The New Yam Festival, also known as Iri Ji, is an annual harvest celebration primarily in West Africa, marking the end of the farming season and the beginning of a new agricultural cycle. This historic tradition symbolizes renewal, gratitude, and prosperity, holding a special place in Nigerian society.
Africa is home to rich cultural celebrations, and one of the most significant is the New Yam Festival. The festival is deeply intertwined with religious and spiritual beliefs.
Before the festival begins, the first harvested yams are offered to the gods and ancestors as a way of giving thanks and ensuring continued prosperity. During the festival, communities come together to honor their ancestors, celebrate abundance, and strengthen cultural ties.
New Yam Festival in Ghana. Source: Wikimedia Commons
Historical and Cultural Context
Historically, Yam is considered one of the major or the most important crops in Nigeria as it is grown in mostly all the states, and whoever in a community has a barn of Yam, is listed among the wealthy sets of people in the community.
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Yam is counted to be more than just food. It is very well respected in Nigeria and is one of the major foods accepted as bride price when a man is seeking for a woman's hand in marriage.
The festival is mostly celebrated among the Igbo people due to different spiritual ideologies surrounding Yams, as told by ancestors through stories passed on until the current day.
The New Yam Festival is, therefore, a celebration depicting the prominence of yam in the social-cultural life of the Igbo people. The harvest of yam and the celebration of the gods of the land through the New Yam festival is an epitome of the people's religious belief in the supreme deity.
Yams are annual crops, although they are sometimes regarded as perennial crops due to their life cycle. Therefore, New Yam Festival is celebrated annually, after new yams are harvested.
Also, it is said to be a taboo to eat the new Yam before the celebration as it is a means of pleasing and appealing to the gods and spirit of harvest and god of the Earth and thanking them for a bountiful harvest. The festival holds yearly to celebrate the beginning and end of a new season.
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The yam, regarded as the “king of crops,” is associated with deities and ancestral spirits. The festival’s purpose is to offer thanks to these entities for a bountiful harvest and seek their blessings for future prosperity.
The New Yam Festival marks the end of the rainy season and the beginning of the harvest season for yams. Prior to the festival, yams are harvested from the fields, cleaned, and prepared for consumption. The first harvested yams, known as “new yams,” hold special significance in the festival.
The New Yam Festival holds great importance in many cultures, particularly in Nigeria and other parts of West Africa. Also known as the “Yam Harvest Festival” or “Iri Ji Ohuru,” it is an annual celebration that marks the beginning of the yam harvest season.
Yam is considered a vital food source and a symbol of prosperity, so the festival allows people to rejoice in the abundance of the harvest. The festival serves as a way to celebrate the successful yam harvest, which is a staple crop in many West African communities.
The New Yam Festival plays a crucial role in preserving and promoting cultural heritage. It is deeply rooted in the traditions, customs, and beliefs of various communities. During the festival, people showcase their cultural dances, music, attire, and folklore, passing them down to younger generations.
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The festival is a time for expressing gratitude to the gods, ancestors, and spirits believed to have blessed the land and crops. People offer prayers, rituals, and sacrifices to show their appreciation for a bountiful harvest and seek blessings for the coming year.
The New Yam Festival strengthens social ties within communities. It brings people together, fostering a sense of unity, cooperation, and solidarity. It is an opportunity for families, friends, and neighbors to come together, share meals, exchange gifts, and engage in communal activities.
Yam cultivation is a significant economic activity for many communities, and the festival has economic implications as well. It provides a platform for farmers and traders to showcase their yam produce, promoting local trade and commerce. It can also attract tourists and visitors, contributing to the local economy.
The festival serves as an educational platform, especially for younger generations. It provides an opportunity for them to learn about their cultural heritage, traditional values, and agricultural practices. Elders pass on their knowledge, wisdom, and skills related to farming, food processing, and traditional rituals.
In many communities, the New Yam Festival has strong spiritual and religious connotations. It involves various rituals, invocations, and offerings to deities or gods associated with fertility, agriculture, and abundance. It is believed that performing these rituals ensures continued blessings and fertility for the land and its people.
Overall, the New Yam Festival is a vibrant and significant cultural event that celebrates the harvest, promotes unity, and preserves the traditions and customs of the communities involved. It serves as a reminder of the importance of agriculture, gratitude, and the interdependence between humans and nature.
The Festival of New Yam A Journey into Igbo Traditions
Celebrations Across Different Communities
Though the style and methods may differ from one community to the next, the essential components that make up the festival remain the same. In some communities, the celebration lasts a whole day, while in many places it may last a week or more. These festivities normally include a variety of entertainments and ceremonies, including the performance of rites by the Igwe (King), or the eldest man, and cultural dances by Igbo men, women, and their children.
Usually, at the beginning of the festival, the yams are offered to the 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 or eminent titleholder. This man also offers the yams to god, deities, and ancestors by showing gratitude to the supreme deity for his protection and kindness in leading them from lean periods to the time of bountiful harvest without deaths resulting from hunger.
After the prayer of thanksgiving to their god, they eat the first yam because It is believed that their position bestows the privilege of being intermediaries between their communities and the gods of the land. The day is symbolic of enjoyment after the cultivation season, and the plenty is shared with friends and well-wishers.
A variety of festivities mark the eating of new yam. The yam used for the main ritual at the festival is usually roasted and served with palm oil (mmanụ nri).
During the dancing and merrymaking that follow, this pot is surreptitiously replaced by a similar one, containing a well developed new yam, which is later presented to the people, presumably as a sign of the king’s magical powers over the crops. In Benin, Nigeria , It is fortunate that brief reports on the New Yam Festival as held in Benin centuries ago have survived: these are quoted by ROTH (1903: 76) writing shortly after the destruction of the Benin Empire. The first of these states that the ceremony was held at the beginning of the yam harvest, the king is presented with an earthenware pot, containing soil, and an old yam (i.e. one from the previous season) which he plants in the pot.
According to the Okpe tradition as early as 6:30 am the inhabitants of the land both indigenes and non-indigenes gather at the palace of the Olopke of Okpe to pay him homage and wish him and his family well wishes. It begins with a 13 days notice to the entire town after deliberation between the King and his chiefs.
The notice elapses at 5am on the thirteenth day. Okpe is a town located at Akoko-Edo local council in Edo state. The town is known for its vast celebration of the new yam festival, which holds every July in the town.
At about thirteen days to the festival, Olokpe (the King) and his Chiefs who are the committee members for the festival notify the community about new improvements or deductions to the festival. After this, the King sends his greetings to the whole kingdom through the gunshots which are heard far and near by the people. The sounds carry the message ‘Wasigbeenile’, which means, ‘thank you all for taking good care of me in this outgoing year”.
On the first day of the ceremony, people visit the palace with gifts such as assorted bush meat, goats, yam tubers etc. as a mark of respect for the king's throne. On the main day, the King and his chiefs come out of the palace dressed in white attires. They visit four Shrines (called the Ancestral spots) to offer prayers and blessings for a better harvest and more productive years.
During its New yam festival celebrations, which is celebrated with the Igbo festival, it is said that yam is one of the ways of measuring a man's wealth. Abuja, the Capital of Nigeria, lies in the central part of Nigeria, in Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Ikere town is located in Ekiti State, South western Nigeria, where the yam festival is celebrated yearly. The festival is called Odun Ijesu in Yoruba Language (Festival of eating yam) and it is done to thank orisha for the fertility of the land and for crowning their efforts in the previous planting season.
The festival is a colorful one as the drums are rolled out with singers, dancers and prayers for the Ogoga, the King of the town, who is known as the harbinger of good fortunes for Ikere, to enjoy a long reign and for the town to witness greater development. Many activities are held including hunting, gun firing and the display of all the crowns worn by the Oba.
The Ogidi community is located in Ijumu, local government area of Kogi State. The town is known for the presence and formation of indigenous rocks. The town is popularly known for its agricultural produce, especially yams.
In Ogidi, yams are considered miraculous plants that show fertility thus the period of plenty yam harvest signifies that other plants will flourish. All this culminates in the annual celebration of the Ogidi new yam festival.
According to the people of Ogidi, new yam festival is celebrated to offer thanksgiving to God who gives increase and yield. It is celebrated in conjunction with the ogidi-Ela day which is the land's cultural day, which starts few days to the festival week.
Different dance groups parade the community and hunters demonstrate gun firing to create awareness of the festivities in the community. The festival is celebrated for one week with several activities such as cultural performances, presentation of new yams, chieftaincy investitures and awards.
Other activities are free medical checkups, novelty match, Jumat service, excursion to the Oroke Oda mountain and a bonfire. The colorful festival always attracts tourists from neighboring communities and states such as Edo, Ekiti, Osun, Lagos etc.
The festival begins with members of the community marching to the Ogidi community ground where the ceremony takes place. People are adorned with beautiful attires that brighten the environment. The festival fully starts when the King, Rabiu Oladimeji Sule (the Ologidi of Ogidi land), arrives the venue. His presence creates a special atmosphere as the crowd raise their voices with cheer.
When the Ologidi arrives, different groups are allowed to pay respect with the Olokoro/Olu-Otun group first then the Orotas and others follow. The Igbo people also known as the Ibos are from the southeastern part of Nigeria. They are one of the major people in Nigeria that celebrates the new yam festival.
They hold the festival at the beginning of each harvest of new yam (Iri ji) or Onwa Asaa (seventh month). The purpose of the festival is to thank God for a bountiful harvest especially for the Yams and no one is expected to have a taste of the new yam before the festival as it is considered a taboo.
The festival is very important to the Ibos and is celebrated each year.
Modern Challenges and Preservation Efforts
Like many African cultural events, the New Yam Festival faces a tide of challenges. Unpredictable weather systems continue to stun the world, impacting yam harvest yields. Additionally, there's a decrease in the credits of mythological narratives.
Westernisation is making slow but steady inroads into African cultural trademarks. Many teens in the cities have heard of festivities like the New Yam Festival, but as much as they follow eurocentric entertainment world, interest in yam festival is dwindling. Economic instability is another factor leading to hundreds of thousands of migrations every year, in turn impacting repositories of culture such as festivals.
However, there are ongoing efforts to revive and preserve the practice. The New Yam Festival is playing a key role in helping keep the cultural embers of the region burning, irrespective of the challenges of the times. Dissemination through social media is important because we need to pass this tradition to the coming generation. The festival is beyond just a festival for us; it is our weapon for survival.
Ogidi New Yam Festival. Source: The Guardian Nigeria
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