Despite the heavy downpour, the Igbos and the natives of Bayeku Igbogbo community in Ikorodu area of Lagos State dared all odds to celebrate the yam festival in grand style.
It was an ecstatic moment for the Igbo community in Bayeku Igbogbo community in Ikorodu, Lagos State during the celebration of the just-concluded New Yam Festival. Amid the heavy rains that threatened to derail the celebration, the hosts together with the guests left no stone unturned to dance to the rhythm of an age-long festival. This fact, however, draws inspiration from late novelist, Chinua Achebe who, in his iconic novel, Things Fall Apart, described the yam festival as symbolic to soil fertility and bountiful harvest in Igbo land. He also extoled the virtues of the festival by describing yam as the king of all crops.
A video of the New Yam Festival celebration in Bayeku/Igbogbo LGA, Ikorodu, Lagos.
Importantly, and in the African context, the significance of cultural festivities cannot be over-emphasised. A famous quote on cultural festivity illustrates that life becomes a festival when gaiety and culture blend. That’s exactly the case on Sunday, 11 September 2022, when the Ezenachi 1 of Igbogbo Bayeku Kingdom, Eze Okechukwu Onorue gathered leading Igbo socialites, business owners, traders, dignitaries, complemented by a large turnout of the locals from Igbogbo/Bayeku community to celebrate the annual yam festival. It was a moment of joy for the Eze who also used the opportunity to ordain a new set of chiefs amid the celebration of the Igbo day.
The celebration of the yam festival is intended to usher in the beginning and the end of a farming season. Though its celebration varies from tribe to tribe, the festival provides the avenue for all natives and clans to gather and celebrate their bountiful harvest, and showcase personal accomplishments within any community they find themselves. It must be reiterated that the Igbos are well travelled and are exemplary integrationist. They also have an enviable respect for culture, and wherever they find themselves, be it outside or within the country, they ceremoniously observe this annual festival, which is celebrated at the end of August worldwide.
While awaiting the arrival of the chairman of the occasion, His Royal Highness, Oba Abdusemiu Kasali, the Adeboruwa of Igbogbo Kingdom, the Ezesinachi 1 used the opportunity to receive guests and dignitaries from corporate organisations one of which is Four Points Communications Limited.
The Igbo Day Celebration – The Bayeku community example
It was an unforgettable experience for the people of Bayeku, Igbogbo, Ikorodu area of Lagos State as Eze Okechukwu Onorue treated the people to funfair during the celebration of Igbo Day. The event was marked by a large turnout of Igbo people who are resident in Igbogbo Bayewu community and others drawn from far flung communities in Lagos. Several illustrious sons and daughters of the Igbo extraction attended the event in company of their friends and family to celebrate moment with the Ezesinachi who also decorated some eminent Lagos-based Igbo traders and some leading entrepreneurs for their outstanding accomplishments in Lagos State. The chieftaincy coronation took place in the Ezenigo Palace of the Ezesinachi 1 of Igbogbo Bayeku Kingdom.
In the middle of the fanfair and celebration, which saw different groups and clans pitching their different and well branded tents with their guests adorned in colourful traditional attires, the Master of the Ceremony, amid heavy downpour of rain, announced the arrival of HRH, Oba Abdusemiu Kasali. He arrived in company of some of his chiefs. They were received by a group of Igbo women who dressed in colourful traditional attires, chanting praises in local dialect. Thereafter, Oba Kasali was ushered into the Ezenigo Palace where the Ezesinachi received him.
As the guests awaited the king and the Eze, a live band treated the guests to rich highlife that got everyone on their feet dancing just as the MC intermittently spiced the occasion with jokes, thrilling the guests. The Igbo people’s love for the king of crops was further reinforced with a creative display of tubers of yam stand.
Among the Igbo, it’s believed that ‘’yam is food and food is yam’’ and this is because yam as a produce is symbolic and is oftentimes associated with fertility. All farmers are concerned about the weather and look forward to a bountiful harvest and when this happens, it signifies a prosperous year for all farmers as this would have ripple effects on other crops.
Opening ceremony
The Yam Festival was officially declared opened by HRH, Oba Abdusemiu Kasali. The traditional ruler, understanding the spiritual significance of the day, commenced with prayers and thanksgiving for a beautiful and profitable harvest while also praying for a better farming experience in years to come. He was presented with a tray of a variety of fresh fruits. This was also served to all the guests in attendance, placed under each of the tents.
The Igbo sure know how to deliver when it comes to treat. The highlight of the event was the arrival of freshly roasted tubers of yam served with well garnished sauce. As this was presented to the dignitaries on the high table, heads turned just as hands beckoned while some other guests cannot help but salivate and anxiously wait to have a piece of the delicious delicacy. We also couldn’t wait too as nightfall was already beckoning even as the heavy downpour continued. In the middle of the funfair, we stood up to bid the Eze goodbye just as the thought of the long journey home and the unpredictable Sunday evening traffic dominated my mind.
Tosin Ayinde is the Managing Editor of meiza.ng.
Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.
