With colour, music and pageantry, the Igbo community in Abuja, Nigeria gathered to celebrate one of its most cherished cultural traditions, the New Yam Festival.
For the Igbos, the festival is more than a celebration of the first harvest of the year. It is a cultural homecoming, a moment when people reconnect with their roots, honour their heritage and give thanks for the blessings of the farming season.
In Abuja, the celebration brought together Igbo men, women, and youths, as well as people from other tribes across Nigeria, turning the occasion into a vibrant expression of culture far from the ancestral homeland.
The aroma of roasted yam filled the air as traditional music and the rhythmic drumming created an atmosphere of celebration. Colourful traditional attire, dancing and cultural performances transformed the gathering into a vivid display of Igbo identity and pride.
At the heart of the festival is yam, a crop that occupies a special place in traditional Igbo society. For generations, the yam has represented more than food. It is associated with hard work, prosperity, strength and the rewards of a successful farming season.
The New Yam Festival traditionally marks the beginning of the harvest and provides an opportunity to express gratitude to God and honour the ancestors for a fruitful season.
Traditionally, the new yam is not eaten before the appropriate ceremonies. The first yams are presented and prayers offered, while kola nuts and palm wine form part of the rituals of thanksgiving and fellowship.
The ceremonies reflect the deep connection between the Igbo people, their land, their ancestors and the divine.
“We are here today to celebrate our New Yam Festival. The Igbo youths in Abuja organized this event for us, the Igbo youths in Abuja, to do what we normally do. We are celebrating our New Yam Festival today in Abuja, said Kalu Omechia, Patron, Igbo Youth Association, Garki, Abuja.
This is a big yam festival. For someone like me, I have been outside my state for more than 20 years and I have never experienced the New Yam Festival, so that is why we came together to hold this one. So that some of our youths can learn from it and know that our culture is still relevant and our youths are ready to keep up with it,” said Sunday Igwe, Vice President, Igbo Youth Association, Garki, Abuja.
The New Yam Festival is a sacred bond between the Igbo, their land, and the divine. It is also a grand homecoming, drawing Igbos from near and far. Roads fill with familiar faces. For some participants, the gathering was also an opportunity to experience a tradition that distance them due to modern life and had kept them out of reach.
According to Chisom Ejimba, an Igbo young lady, there is a new world, na ew generation at the moment ,but one remarkable thing about it is that no matter what, the Igbo culture is not going away. “I am really glad this festival is being held because when I heard that it is being coordinated by the very Gen Z we talk about and that we think may fade away our culture, I was really impressed. So I think the Igbo culture is something that will not fade soon because the young ones are growing to emulate.
Another Igbo youth, Chiyere Odawolo, said the culture brings uniformity from people of different ages and groups. “Like the event we are having today, recognising the culture outside Igbo land, like we are in Abuja and bringing the culture to Abuja, that is a reminder that Igbo still exist,”.
“If we are doing this new yam festival and some other Igbo festivals, I promise Igbo, the Igbo culture will not die. The festival is not only here in Abuja, but in other states in Nigeria,” said Nwamazi Chibuike, youth.
Yam holds a central place in traditional Igbo society as the most important staple crop. Yams embody hard work, resilience, and the blessings of the ancestors, and eating them before the festival is seen as a grave disrespect.
Credit: Africa News
