NEW YAM FESTIVAL IN IGBO LAND

NEW YAM FESTIVALS IN IGBO LAND;
IKEJI ARO-OKEIGBO: WHAT ARE WE REALLY CELEBRATING?

Unrealized by many, the kolanut is without question, the most truly and all-embracing Nigerian. It is cultivated by the Yoruba of the South West; munched by much of the entire North and celebrated by entire Igbo of the South-East.
Similarly, yam food crop is cultivated in much of Igbo land. It is also celebrated in the entire culture area. Except that one of the greatest celebrants, the Aro are not particularly ardent yam farmers even from the earliest times.
The Aro arguably are among the greatest traders of all time not only in Igbo land but also in what is today Nigeria. Their heroics in long distance trading, their organizational wizardry, the complex network of import and export trade, their skill and ease of opening up new markets in much of Igbo land, and the complex combinations of commercial and religious institutions to promote overall Aro national interests
But we Aro have not been alone in this ever increasing apathy and non commitment to the cultivation of yam. It has not been revolutionary though. Over time, however, like most tradition and cultural institutions and practices, non-Aro Igbo have surrendered very much to the dynamics of continuity and change.
Impact of foreign religions, modern education, urbanization, rural-urban migration, introduction of numerous foreign crops cultivated here in Igbo land and Nigeria, modern agricultural practice, introduction of more and more crops, high cost of cultivating yam crop, abandonment of farming in preference to white color or office jobs, comparative advantage other crops have over yam cultivation inputs vis –a vis modern inputs that promote mass predication, shortened maturation period, more and more mass predication of synthetic foodstuffs, etc, surplus from Bende have all conspired and combined to frustrate and sabotage cultivation of yam crop in Igbo land.
In addition, changes in social and cultural institutions, structures and practices such as polygamy giving way no monogamy, reduction in family size of children most of whom regularly attend school instead of work at the farms, multiplicity of numerous skills, job opportunities, development of towns, cities and mega cities, the phenomenon of a global village and mass movements of people to the forest parts of the world in search of opportunities and means of livelihood? New service and entertainment industries such as sports, football, music, film and home video mass appeal interest and the tourism industry, and the world of the ICT have all offered job opportunities taking away millions from farm land
The riots of competitions and alternatives against traditionally elite and popular yam could best be seen from within its close species siblings: the coco yam and the cassava and much less effectively, potato, maize and grains from up the non-Igbo savanna, beans, millet, guinea corn and rice.
The coco yam has traditionally supplemented the popular use of yam as a staple food crop. The cassava came much later, and has since taken over as the number one staple root crop in Igbo land. Cheap and the cultivation much less costly, cassava could be processed, used and served many varieties. Rice cultivation though very tasking, is popular and rewarding and rice meals are cheap, popular and command mass patronage. The effects of mass patronage of cassava and rice have very seriously diminishing the cultivation of yam in Igbo land. The demand for the crop as a staple has been pushed to the third position after cassava and rice in this order.
The overall effects of this development is that yam barns and other ancillary farm work associated with yam cultivation, have virtually disappeared as king-size yams from Benue, parts of Nasarawa states have flooded even the remotest markets in Igbo Land.
Based on the above, what are we Igbo, nay, Aro celebrating? Our kicking of the farming season with the age old traditional and customary “afa avo” ritual often performed in January which had long been abandoned hundred years ago? It is the “Izu” ceremony performed by a very negligible few among the Amadi class, barely noticeable? Is it the physical and stress, exhaustion and overall scarifies, injuries sustained throughout the farming season? Is it the non performance of the usual rituals at Inyama avia, ana ezi, ana ogo, etc, to ensure safety and fertility? What are we celebrating? What are we really celebrating?
Is it the importation of repeated violence, an anathema to the spirit of the festival? Is decorating over various town and village squares with gorge cloth and ‘Omu’ Aro cloths? At times in worn-out jeans “T” shirts and polos celebrating Ikeji?
Wait a minute! One or two consolation justifications for hypocritically celebrating Ikeji Aro-Okeigbo: a tolerable number of returnees for village. Aro communal development, crisis management etc meetings; and the company of friends and business associates.