New Yam Festivals in Nigeria

It is very well respected in Nigeria and is one of the major food accepted as bride price when a man is seeking for a woman's hand in marriage.

[5] The festival is mostly celebrated among the Igbo people due to different spiritual ideologies surrounding Yams, as told by ancestors through stories passed on until the current day.

During the dancing and merrymaking that follow, this pot is surreptitiously replaced by a similar one, containing a well developed new yam, which is later presented to the people, presumably as a sign of the king’s magical powers over the crops.

The sounds carry the message ‘Wasigbeenile’, which means, ‘thank you all for taking good care of me in this outgoing year”.

[30] On the first day of the ceremony, people visit the palace with gifts such as assorted bush meat, goats, yam tubers etc.

They visit four Shrines (called the Ancestral spots) to offer prayers and blessings for a better harvest and more productive years.

The festival is celebrated for one week with several activities such as cultural performances, presentation of new yams, chieftaincy investitures and awards.

Other activities are free medical checkups, novelty match, Jumat service, excursion to the Oroke Oda mountain and a bonfire.

The colorful festival always attracts tourists from neighboring communities and states such as Edo, Ekiti, Osun, Lagos etc.

The festival fully starts when the King, Rabiu Oladimeji Sule (the Ologidi of Ogidi land), arrives the venue.

They hold the festival at the beginning of each harvest of new yam (Iri ji) or Onwa Asaa (seventh month).

The festival serve as a season where indigines of the town return home to re-unite themselves with their loved ones and enjoy together.