REFLECTIONS ON THE WAYS OF ND’ EHUGBO (AFIKPO)
(By G A Agwo)
THE LESSONS OF EHUGBO NEW YAM FESTIVAL
Originally published in AFIKPO TODAY magazine: Vol. 2 No. 10 (July – Dec, 2004)
From about the 23rd to the 26th of August every year the Ehugbo (Afikpo) people celebrate their New Yam Festival, which also doubles as the town’s New Year day. How many of us have actually and seriously thought about what our founding fathers had at the back of their minds while instituting this annual festival? Let us think together.
As an Ehugbo indigene who has actively participated in the festival for over seventy years, I think their cardinal objectives include religion, relaxation, reconciliation, respect for the culture of the people and total submission to discipline.
The religious aspect is meant to remind us of the supremacy of Obasi Di Elu (Most High God) and to thank Him for sparing our lives to witness another bountiful harvest of what we sowed.
The recreational aspect, in an agrarian community as ours, could only be ensured by setting aside a full native week of traditional abstention from any form of strenuous work every year (Eke gbaga gbaho nnani).
The reconciliatory aspect is manifested in the mandatory exchange of gifts between members of the town and even among estranged relatives, neighbours and friends. Ikeji (new yam festival) is a period to settle all misunderstandings between kinsmen. Apart from Ichu Aho (bidding farewell to the outgoing year and praying for every good fortune in the incoming year), kitchen utensils are scrupulously washed to get rid of old dirt (isa aria).
Respect for the culture of the people and total submission to discipline are paramount in the spirit of Ehugbo New Yam Festival. Disobedience and non-compliance were out of the question.
About the third week of July each year, Eleri Enohia Nkalu, the custodian of Elom ji celebrates his own new yam festival to signal the fullness of time. No other person dares to harvest or bring new yam to Ehugbo before him. Heavy penalties await defaulters. Some four days later the Esaa (traditional council of Ehugbo elders) agree on, and name the Ikeji (new yam festival) day which must be adhered to without fail.
On the Aho day preceding the harvesting day of the new yam for the rest of Ehugbo, girls of all ages all over Ehugbo engage in Ivu nku Ikeji (carrying bundles of firewood) to fairly aged female relatives, family friends and well wishers. The firewood is for cooking the new yams about to be eaten. Some now give gallons of kerosene in lieu of ordinary firewood.
On the Nkwo day when the new yams are harvested, the boys engage in Ivu nku okpirikpi (carrying of logs) to elderly male relatives, family, friends and other beloved ones. In appreciation, those who receive the firewood give money, dried fish or meat or any other delicacies to the young boys and girls. This is an expression of love and a source of maintaining relationships.
From the eve of the feast day proper, to the next Nkwo day (Nkworizu) there are categorized ceremonies and observances.
The religious and social significance of this native week’s holiday is the focus of this reflection. It is a period of fasting and feasting. Fasting because when the yams are harvested or bought on the Nkwo day, they are displayed in conspicuous places but are not to be cooked or eaten till about mid–day the following Eke day.
For the traditionalists, the new yams must first be eaten by their gods – Njoku ji, Nkamalu, Ibini Ukpabi, etc, before human beings. For the Christians, specifically Catholics, it has now become conventional as from after the civil war (1970) that on that day they take their own new yams to their churches for special Holy Mass or Service before they are brought home for eating. Non-Christian fathers gracefully allow their Christian children and wives to take some yams to church for blessing. So for both, our Father (Nnachukwu) has to eat first in recognition of His gift and protection.
But you, onye Ehugbo ibe m, do you fully appreciate the import of this moral lesson in your daily life, alone or in the company of others, at home and outside? Think about it.
Ikeji Ehugbo teaches us to love and cherish our neighbour. Think of the firewood parade. Those who are given the firewood always reciprocate and they feel a deep sense of gratitude for being so remembered. That knowledge invigorates one.
An Ehugbo adage says: ji ohuu nekpu onye obula onu (the new yam has to be eaten by everybody). Up to date, this adage applies to the letter. Every true elderly man in Ehugbo is traditionally bound to ensure that every household in his vicinity eats the new yam on Ikeji day. It is mandatory for him to give out tubers of the new yam – no matter how small – to every widow and any other female or male adult indigene or non–indigene he knows may not afford the yam for the feast. The gift of the new yam may also be purely to express fellowship feeling even if the recipient can easily afford it.
While harvesting or buying the new yam, any responsible elderly man must make room for the sharing. His ancestors may hold him responsible if he failed to make the new yam “go round” on that special Eke day. Can you beat this practical show of love which heightens the spirit of the festival? This innate love, caring and sharing should not be allowed to rot away or die in our hands!
Apart from the giving out of fresh new yams, this is a day a true Ehugbo child or adult can walk into the nearest household and ask for umeji (a slice of cooked yam) if utara ji (yam fufu) was not ready. Mostly the male children do the “chopping visits” as the female folks are usually very busy with domestic chores.
The following Orie day, adult males go to the nearest bush or forest to cut ropes for fastening the yam barn ready for storage later in the year. The succeeding Aho is a day for the non-Christian Ikwu ije na Nja (matrilineal groups meet at their usual house venues for an annual get together and renewal of their affinity). It is an intimate re-union and a show of solidarity among the traditional Religionists kinsmen. The last Nkwo of the new yam festival period is for anyone who may have exhausted the previous Nkwo’s stock to go to the farm for more yam. This ends the Ikeji Ehugbo (new yam festival) for that year. Iko udumini starts the following Eke day.
In summary, our ancestors, through the Ikeji festival teach us that:
- We have to place God first as we reap the fruits of our honest labour and see Him in our neighbour.
- Sincere and practical love makes for peace which in turn engenders unity. The combination of love, peace and unity greatly enhances positive progress and development in the community.
- The tenets of Ehugbo rule of life are embedded in the four days of our native week, namely: Eke –n’ekezi ihe (communal and just sharing); Orie – na erehuteri ihe nakposa oke (bring down a towering problem); Aho, na hofu ehihia (carefully removes the sources of disagreement); and Nkwo na kworiacha ihe/kwobuge ayi ihe ojoo j’esele ayi azu (smoothens or ferries us over whatever may prevent our progress).
In other words, where there is love, there is bound to be peace, which enhances unity. As long as the people remain united, positive progress is a matter of time. There is public discipline whereby no one harvests his own new yam until the appointed day. This formed the base on which the Ehugbo of our not-very- distant-ancestors stood. That kept us together and strong as a people. Then, the community was bigger than a single person or group of persons, no matter how highly placed. Now the center cannot hold due to extreme selfishness.
Before concluding, may I ask this question: If the Ikeji Ehugbo founding fathers were to have a brief break from their resting places for a courtesy call on us Umu Ehugbo, what would be their feeling about our current life style? Utter disappointment! They would quickly “sink” into their graves in hot tears murmuring: “This is not the Ehugbo we left. That home is now hell for the few honest ones among them. Hatred, violence, greed, disunity and community stagnation are the order of the day. Most of them who cheated their ways to the top are now demi–gods and see any honest Ehugbo indigene as an enemy who must be eliminated. But let such misfits and agents of disunity and hatred note that the evil seeds they sow shall live after them. Only honest service to God and humanity shall go with them at the zero hour”.Please, let us sincerely reflect on and think seriously about the Ikeji Ehugbo spirit. I exhort all of us: Let the Ikeji Ehugbo spirit be kept alive. Unu jookwa!
