ICAM Celebrating Iwa-ji (New Yam) festival 2005 - Farming Scene

Celebrating Iwa-ji (New Yam) festival 2005
The Nigerian Igbo community in the West Midlands celebrated their annual Iwa-ji (New Yam) festival in a cultural extravaganza.

Organised by United Igbo and Friends West Midlands, the Iwa-ji annual event, now in its eleventh year. The African spectacular event draws people from all over the United Kingdom, bringing communities together in celebration of an important calendar event for Igbo people all over world.

Yam is the main agricultural crop of the Igbos and also the staple food of our people. The New Yam Festival known as Iwa-Ji or Iri-Ji is a celebration depicting the prominence of yam in the social-cultural life of our people.

Giving God thanks

During the festival we thank God for the arrival of the new harvest of yams and perform traditional rites to declare the new yam fit for general consumption.

It presents the right conditions for all and sundry, family and friends to come together and demonstrate their commitment and solidarity to the local community

The Igbos celebrate the new yam festival in a variety of ways and in some communities the festivities last the whole day and in many places it may stretch up to one week or even more. Iwa-ji is therefore an important event in the calendar of Igbo people all over the world.

Igbo tradition

Harvesting of this crop typically happens around the month of August, which is the time to give thanks to God for the new yam and to celebrate the tasting of the yam.

The event also marks the end of an annual work cycle and the beginning of a new one. This ceremony has been celebrated for centuries and remains an important day in the lives of Igbo people.

During the ceremony there is a lot of variety entertainment including performance of ceremonial rites by the Igwe (King), cultural dances by Igbo men, women and their children as well as a display of Igbo cultural activities in the form of contemporary shows, fashion parade, and feasting at a grand scale on a wide variety of food making up the menu of the Igbos.

There is a lot to eat and drink and attendance at the festival is from all over the United Kingdom and overseas.

The Igbos come from the eastern part of Nigeria in the West Coast of Africa and are one of the main Nigerian ethnic groups.

They occupy at least six out of the thirty six states in Nigeria today. The Igbo culture is rich and versatile and dates back many centuries.

The Igbo Community in Birmingham and the West Midlands has an estimated population of two thousand people.

The Igbo Community Association in the Midlands (ICAM) is a community organisation of all the Igbo's resident in the West Midlands.

By Ikye Azige
(The General Secretary)
http://www.ndigboatmidlands.com/

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• ICAM
• Celebrating
• Iwa-ji
• (New
• Yam)
• festival
• 2005

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