THE NEW YAM FESTIVAL

THE NEW YAM FESTIVAL

The Yam Festival is usually held in August or September at the end of the rainy season.  The Yam Festival is named after the most common food in many African countries.  Yams are the first crops to be harvested. Before the festival starts, the yams are offered to gods and ancestors first before distributing them to the villagers. The ritual is performed either by the oldest man in the community or by the king. They eat the first yam because it is believed that their position gives them the privilege of being intermediaries between their communities and the gods of the land. The rituals involved in the new yam eating are meant to express the community’s appreciation to the gods for making the harvest of their yams possible. However, recently many traditional rulers have started acknowledging God (The Almighty) as the soul provider of this harvest.

It’s that time of the year when every Igbo person gathers to celebrate the festival called Iwa ji afo (New Yam Festival). For those who may want to know, Yam is the main agricultural crop of the Igbos and also the staple food of our people. The New Yam Festival known as ‘Iwa-Ji’ or ‘Iri-Ji’ is a celebration depicting the prominence of yam in the social-cultural life of our people.

The individual Igbo communities each have their days for this occasion. This day symbolizes the conclusion of a work cycle and the beginning of another. Invitation to the new yam festival is usually open to everyone. What this means, is that there is abundant food for not just the harvesters but also for friends and well-wishers. A variety of festivities mark the eating of new yam. These festivities include cultural dances, masquerades parades, parties, etc.

On the last night before the festival, yams of the old year are gotten rid of by those who still have them. This is because it is believed that the New Year must begin with tasty, fresh yams instead of the old dried-up crops of the previous year.

At the new yam festival, only dishes of yam are served since the festival is symbolic of the abundance of the produce. So much of it is cooked that, no matter how heavily the family eats or how many friends and relatives they invite, there is always so much food left over at the end of the day. It’s in fact a season of merriment and togetherness.

According to Raph Uwazuruike, the chairman of Igbo Council of Chiefs, Lagos, it aims "to strengthen the bond of relationship that existed between (the Igbos) before the civil war."

Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, the star guest at the occasion, captured its importance vividly when he described "the new yam festival, in our tradition, as the culmination of a work cycle and the beginning of another."

That perhaps explains why in a traditional Igbo setting invitation to the festival is usually thrown open. What this means, according to Uche Momah, the president of All Igbo Speaking States in Lagos, is that there is abundant food for not just the harvesters but friends and well-wishers alike.

You may never really understand what I’m saying unless you’ve tasted or experienced it.