka blacksmith to dry up the land. While Eri lived, he and his dependants were fed by Chukwu and their food was Azu Igwe, Fish from heaven. When Eri died, this food supply ceased. Nri complained to Chukwu, but was told that in order to get food he would have to kill and bury his eldest son and daughter. When Nri objected, Chukwu promised to send Dioka from the sky to carve the ichi or facial cicatrization marks on the foreheads of the two children. After Dioka arrived and cut the ichi on the faces of the two children, Nri cut their throats and buried them in separate graves. Three native weeks (twelve days) later, shoots appeared from the graves of these two children. From the grave of his son, Nri dug up yam. He cooked and ate it and found it so pleasing that he fell into a sleep so deep that his family thought him dead. When he awoke, he told his astonished family what he had done. The next day, Nri dug up cocoyams from his daughter's grave, ate them and likewise slept again. This is why yam is called »son of Nri« and the cocoyam called »daughter of Nri«. The first-born son and daughter of Nri are marked to this day with the ichi to commemorate the event.
New Yam Festival is a thanksgiving festival otherwise known by different names among various sub-ethnic groups in Igboland. The ceremony is variously known as Iri Ji Ohuru, Iwa Ji, Emume Ifejioku, Ime Ahiaolu, Emume Ahianjoku, Iro Ofo, or Ofala. Each community holds the rite on its market day. The Okpala, that is the eldest Oji Ofo (person who is held as the most upright and just; the one who commands moral authority in an Igbo community) is the recognized ritual head. The rite is usually performed under an Ukwu Egbu tree, an Ukwu Abosi tree, or an Ogirisi tree. On that day, the most fattened yam tubers donated by an accomplished Di Ji (expert yam-cultivator in the community) are displayed. A huge cock, several kola nuts, kegs of dry gin and jars of palm wine, alligator peppers, and other small ritual items such as nzu (white chalk), nchara (yellow chalk), and edo (red chalk) are gathered. The ritual master cuts one new yam tuber into four pieces and praying at the same time. On a four-branched Otiri stick (red milky stem), the leader sticks the slashed new yam pieces. Then he cuts the throat of the Oke Okpa (cockerel), smears the blood on the floor of Nwa Ala Ubi (yam spirit) shrine.
Any of these incantations may be sung, chanted, or simply be said aloud during the ceremony. In other variants of the ceremony, the master blesses and thanks Chukwu (Igbo High God) who has given yam to the Igbo people. At the end of the communal ritual part of the festival, some slices of yam are roasted and eaten hot with red palm oil, while the rest are boiled with the chicken for the elders to consume as New Yam Pepper Soup.
The evening prior to the day of the festival, all old yams are consumed or discarded. The next day, only dishes of yam are served, as the festival is symbolic of the abundance of the produce. Traditionally, the role of eating the first yam is performed by the oldest man in the community or the king. This man also offers yams to god, deities, and ancestors. It is believed that their position bestows the privilege of being intermediaries between their communities and the gods of the land. The rituals are meant to express gratitude of the community to the gods for making harvest possible.
The ceremony is an adult male ritual that takes place in an open space under the shade of a sacred tree often located at the exit of or the entrance to the Ogbe, the kindred house clusters or village. The festival marks the beginning of the first harvest and the eating of new and fresh yams in most Igbo homesteads. It is an appeasement ritual with thankful prayers in a rite marked by the slaughtering of live animals, the pouring of libations, and the invocation of the ancestral spirits and the local divinities. The presence of women at the shrine ground is forbidden. The explanation of the physical absence of women at the ritual ground can be deduced from the mythical narration of the origin of yam in the Igbo socio-religious world view, which tells that God only gave a man the »gift« of yams.
New Yam Festival has its origin in the Igbo homeland and cultural world. Narratives on the festival are widely transmitted in Igbo oral history, tradition, religion, and culture, but the intricacies of the structures of the festival are hardly known by most postmodern Igbo people.