CELEBRATION OF FESTIVAL

Divine had always been a child that likes music and dancing. It happens that his family usually attends a traditional festival and he often goes with them. Whenever Divine hears the sound of the drum, he will have to trace it until he finds where the sound is coming from. He does not care who the people are, provided they are dancing, he will join the queue and dance along.

Having been a child who hailed from Euneb State from the Amodi speaking tribe, they have a tradition called IJa-alekwu, which they celebrate like a festival. The name translates to mean, the dance of the spirit. Divine’s attachment to this dance seems not to be ordinary, as he is always intoxicated hearing the sound of drums. The Ija-alekwu is an annual festival that comes up between July and September before the period of ingathering, practised among the Amodi. Amodi people centres on the worship of their dynasties and the Ija-alekwu carnival is the best of all to carry out this. The celebration of this carnival is associated with the Oda, Opkuto and Ukopko local government areas of the State. Divine is from the prominent Amodi speaking community in the state whose major occupation includes farming, fishing, hunting and the likes. Ija-alekwu is the time in which the chief priest together with the people ashram with the spirit. It is a time in which the priest carries out his role of cathartic cleansing and sacrificing to the gods on behalf of the people asking for security and providence.

Somehow, Divine loves the fun associated with the celebration of the festival but does not agree with the ideologies that run the belief. Before the festival comes up, Divine’s parent will make preparation ranging from sacrificing a live animal, as they will all join the high priest in the village square who will now pronounce blessing for the d-day and hunting for games to be used for meals are carried out by competent bodied men in the community. On the d-day, everyone gathers in the king palace to pay homage and present gifts to the king. The carnival starts with the entrance of the king and his entourage carrying along with a traditional local gin made out of fermented millet called brukutu, such that after the sacrifices to the gods, they will all drink to stupor, with the masquerades dancing in the village square. After the celebration, the community dwellers will match straight to the king’s palace to shower his praises and he will pray for them and bless them.

Dance performance from different communities is displayed to the delight of the people, while local delicacies like pounded yam and okoho soup are obtained from the Okoho plants with catches from the hunt. After the entertainment, the king receives gifts after which he gives out titles to deserving natives, the festival comes to a climax when the king departs in a whirlwind, believed that he has transcended to the realm of glory and entertainment continues. In the course of the celebration, the ancestral spirits manifest as masquerades, known as the Alekwu afia. The Alekwu afia runs through the genealogies of the decent, in a poetic laden tune to the admiration of all and this is what Divine love so much, however, he does not even understand the language to interpret the poetic rendition, but the tunes of the rendition are often what attracts him. The Amodi people have a belief that Alekwu Afia is the reincarnation of an Amodi ancestral father into a masquerade, based on the concept of life after death, so much that the importance they attached to the masquerade and its poetic traditions that hold high prominence to them. The rendition of the Alekwu poetry viewed as a sourcing agent that refers to the sustenance of cultural values and identity during the festival, which attracts a large turnout of sons and daughters of the land at home and abroad.

The communities that makeup Amodi celebrate this carnival at different calendar months. In Opkuto local government, the three districts comprising Ujobgu, Akoda and Opkuto hold their celebration in March, February and September, respectively.

Recently, Divine followed Ujobgu community troop out in spectacle to observe the age-long custom in style, with many of its sons and daughters including those in the diaspora to celebrate their deity for yet another productive year, even though the propagation of place of worship these days, to a large extent has la-di-da the usual atmosphere of the occasion.

The festival, when celebrated would be disfigured in Ujobgu and Opkuto land if it does not rain within the specified period of the festival, while for the Akoda, there must be an extra-ordinary whirlwind all over their area else the occasion will be said to have been spoiled or that the sacrifices were not accepted by the gods.

The most famous traditional dance of Amodi people is Ogrinya, which is a highly energetic dance in nature that requires jumping at regular intervals on the toes in a short period.