Igede New Yam Festival (Igede Agba): A progenitor of Biblical Passover, And Unleavened Bread

To begin with, Igede people are a unique people. 

This unique ethnic group occupies majorly two local governments (Obi and Oju) in Benue State, with some pockets in Konshisha and Gwer West local governments’ area of the state. Also, they are found in parts of Cross River and Ebonyi States, all in Nigeria.

The Igede Nation is a composition of fourteen premedieval clans including Ada (Ada), Anchim (Ọchẹchẹ), Oye (Ugbodu), Ụkpa (Amọnọ), Ọbọrụ (Ọgbagba), Owo (Ochim-Aadu), Ibilla (Ugbeyikum), Ainu (Ada-Ainu), Ito (Ada-Oto), Uwokwu (Ololẹga), Idelle (Anyị-Odum), Ịgabwụ, Itakpa and Oju (Ọnyị-Okpogo) at home and in Diaspora.

 

Amidst eroding cultures and traditions, the Igede of Benue state have maintained some aspects of their culture, one of which is the annual New Yam Festival (Igede Agba) which is celebrated during the harvest of yams to mark the beginning of the harvest period. It is a cyclic festival that comes up on every first Ihigile market day in the month of September. The people use the occasion to thank God in anticipation of a bumper harvest before they officially begin to eat the new yam.  It connotes celebration of hard work and dignity of labour: Moral values such as honesty, goodness, social justice as well as respect for the culture of the people are celebrated. It is a highly revered event, as neighbouring tribes join in the celebration every year.

The day also serves to commemorate and celebrate their successful arrival at their current abode. The Orgirinya, Obemu, Aita, Alatakpa, Onyantu and Woro form parts of the celebrations; while Yam, the king of all farm produce, is used to mark the occasion of harvest and the new planting season. As such, harvesting of new yams before the traditional rites are fulfilled is a taboo, because of Akpang deity. And to an Igede man, Akpang deity ensures the suppression of the activities of witches and wizards. It is a deity that keeps people away from harvesting their yams prematurely; however, it is not considered as the god of yams.

Igede Agba is celebrated with all male children gathering at the father’s round hut called Ugira, while the wives gather together with the female children in the most senior wife’s hut. The father usually washes his hands first, followed by the most senior son and that is how the eating proceeds. Nobody is allowed to jump the order. Those who disobey may be stopped from further eating. Meat is usually shared after meal or somewhere close to the end of eating of pounded yam.

It is celebrated in commemoration of the progenitor of the Igede people just as the celebration of Christmas, Easter Holidays by the Christians and the seven sacred annual feasts of the old covenant in the bible including Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Weeks Pentecost, Trumpet, Days of Atonement and Tabernacles (Deuteronomy 16: 1-16 and Exodus 23:14-17). It is in the like of these events that Igede Agba festival is being celebrated. Yam (Iju) is the chief crop in Igedeland identified with a rich Igede cultural identity and heritage. That is why it is being used as the fundamental crop to celebrate Igede Agba.

But why New Yam Festival is highly pronounced in Igede nation even more than other yam producing communities is best explained to mean how the people cherish, treasure, adore and cultivate the crop as a key staple commodity with a masculine fanfare. Festival involves a plethora of complex ideas, thoughts, religions, culture and experience of Igede history and activities over a long period of time. This simply implies that our heritage should be embraced, renewed, conserved, preserved and revitalized in the most efficient way for tourist attraction, national and international recognition.

It is imperative to inform the readers that Igede Agba (New Yam Festival) is not a fetish event but a thanksgiving ceremony to the Sky-God (Ohe Oluhye and the Earth-god (Ohe Oleji) for a good harvest and prayers are offered for the next farming season. Celebrating these kinds of heritage helps communities to retain identity.

Therefore, let’s use the occasion of New Yam Festival (Igede Agba) to revive every extinct aspects of our cultural heritage that may have being occasioned by globalization and westernization, in order to emblematize and showcase our unique identity globally.

Our culture is our identity and is unique, let keep it alive! 

Happy Igede Agba

Long live Igede
Long live Benue State
Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria