The Afikpo wrestling tradition and its cultural benefits
Afikpo wrestling exercise, is a form of games in which men come out to test their physical strength.
In the olden days, they use wrestling to test ones braveness and his ability to withstand the enemies.
Traditionally, how brave you are determines the kind of woman you will marry, just as we consider your level of education and your financial capability in our present time as a criteria for marriage. Then it was how you are. And it is normally done in EKE and AFOR market days. The adaba ngba festival in Afikpo, is a major form of relaxation. It has a season and is greatly celebrated all through Afikpo. It gets the interest of everybody, men and women, young and old. It is one part of Afikpo culture that modern world has not taken away. People from all walks of life come together to watch it. People leave their businesses or close their shops to be at the wrestling arena or “OGO” (village square). Young women in large numbers dance excitedly to cheer the winners. Drummers add color to the event, dishing out martial (fight or war) and pulsating(high and low)beats. Old men are not left out of the show. Though wrestling is equally recreational for them, the old folks have a role to play in decision making. They have the final say as to when a wrestling match ends.
Wrestling contests are organized and staged at the peak of the rainy season, biannually. Rainy season, known as “udu mini,” is a time to rest as the farming season draws to a close and the new yam festival (harvest season) approaches in August. Farming is a major occupation in Afikpo. During the rainy season, farm work is light and most people stay at home to rest. The wrestling contests, therefore, complement the relaxation spirit of the period. In fact, it is at social event while the season lasts.
Young men engage in wrestling to showcase their physical prowess. Every young man before attaining a certain age grouping is eligible to participate in wrestling contests featuring members of his age grade (people born within a few years of each other are grouped into the same age grade).
Age grade system is an established time-honored practice in Afikpo, as it is in most Igbo communities. Wrestling contests are open to age grades from as little as age five (5) through about age forty five (45).
There are three major age grades that have been known to perform greatly in wrestling contests in Afikpo. They are “Ibuzo mgba,” “Isi ogu” and “Ikpo.” Ibuzo mgba group are children starters who set the stage for the next age grade. The second age grade is Isi ogu, the age set that is between Ibuzo mgba and Ikpo. They engage in wresting bouts before the main show involving the Ikpos. The star wrestlers from the outgoing age grade, Ikpo, are the major attraction. They wrestle last. After a wrestling season, the Ikpo age group members graduate to the next stage of seniority in age-grade ranking. They become umpires, known as “Atamaja.”
In the course of a wrestling bout, Atamajas perform their duty with the assistance of drummers. A certain drumbeat, kpo-ti-kpo, is interpreted as a signal to the Atamajas that two wrestling opponents must be separated, especially when neither can throw the other. Additionally, elders act as moderators and final arbiters. An onikara, elderly man of more than seventy years, throws up sand to put an end to a wrestling contest. He also does this to prevent disorderliness, which can arise from an ensuing controversy.
A wrestling match does not last long. A winner emerges when a wrestler throws his opponent on the ground and this can happen within two minutes of action! The celebration of that feat is more exciting than the bout itself. Spectators go haywire with jubilation. The winner is carried shoulder-high round the arena while people throw money at him. Girls dance for him. If he is married, his wife and other family members join the celebration. The drum beats become more vigorous, spirited and heart-pounding. The hero is dressed in a special way and dances round the OGO while the spraying continues. Post-winning celebration is a thing of delight to watch.
Traditional wrestling among men and boys is a common feature in Igbo land. But some people have created the impression that traditional wrestling among women and girls is strange to the entire Igbo culture, but it is not true. This form of wrestling is very much indigenous to Igbo culture and was widely practiced; that is until the western education diverted the interest of the women and girls away from this ancient sport.
Afikpo before the Nigerian civil war, had four different occasions in the year when female wrestling competitions took place. This exercise is known as Mgba Umunwanyi (female wrestling). The four different occasions when Afikpo women and girls organized wrestling contests were during:
- Mgba Akpukpa,
- Mgba Uzo Iyi,
- Igba Suba, and
- Ocho.
Mgba Akpukpa
Akpukpa (ikpapka or Oka) means corn or maize. This wrestling contest bears this name because it took place during the month of July and early August, when the dominant foodstuff is maize.
Mgba Akpukpa took place every other year after the men had concluded their own contests in May and June. The girls were accompanied by strong boys (Umu Okoro) and newly married women (Umu Nchekwa). It was a competition everyone wanted to win. If there was a fight (which was not uncommon), the boys served as the girl’s body guards.
The Umu Okoro and Umu Nchekwa from both sides served as umpires. The bouts were graded beginning from young girls of about seven years of age to young women who would be joining their husbands anytime between August and December of that year.
The twenty-seven villages in Afikpo were grouped in a particular way for wrestling purposes for both men and women. Although the women also went round the villages in turns like the men for the contests, their own wrestling grounds were not at the Ogo square like the men, but in open spaces outside the Ogo.
It was necessary for betrothed girls to wrestle at the village squares of their intending husbands. If a girl should verbally abuse or insult another girl in the stream or on the farm, the offended girl would challenge her offender to a bout during the inter-village wrestling contests.
Unlike for men, there was no drumming for the women. However, the women had songs which they sang enroute to and from the wrestling grounds.
Any boy (Nwokoro) or newly married woman (Nchekwa) who was unfair as an umpire was challenged to a bout. Therefore, weaklings had no place as umpires. Besides, this made bad refereeing very rare. The costume for the wrestlers was a loin cloth folded to a manageable width worn over a pant then around the waist and secured at the waistline. The rest of the body was bare.
Mgba Uzo Iyi
Mgba Uzo Iyi literally means wrestling on the path to the stream. This wrestling contest was restricted to newly married women of each village or group of compounds. It took place in the Aho morning of the dry season festival (iko okochi) of respective village groups.
It was the day all newly married women within the past year had to weed or clean up the paths leading to the village stream. The cleaning up was rounded off with a wrestling contest among the Nchekwa (those pregnant or sick were exempted from the contest.) It was a day for contestants to demonstrate their fitness.
The women were paired by sight but it was not uncommon for a woman to challenge another one to a bout. Any pair that fought while wrestling were heavily fined.
During this particular wrestling contest, a special masquerade (Okpaa) served as the umpire and separated dragging contestants with a mild stroke of a whip. Otherwise, all the wrestling bouts must be decided by one woman throwing the other.
Igba Suba
The third type of wrestling popular among girls in Afikpo takes place during the moonlight plays (Egwu onwa) between March and April (the heaping period or Okwu).
This particular wrestling was unique. It was called Igba Suba (wrestle and stand). It was a form of punishment meted out for young girls for:-
refusal to take part in the moonlight games, any serious misbehavior ruled by the girls as unacceptable of a decent girl, or general show of disrespect or disobedience to one’s mother, age-mates or seniors.
The wrestling takes place at the playground at night, usually between 1:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. when only the girls and the male age set detailed to guard them were present. It was done under near absolute silence to avoid attracting attention. The offender was set at the centre of the playground to wrestle with every member of her age set present. The number could be anything from ten. Usually the stronger members of her age set wrestled with her first in order to weaken her for others. The other girls and the boys formed a human fence around the playground to avoid any escape. She had to wrestle with all even if it meant falling down on first touch. But any deliberate falling down on her part attracted a repeat bout.
After the midnight wrestling, the culprit was forbidden to disclose the punishment to her parents or husband. If it was found out that she did, she faced a repeat performance, this time with the senior girls or selected strong girls. However, if her parents or husband happened to learn of it, they usually did not make any fuss about it to save the girl from further punishment. Parents and husbands knew what offences merited the Igba Suba and under normal circumstances accepted it as a way of inculcating good characters in young girls.
Ocho
This wrestling contest among girls was an annual event in Afikpo. It was however, restricted to the villages of Amachi and Ugwu-egu in Afikpo.
It was associated with the commencement of Ogo okochi (dry season male initiation ceremonies). It took place around the middle of November, and marked the beginning of about three months (November to January) of restricted movement of women on the playgrounds (Ogo).
Grown-up girls from the traditional villages met and wrestled for about an hour each evening during four consecutive Eke market days. Again, boys acted as umpires and the contests were usually keen.
Wrestling contests among girls should not only be revived in those areas like Afikpo, where they were popular, but should be introduced to other parts of the state at the village, town and school levels.
In Afikpo for instance, Mgba Akpukpa, Mgba Uzo Iyi and Igba Suba was not only a form of physical exercise, it also helpful in adding social and moral values. Quarrels among girls and women were easily settled at the wrestling arena. This is a healthy cultural heritage that should not be allowed to die out completely. It is up to everyone in the Igbo society, especially those in charge of sporting activities to introduce wrestling among the female folks.
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