The cultural Heritage of Afikpo, Ebonyi State.
Cultural heritage are the basic ways of doing things and other innovations of living which have been performed, and maintained over a relatively long period of time by the society bringing about rich materials and non-material qualities. Adequate knowledge and estimation of our cultural heritage therefore promotes the development of a society and prepares them for the future. To ensure a regeneration and continuity of our culture, we have to work together towards preserving our heritage resources and transmit same to our children and they too will do same thereby transferring the cultural heritage from one generation to the other.
Afikpo has managed to maintain a lot of its cultural identity, ancestral heritage and celebrated art forms despite the fact that several archeological findings support the claim that Afikpo civilization existed as far back as the Neolithic age. The Afikpo Town Welfare Association ATWA is the association that is dedicated to preserving the cultural heritage of Afikpo people.
a. Wrestling: - In Afikpo, wrestling 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.
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).
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 wrestling bouts before the main show involving the Ikpos. The star wrestlers from the outgoing age grade Ikpo, are the major attraction and 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 referees. 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.
b. Masquerade: - According to Igbo traditional beliefs, masquerades represent images of deities or relatives. The identity of the masquerade is a well-kept secret and the roles are performed exclusively by men. Afikpo has dozens of masquerades that are featured at different events and dates throughout the year and have special days for the masquerade festival. These masquerades entertain people in annual festivals or special events. Most of the masquerades appear at every festival, while some are particularly special and only appear once. The masquerades appear in colorful attires and face masks made of wood or fabric caved by the indigenous mask makers. Some of the masquerades in Afikpo are:-
- Oye Igiri /masquerade
- Okumkpo Masquerade
- Njenje Masquerade
- Okpaa Masquerade
- Lugulu Masquerade
- Ota Ikonte Masquerade
- Okwa-Ebu Masquerade
c. Afikpo Mask:- Afikpo has a very rich culture, and this can be seen in their native mask carved by the indigenous mask makers who put in their time and energy to carve out these popular art work that produces a visual line so clear and beautiful, adding to the rich cultural heritage of the people. Afikpo masks are so unique and renowned all over the world. It is a distinctive form of art displayed in art galleries and popular with art collectors worldwide. The Afikpo mask is widely recognized and accepted due to their rich culture and the efforts of scholars like anthropologist Stephen Ottenberg of the University of Seattle whose research and writing helped bring international exposure to Afikpo culture. Different types of Afikpo mask are displayed in museums and sold in art galleries and online stores.
d. Nkwa Umu Agbogho:- Dance is a natural way of expressing our physical emotion and it has been like that since ages, from the time of the early men.
Nkwa Umu agbogho which means maidens dance is one of the best cultural dance groups and a pride of all in Africa. It was found in 1970 by Chief Vincent Omesi Nwachi from Ndibe, Afikpo, Ebonyi state in Nigeria. He brought it to national and international lime light.
The Nkwa umu agbogho of Afikpo is a form of traditional Coral group being formulated by group of married women. Just like the present secular singers, they write and wax their songs in Afikpo language thereby promoting their cultural heritage and language.
e. Mbe Festival:- Mbe festival is a feast and song festival in Afikpo. Mbe in Igbo land means Tortoise and Ebu Mbe literally means Tortoise's song. Mbe festival combines great music and dance with social satire; it uses humor or ridicule to expose, and criticize people's vices in the society. The lyrics of the song criticizes individuals and groups who committed offenses or violated community norms and rules. The reason for this is to name, disgrace and put the evil doers to shame so as to serve as a lesson and note of warning to others. On this festive day, the men in age groups sing and dance foibles about the women
Some groups of men and women meet after work to practice the songs and dance steps, the rehearsal takes place some weeks and months in advance before the festival.
Mbe festival is celebrated mainly by Mgbom and Amuro villages in Afikpo, it is held annually in the latter part of October. This event lasts for two days. It starts in the evening of an Orie market day and ends in the evening of the following Afor market day. In the night of the Orie market day, different women age grades come together to form and practice songs connected with the occassion. Throughout the night, defamatory ballads about men who committed crimes are formulated and practiced in the song, and acted by women for presentation to the public on the eventful Afor market day, thereby making it a hectic and demanding time for the women. The men on their own part do same about the women, they also form and practice their own kind of defamatory songs and act about women who committed abominable acts. They accompany their songs with instruments which consist of 2 or more cylindrical wooden drums called ‘’Nkwa,’’ a small piece of smooth, hollowed wood drum (ekwe) with 2 drum sticks to match, 2 gongs and a pair of maracas (ahia). After the practice in the night by both parties, the men and women present their respective plats to the public in the daytime.
When spectators are gathered at the playground (Ogo) at about 10:00 AM, both parties sing and dance up and down parts of the playground simultaneously, but in opposite directions, dramatizing the atrocities committed by the respective members of the opposite sex. By means of this action, culprits are exposed to public ridicule, and this is intended to serves as a deterrent to others who may intend to do so in the future. While the women sing and dance without musical instruments, the men accompany theirs with the instruments stated above.
As the celebration continue on with this high tone, some morally deranged boys and girls engage themselves in immoral and indecent expressions and actions inimical to decency. Such actions are permitted only on these two days. The event also takes place simultaneously at Amuro in the same day and at the same time. The two sister-communities exchange visits during the occasion at the close of dance in the evening. There is usually general entertainment of visitors by villages concerned, and feasting with guests by individual families.
Mbe festival features the Okpaa masquerade, colorfully dressed women's dance groups and spirited male drummers.
f. New Yam (Ikeji) Festival in Afikpo
The yam festival marks the end of an abundant food-producing harvest and also marks the beginning of the traditional New Calendar Year. African people have always had festivals at the time of the harvest. In Afikpo the Yam Festival (Ikeji or Iriji) lasts three days. The festival begins with a cleansing ceremony to honor family members who have died. Farmers give thanks to the gods that brought about the good harvest.
This festival is held once a year, usually in August or September, just as the rainy season is coming to an end, and crops are ripe and ready to harvest. There is plenty of maize (corn) as well as other vegetables, such as okra, beans, cassava, and yams.
Yams are usually the first fruits of the harvest, the staple food of many peoples of western Africa. The yam is a large tuberous root related to the sweet potato, but not exactly the same. American sweet potatoes are usually orange, but African yams can be white, yellow, or orange inside (but they still taste sweet) and come in many shapes and sizes: some can be up to a few feet long.
Yams are very versatile and can be cooked in many ways: roasted, boiled, added to soups and stews, fried, mashed, or dried and pounded into flour. The traditional dish is called fufu. This is boiled, mashed yams, with a little butter or palm oil, often still eaten in the traditional way—with the hands.
At the Yam Feast, the local people serve yams with fish, chicken or lamb; or with vegetables, such as oil bean, pumpkin, corn, or African greens; or in a soup. Dessert might be mangoes, guavas, pineapple or oranges. Drinks include fruit juices, palm wine and beer
On the first morning of the celebration, families make an altar in honor of their ancestors, the earth god, and the yam god, Ihejioku. Village men go out to the farms to dig up the new yams, and give thanks in the village square. Yams must be carefully dug up as they bruise easily. In their homes the men make an offering to the ancestors of new yams, some white chalk, and a chicken. The chicken is for slaughter, and the chalk symbolizes purity and well-being. Some of these traditions are changing now, as Christianity becomes stronger in the region. A feast with family, friends and neighbors follows.
On the second day, the villagers gather to watch young men in wrestling contests. In the morning the wrestlers eat roasted yams, which they believe will give them strength, and village elders are chosen as judges. Drums welcome the wrestlers, divided into two teams, into the village square. When a wrestler wins a round, drummers beat their drums again, and young women come into the circle and dance. Eating, drinking, and talking also continue the whole day into the evening. It can be a noisy celebration with gongs, musket fire, calabashes, and flutes as well as the drums.
g. Ehugbo Day:- Ehugbo day is an annual celebration by Afikpo people which is done on or about the month of June. It is a means of preserving the Afikpo cultural heritage and a day of displaying the rich culture of the Afikpo people in various forms. Many events take place that day and a lot of people are attracted to grace the occasion; among the attractions are dozens of masquerades, folklore, re-enactments of cultural norms and practices and much more.
h. Afikpo Pottery:- Pottery is the craft of making ceramic materials using mud. Potters dig up clay with additives from the ground, mix with required quantity of water. The clay mixture is modeled into the desired shape and form by using the hand or jiggered using a tool that copies the form of a master model onto a production piece, the product will be dried in a mold or cut into slabs and subjected to a very high temperature (fired) to harden the piece to enable it hold water. The methods for forming pottery depends on the artisans (skilled craft workers who make things by hand) who create them. The potters make decorative potteries like dishes, plates, cups, cooking pots, storage jars etc.
Some findings show that the earliest examples of pottery making in Nigeria were found in Afikpo in Ebonyi State. According to D. D. Hartle in 1966, pottery production in Afikpo dates back to about 2935BC.
Pottery has remained a very important artifact for the reconstruction of Afikpo cultural past.
i. Afikpo Cultural Lunar Calendar:- Afikpo (Ehugbo) people have their distinctive yearly calendar (Ehugbo cultural calendar) of thirteen (13) lunar months but it is fit into the Gregorian calendar of twelve months: January to December in the western world.
The specific event dates for each year is determined by factors that include the market day, moon sightings and other factors.
We mark the Ehugbo year using the phases of the moon (ONWA), for this reason, we have Onwa Mbu, Onwa Ebo, rue N'Onwa iri l'eto (i.e first month, second month up to thirteenth month making up the thirteen moon phases) beginning from August.
The Ehugbo New Year day begins on the New yam Festival day (izuku iri ji ọhụụ) which always falls on an EKE MARKET day from the 22nd to the 27th of August each year. This special EKE DAY is tagged “Eke gbaga gbahọ nnanị” which is the ONLY EKE day in Ehugbo when the market is not in session the day of the week Sunday to Saturday notwithstanding.
The people of Afikpo strictly follow their Ehugbo (Afikpo) Traditional Calender.
A sample of the Ehugbo cultural calendar is as follows:-
- ỌNWA IRIJI (AUGUST)
- ỌNWA IKO UDUMINI/IKO IZU (SEPTEMBER)
- ỌNWA MBE (OCTOBER)
- ỌNWA ỊBỌ OGO/IBUZỌ ỌKỌCHI/IKO ỌKỌCHI (NOVEMBER)
- ATAMATA ỌKỌCHI (THE PEAK OF ỌKỌCHI EHUGBO) ỌNWA ỌKỌCHI (DECEMBER)
- ỌNWA EHỌMA/NTA (Communal Fishing/Communal Hunting) Peak of Ọkumkpo Drama (JANUARY)
- ỌNWA IYI –EKE/ISỤ EHIA (FEBRUARY)
- ỌNWA ỌKỤ OCHU/IBUZỌ OKWU (MARCH)
- ỌNWA OKWU (HEAPING)/EGWU ỌNWA(APRIL)
- ỌNWA IKPEAZU OKWU (MAY)
- ỌNWA OMEJI /ỊTỤ ỤÑA MGBA/ ỤNWỤ (JUNE)
- ỌNWA MGBA (PROGRAMMED TRANSITION PERIOD) (MID JUNE TO MID JULY)
- ỌNWA ELERI (JULY)
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