Our Festivals
Okija is the largest amongst ten towns that made up Ihiala local government area of Anambra state. A town of many streams that adjoins the great Ulasi river..
OUR FESTIVALS:
Our festivals are deeply rooted in Igbo traditions as who people share one heritage. Amongst our notable festivals are:
Iri Ji (New yam festival):
In Igbo culture, apart from being a widely consumed staple food; yam is also of symbolical importance in our culture. For instance, yam is accorded certain respects as would be accorded to a human being; there are several customary regulations pertaining on how yam should be treated or handled.
It is sacrilegious to steal yam in Okija and anyone involved in such crime is treated as an outcast; ostracized and excommunicated from the community. In our local myth, certain individuals who felt pains of other people during a year of great famine transformed themselves into varieties of yams such as Aga, Abana, Abii etc in other to provide succor to others. New yam festival is usually celebrated by all the 30 villages in Okija in the month of August of every year.
Ilo onu or ilo mmuo:
The basic concept of this festival is promotion of fun and affinity; it is our cultural carnival, somewhat of Halloween of the English people where every member of the community are expected to come together to display colorful costumes in reaffirmation of community amidst merriment.
Every village in Okija celebrates this festival on different dates but usually after the new yam festival. In umuzu, this festival starts with a meeting of initiated men weeks before to decide on a date for the festival in earnest. Before the actual festival date, different traditional performances such as display of special masquerades called Onyenwobodo and otunzu, the patrol of Ebini-ukwu and Ebini-nta and special roaring of the lion in the houses of every bonafide member of Umuzu village on the eve of onu festival day to add more flavor to the fun.
On the festival day, young men of different age grades will roll out their drums and turn the whole community into a massive African party, with enough foods and drinks flowing from one compound to the other. Onu stands out as the best festival we celebrate in Umuzu and Okija in a whole. It is one of UMDA ‘s objective to revive and sustain the celebration of onu in Umuzu mainland.