Umuaro in different locations came back and witnessed the 2022 festival, especially because it’s the first time in seven years that ekekpe was not celebrated on a Sunday. Scheduling eke ekpe day that would be most convenient for umuaro, especially civil servants and those that need travel home from far places, was always a knotty issue between the palace of the Eze Aro of Arochukwu kingdom and the immediate past exco of Nzuko Arochukwu Worldwide.
A most convenient date, itis believed, would give umuaro and their friends and well-wishers, including tourists who look forward to the prospectof witnessingfirst-hand the remarkable culture of the Aro, the opportunity to travel and arrive early and depart on a good time without missing important weekday activities on the next workday. Notwithstanding the cogent argument usually adduced by Nzuko Arochukwu to get the palace convinced about the need to enhance the fortune of ikeji via strategic scheduling of its key elements, such as eke ekpe, the palace had always insisted that such specific dates are determined by factors beyond its control, such as when Ututu starts and ends their own new yam festival and the required number of days before certain rites would be performed.
Most important, according to them, is the fact that some of the major ceremonies must be held on specific Igbo market weekdays, i.e., Eke, Orie, Afo and Nkwo. And, for emphasis, they lead person at the palace always fetched a calendar and illustrated the counting process, with the warning that it’s impossible to do things that won’t be approved by the gods as it has dire consequences. At that point, the argument is easily abandoned even though one might not be fully convinced about the truthfulness of the claim, particularly since such strategic date scheduling was possible in the past.Above in view, the biggest challenge which the immediate past exco of Nzuko Arochukwu skilfully managed, and quite successfully too, many would admit, was the staging of eke ekpe on a Sunday.
Most Churches would normally have activities until after midday and most members would want to get back home to refresh before coming to the eke ekpe arena. A good number may not consider it appropriate to attend after Sunday ceremonies. As a result, the commencement of the eke ekpe ceremonies is usually delayed until about 2.00pm. On several occasions, the Church authorities were pleaded with to hasten their program since eke ekpe occurs just once in a year, but it’s always a difficult task. At such instances, the ‘’overzealous’’ members of some of the Church groups would exploit the opportunity to condemn ikeji festival and whatever it stands for. This argument occasionally festers and become over blown in size, if only you understand the mentality of some of the people in question. At that point, it becomes easy to see any person asking for such consideration as a ‘demon’ and anti-Christ who is bound to end up in hell fire.
The obvious consequence is that eke ekpe has always formally started late and continues until late evening or even midnight in some years. Arranging for flood light and pre-ekekpe activities to have the program effectively sequenced and managed are usually resorted to while controlling tourists and guests who would prefer to arrive timely to leave early becomes utterly a big challenge. It is in the light of this background that the ikeji calendar issued by the palace this year was received with joy by umuaro. The source of the happiness is easily understood, as people planned and arrived home timely, had their engagements, including Church activities without distraction, and fully partook in eke ekpe ceremony and got back to their bases without missing week-day activities.
Indeed, even the Catholic Reverend Father at Saint Thomas Catholic Church, Amuvi, Rev Fr K. Mgbemena, and some Reverend Sisters were happily sighted enjoying the cultural activities with other people. The organizers of ikeji equally had ample time to schedule and manage various activities. The palace,therefore, deserves commendation for doing what brought joy to umuaro and what would surely positively impact eke ekpe ceremony. That ikeji, which is one of Aro’s major cultural institutions, is one of its symbols orbadges of greatness is not in doubt. One only need to see the zeal usually expressed by an average Aro when talking about ikeji festival or preparing to witnessthe ceremony to understand the level of emotion and attachment they have and the degree of consciousness it arouses amongst them.
Ordinarily, a great or good community would be described as one without infrastructural deficits and that provides safe, confident, prosperous and a high quality of life for everyone. In terms of infrastructure, Arochukwu ranks among the poorest amongst several communities in the region and it cannot be said to be a ‘very safe’ environment given the spate of general insecurity in the entire country. But the love of the Aro for the community is an open secret, and the source perhaps, social scientists won’t find it easy to explain without recourse to their culture and tradition. In essence, the culture of the people is the root cause of their love for their community. This explains the thesis of this article in the sense of ikeji being the people’s foremost symbol of greatness. Sociology teaches that man (generic man I mean) is man only in the context of society and that communities are the products of the actions and activities of man through interactions and interdependencies that also build institutions such as Ikeji festival. So, the love expressed by the Aro for his environment reflects the organic relationship cultivated overtime and the cumulative effect of ways of doing things handed over by their forebears through socialization processes.
The uniqueness of the Aro has been well established in history, particularly due to their cultural characteristics. Humans are the product of their culture and environment and the Aro are not an exception. Culture finds expression through well-established processes and institutions, such as ikeji festival, which overtime confer special characteristics on the people, thereby becoming sources of their identity. One of the most visible cultural institutions of the Aro through which their neighbours, including distant communities, reckon with them as special specie of humans is the ikeji (new yam) festival.
The ikeji Aro is typically a harvest of remarkable cultural activities from the first day known as Iza Awada, which marks its commencement, to the climax known as eke ekpe, when the Aro would converge at Amaikpe (ancestral square) to pay tribute to their ancestors and fallen heroes. Arochukwu remain a beehive of cultural celebration throughout the period of about three weeks, with performances by ekpo masquerades and other rites at specific days being major attractions. It is a season dedicated to showcasing Aro’s rich cultural heritage, renewing of ancient covenant that unite Arochukwu kingdom and offering thanksgiving to God for a successful harvest and year. Ikeji presents a unique opportunity to celebrate Arochukwu tradition and culture as well as serve as a platform for infinite entertainment, commerce, and tourism, as it features huge home coming by Aro in diaspora, rare masquerades, traditional dances, and cultural displays.
Consistent with the ikeji theme this year, different performances were invited from near and distant communities to give expression to the culture that is going beyond boundaries to preach peace, good neighbourliness, and prosperity through collaboration. A visit to Arochukwu during the Ikeji festival usually reveal an ancient kingdom that is richly endowed with cultural heritage as it brings to fore the importance and significance of its culture and civilization. Indeed, Ikeji tells the story of an ancient kingdom and of a people who have contributed immensely to advancing the frontiers of civilization and knowledge all over the world. As one of the cradles of civilization, Arochukwu is not like any other community, but one with interesting history of its exploits in times past which has been richly documented for posterity. Accordingly, to most ikeji tourists, the trip is more like a journey to discovery of an ancient community that played a pivotal role in the development of mankind.
In the last four decades, I have had the rare privilege to witness over thirty editions of ikeji festival and played pivotal roles in managing its success in three successive years in the recent past (2018-2020) without coming close to anything that challenged my faith. Rather, those occasions provided excellent opportunities to learn, relax and appreciate the culture and civilization of the Aro from the point of view of an active participant. It, therefore, becomes difficult to reconcile the views and impressions of those that characterize ikeji as ‘demonic’ or labelling those that partake in some of its activities as agents of Satan.
An Aro scholar and elder statesman, Professor Chris Aniche Okorafor in his article titled “Aro in History – No Apologies” explained the psychology of people that oppose ikeji festival based on Christian doctrine or being more ‘spiritually anointed’as evidence of being ignorant of the true teaching of Christ. According to him, “to be anointed, one must be anointed by someone who himself was duly anointed and who also was granted the power of anointing. The same goes for baptism. The common-sense principle of ‘nemo dat quod non habet’ applies generally. Simply put, one cannot give what he does not have. If any of them claims ‘spiritual anointing,’ he is only talking nonsense. St. Paul could have been spiritually anointed on the way to Damascus if that were the principle either laid down by Christ or acceptable to God in the new dispensation. Paul was rather sent to Ananias who already had the power to enable him “receive his sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost.”. In essence, according to Mazi Chris Okorafor, there must therefore be disciplined succession as one must duly receive from someone who duly received. Anyone who has not received from someone who received, gba-aka as we say in Igbo – (is assuredly empty handed).Allusion can also be made to the impact of the current worsening social economic conditions in shaping people’s behaviour and interpreting the Holy Book.
A typical example being the general trend since the collapse of our economy and the consequent unemployment which saw the phenomenal growth of groups who carry the label ‘church.’ One strategy for increasing their collections is to isolate their convertsfrom their root society to which they owe some financial obligation. Once this isolation is achieved, these ‘born-again’ churches and their adherents are thereby assured of hundred percent tithing to their coffers. Mazi Okorafor in his concept of ‘prostituted Christianity” opined that the Ikeji cerebrations which they preach against is only a way to getting their followers save up funds for their own organized “annual harvest thanksgiving.”All Christian theologians, he maintained, know that the Christmas and Easter celebrations were initially pagan ceremonies which the Christian Church adapted to commemorate the birth and resurrection of Jesus. As pagans had an Ofala ceremony for their kings, so has the Christian Church introduced the Corpus Christi processions to commemorate Christ the King. No theologian worth his salt, according to him, would preach against the celebration of Ikeji. He would rather invite his followers to bring their new yams to Church on Orie Egbugbu day for prayers of thanksgiving and blessing of the fruits of the harvest. He ought later to organize his faithful to process to Amaikpe with Christian songs of thanksgiving to God, on eke ekpe for yet another year of harvest.
With the eke ekpe ceremony held on Thursday September 22, 2022, it’s expected that umuaro of all faith who converged at Amaikpe gave true communal meaning to the annual harvest thanksgiving with their kit and kin in a way and manner never seen recently. Culture is not static but keeps changing to reflect the realities of the present environment. Unless a person is versed in the culture of his people, the cumulative process of socializing the younger ones or making sense of certain practices, becomes impossible. As Mazi Chris Okorafor noted, Ikeji Aro, is a festival of new yam harvest and is syncretic of the Igbo iwaji rituals and the uniquely Aro historiology enacted in Awada Akuma Nnubi and concluded with a fanfare and celebration of the unity of Aro confederacy at Amaikpe on eke ekpe Aro. Its detractors are therefore mere ignorant and unenlightened or mischievous gold-diggers, out to extort funds from their followers. In Ikeji 2022, we saw clearly the often-made statement that ‘leadership is a continuum’ which in essence attests to its being a cumulative process as the current exco of Nzuko Arochukwu endeavoured to sustain and build on the successes achieved by the past regime in making cultural rebirth through Ikeji festival the centre piece of Arochukwu’s civilization and development. Scholars are in a common agreement that culture has a role in guiding a people along certain path, especially as globalization has effectively diminished the role of geography, climate and natural resourceswhile giving way to education, knowledge, and access to new technologies as drivers of growth.
Culture is always the strongest glue that connects people across generations by ensuring that their ways of doing things are handed down and is continuously refined to reflect the realities of every age. Ikeji festival has become a strong symbol of our cultural identity thus, it promotes communal wellbeing, unity and progress. Since culture is one of the biggest tools for the development of mankind, expectations are that umuaro of all faith would steadily make adjustment in the ikeji observances to reflect the imperatives of a modern social order. This is more so, as it remains about the biggest platform in our life and times to achieve cultural rebirth and renaissancewhich would positively impact societal development. It is easy to see this clearly through the ikeji themes in the past seven years, whose essence is to teach an important lesson and direct community thoughts and energies towards what shall propel or trigger collective survival and growth.
This is wishing umaro, at home and in diaspora, a great 2022 Christmas festival and hoping that the palace would remain on the path of scheduling eke ekpe to always fall on days that would allow umuaro opportunity to be home and enjoy the ikeji ceremonies.
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