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| Rt. Hon. Chief Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Enugu State Governor |
But the festival got to its climax in the penultimate Sunday, when the monarch of the Nike Kingdom, His Royal Highness, Igwe Julius Nnaji, and his people rolled out drums to mark the 2015 new yam festival. On that sunny Sunday of September 27, the palace of Igwe Nnaji was filled to capacity before 2:00p.m scheduled for the beginning of the celebration.
The
atmosphere was ecstatic as the natives regaled in their various uniforms while
waiting for the arrival of the Enugu State Governor, Rt. Hon. Chief Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, who was the special guest at the
occasion.
As soon as
the governor arrived, by 3:50p.m, the popular Igede music started playing,
which heralded the presentation of kola nut to him and his entourage. This was
followed by the presentation of several yam tubers by the women in uniform to
Igwe Nnaji as proceeds their husbands harvested from their farms in the last
farming season.
According to
Igwe Nnaji, the presentation was to fulfill their tradition as he pointed out
that the tubers to be eaten at the festival have already been roasted and the
sauce equally prepared with Igbo fowls. He, however, called his wife, the Ugo
Eze, to collect yam tubers from the ones presented by the women to go to the
kitchen and cook food for the guests.
By 4:10p.m
his wife returned with the roasted yam tubers and the Igwe rose to bless the
yam, saying that “those who will eat the yam will enjoy peace, unity and
progress.” After the blessing and cutting of the yam, his wife served him with
one piece as the Igede music started to play again.
Having
eaten, the traditional ruler rose from his throne to go round the expansive
arena, spreading the roasted yam on the floor in symbolic traditional rite and
belief that “if you did not eat the new yam, you will march on it on foot” as
the crowd applauded his majesty, his wife and the cabinet members.
When he
returned to his throne, Igwe Nnaji said that the eating of the new yam in his
kingdom has effectively marked the end of the last farming season and ushered
in a new one. He thanked Governor Ugwuanyi for finding time to come to the
festival with some members of his cabinet, saying that his coming has demonstrated
his love for his people. He gave the governor one cow and 11 tubers of yam for
his wife to prepare his own yam when he gets home, urging him to continue in
his good work in the state.
While speaking
to newsmen at the occasion, the Nike Town Union President, Chief Ify T. Nnamene, said: “Yam is a very
big thing in Igbo land, so we pay very big respect to yam. He disclosed that the festival in Nike was celebrated in the kingdom between
July, August and September every year. Yes, the majority of the Nike community
will start from today to eat their new yam in their homes. The Igwe is the king
of the Nike clan, so he has opened the gate to all Nike indigenes to start
their own new yam festival. The significance is that today and in the other
days to come the farmers will use the new yam festival to rest, to thank God,
to thank Anikewawa, the Nike god, for giving them a bumper harvest as the case
may be.”
Also
speaking, the Chairman of Enugu East Local Government Area and young brother of
the traditional ruler, Prince Cornelius
Nnaji, popularly known as Ike Nike, thanked Governor Ugwuanyi for coming to
celebrate with the people of their kingdom.
He said: “Our new yam festival is a ceremony we do once in every year
to thank God for the food, to thank God for good health, to thank God for long
life and prosperity.”
Prince Nnaji
who is also the Chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria
(ALGON) said that the new yam festival has helped to unify the various
communities in their kingdom.
In his own
words: “Today is the conclusion of the new yam festival
in the entire Nike Kingdom. Other autonomous communities have been doing their
own new yam festivals for the past months, but today Igwe Julius Nnaji is
concluding it in his palace which is attended by His Excellency, the governor
of Enugu State, Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.”
“Why
the women brought out the yams that were presented to the Igwe, saying the
women are in-charge of the food in the house, men can go to the farm with the
women, but the women are the ones to cook the food. So, what you saw there was
the culture of our people being demonstrated. The men had gone to the farm to
produce the yams and the women today brought out the yams to showcase to the
public and cook it for eating.”
The ALGON
boss also said that the festival would in the evening enter into the second
phase which is the dancing of the masquerades.
He said: “That will be the climax of the ceremony today. The Igwe will
go out to the village square with the elders of the community to do this. Today,
the Igwe is concluding the new yam festival in Nike Kingdom, nobody can do any
new yam festival again in Nike Kingdom after today.”
Prince Nnaji
expressed optimism that in the years ahead the Nike Kingdom would use its new
yam festival celebration to attract tourists, saying: “This
is in progress, from today, we are growing, and this is the first time a
governor is attending the new yam festival in Nike Kingdom. By next year we
pray we will put in new programmes that would attract tourists.”
Other
dignitaries who attended the ceremony included Senator Ben Collins Ndu, the Vice Chancellor of Enugu State
University of Science and Technology (ESUT), Prof Luke Anike, former House of Representatives member and now
Commissioner for Local Government Affairs, Chief
Hon. Chijioke Edoga, Commissioner for Information, Dr. Godwin Udeuhele, among others. (sun)
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