How is the New Yam Festival celebrated in Igbo land?
A variety of festivities mark the eating of new yam. Folk dances, masquerades, parades, and parties create an experience that some participants characterize as “art”; the colorful festival is a spectacle of exhibited joy, thanks, and community display.
What is the significance of the yam what is the purpose of the New Yam Festival How is it related to the religion of the community?
Yam is significant to the planting and harvesting season of Ogidi community as it is regarded as a miraculous plant that signifies fertility. Once new yams are harvested from the farms in good quantity and conditions, it is believed that the year will be illustrious and that the ground will be fertile for other crops.
What is the purpose of the New Yam Festival?
Typically, New Yam Festival provides a heritage of dances, feasting, renewal of kinship alliances, as well as marks the end of one agricultural season with a harvest to express gratitude and thanksgiving to the society, gods, friends and relations.
What does the yam symbolize in Igbo culture?
Yams are the essential crop within Umuofia; the yam is a crucial staple in the Igbo diet. The number of yams a man successfully grows indicates his wealth and rank within the society. Yam stood for manliness, and he who could feed his family on yams from one harvest to another was a very great man indeed” (33).
What was the yam a symbol of?
Yams are a crop grown exclusively by men. Growing yams is labor intensive, and the size of a man’s fields and harvest say much about his work ethic. Yams are grown to gain wealth and also to feed one’s family. They are a symbol of masculinity and ability as a provider.
Who celebrates the New Yam Festival?
The Yoruba people celebrate the New Yam Festival, known to them as Eje, for two days around the time of the harvest. They fast, give thanks for the harvest, and carry out special DIVINATION RITES to determine the fate of the community, and particularly its crops, in the coming year.
What is the symbol of New Yam Festival in Nigeria?
Celebrated by almost every ethnic group in Nigeria, the New Yam Festival is observed annually at the end of June. It is considered taboo to eat the new yam before this festival. The high priest sacrifices a goat and pours its blood over a symbol representing the god of the harvest.
What story is always told at the New Yam Festival Why is it an example of a legend?
The story that is always told at the New Yam Festival is were a wealthy man who had so much foo-foo at his feast that the dinner guests couldn’t see any one at the other side of the table until the food was eaten. This is an example of a legend because it is an exaggeration and has some truth to it.
When was the first yam festival?
1812
1 The festival as celebrated at the Ashanti capital of Kumasi in 1812 was luridly described by Bowdich (1819).
What are the women’s duties after the yams are planted?
What are the women’s duties after the yams are planted? plant melon, maize, and beans, then weed the farms. During the rainy season, how do the people of the village pass the time?
What killed the yam harvest?
There is a long period of drought, killing the first batch of Okonkwo’s yams. After he plants the remainder, there is endless flooding so the few yams that actually make it to harvest are rotting.
What is the name of the Igbo new yam festival?
It began in Arochukwu community several centuries ago. In the past, the new yam festival must be celebrated before any adult of Igbo origin will eat a new yam. This means the event must precede the eating of water-yam. The traditional name for Igbo new yam festival is “ IKE JI ” which literally means the “ Strength inherent in Yams.
Where does the new yam festival take place?
New yam festival is one of the most prominent annual celebrations in Igbo land. It began in Arochukwu community several centuries ago. In the past, the new yam festival must be celebrated before any adult of Igbo origin will eat a new yam. This means the event must precede the eating of water-yam.
What does the Iwa Ji New Yam Festival mean?
The Iwa ji festival (literally “new-yam eating”) is practiced throughout West Africa (especially in Nigeria and Ghana) and other African countries and beyond, symbolizing the conclusion of a harvest and the beginning of the next work cycle.
Why is Iwa Ji important to the Igbo people?
Iwa ji also shares some similarities with the Asian Mid-Autumn Festival, as both are based on the cycles of the moon and are essentially community harvest festivals. This event is an important event in the calendar of Igbo people all over the world.