FUNCTIONS OF FESTIVALS AMONG THE MBAISE PEOPLE OF IMO STATE, NIGERIA

BY EKE, OBINNA F

National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Nigeria

INTRODUCTION

Man has been declared as the only animal that has culture. Culture is seen as a means of adapting to his environment. It is that aspect of man which distinguishes him from other animals.

Festivals happen to be an aspect of man’s culture and have existed for so long. Cultural festival are periodic celebration making significant events in the life of the people or community, they are used to transmit ideas, aspirations and philosophy of people which makes life meaningful. They are re-enactment of historical, religious and traditional events which serve as factors of interactions, cohesions and mobilization of these communities.

Festivals are days in which the ordinary works of life are laid aside and enjoyments of  a more or less religious nature are indulged in. They are the festivals in which all aspects of religion, social, cultural, psychological and even life of the people are interwoven.

Every community has festivals associated with them. Mbaise nation is not an exception. Mbaise no doubt is blessed with many cultural festivals which aid the people in the assimilation of ideas as practiced by their forefathers. Such cultural festivals include: Iri Ji Mbaise, Iwa Akwa, Eyiri Enyi, Iwa Oji, Itu Aka festivals, etc.

 LOCATION OF MBAISE

The name “Mbaise” was derived from five clans: Agbaja, Ahiara, Ekwereazu, Ezinihitte and Okwuvuru. Mbaise is located in the very heart of Igbo land in South-east of Nigeria.

Mbaise occupies three local government areas namely: Aboh-Mbaise, Ahiazu Mbaise and Ezinihitte Mbaise in Imo State of Nigeria. Its land mass is approximately one hundred and eighty-five square miles (Nwala, 1979). It is bounded in the south by Azara Egbelu pocket of villages in Emekuku town along Owerri-Umuahia road, in the east by Ngor Okpala local government area, in the North by Obowu and in the West by Ikeduru local government area (Nkemneme, 2009).

SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL FUNCTIONS

Festivals have a lot of impact on the social life and behavior of the people. As noted by Eke (2017), festival periods are time of slack in farm work. During this time, people leave their farm lands to attend these important functions in other to pay homage to their land. This has always been a force for social cohesion since it involves the participation of every man in the community, neighbours, relations, friends and well-wishers from neighboring communities to these important events. It creates an avenue for kits and kins to meet and know each other.

Cultural festivals strengthen the political powers of the traditional institutions. It is in fact, a celebration of the political powers of the Eze’s and members of his traditional council. Members of the local communities deepen the awe and respects they have for the ruling traditional powers when their authority is much felt during festival celebration. As O’Sulivian and Jackson (2002) noted, that cultural festivals enhance the leadership roles of the traditional authorities. The local people are able to influence and the distinct duties that they perform in the society leading to improved governance structures which is linked to achieving developmental objectives of the host communities.

During cultural festivals, the physical structures in the communities such as road networks, lanes, community centers, traditional palaces and other historical buildings receive maintenance and repairs (Dickson, 2016). However, new projects are initiated during this period, new projects such as sinking of boreholes, hospitals, schools, award of scholarships, raising funds for individuals for business, etc. are initiated.

Money exchanges hands during the preparatory stages of festivals as food items, gifts items, jewelries etc. are bought for the celebration.  Invited guests and other visitors coming to witness these festivals causes increase in traffic flow within that period, which could be branded as tourism bait. The visitors patronize local markets, service providers, and spend their money in buying food items, etc.

PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS

The people get psychologically relieved after the festival period as they are believed and satisfied that the gods of the land has been appeased and are now at work to protect and guide them. The fears of the people are alloyed. During the festival period, the people tends to become a bit elastic in the control of the peoples’ behavior, sometimes, the elasticity is taken so far that amorous behaviors are permitted and role reversals could be tolerated.

Through songs, several messages could be carried out. People that must have committed abominable acts in the land such as coveting somebody’s wife, stealing, gossiping, poisoning someone or other adjudged misbehavior’s are castigated through these songs. These are periods when societal inhibitions are removed, people assume their natural and relaxed moods without pretense of abiding by the law. The relaxation of moods has a lot of important psychological effects on the communities or individuals.

ENTERTAINMENT FUNCTIONS

One of the primary values of festivals is usually entertainment as they have a multifaceted appeal by their nature as communal event. The primary reason why a visitor would want to attend a festival is because of being entertained. Cultural festivals usually involved rich traditional music and dance which feature different kinds of groups which are accompanied with harmonious beat of local musical instruments. These traditional music and dance as Emeremadu (1998) puts it are “rich in proverbs, synchronizing with heat, rhythm, and a superb classical welding together at both art of composition and its rendering”. Such musical and dancing groups include the Ekpe dance, Abigbo dance, Nwaliga music, Ese music, Agbachaa Ekurunwa dance, etc.,

There are also displays of different kinds of masquerades which add colour to the festivals. They differ in style, shape and dance steps. It is a beehive of activities as several cultural groups and masquerades trill the audience ranging from the big fierce looking and violent Agaba, the Ekpo, Uremma masquerades, etc.

The cooking and eating of different traditional dishes equally add flavor to the festivals. Different yam delicacies are served, especially during Iri Ji Mbaise Festival, cocoyam vegetables soup, Oha and Okazi soups, etc. These soups are garnished with assorted meats and are eaten with pounded yam or akpu (pounded cassava). Ugba, popularly known as African Salad is a special and important delicacy among the Mbaise people. Most visitors who come outside Mbaise anticipate having a taste of this special delicacy. The eating however goes down well with drinking of local wine “Mmii Ngwo or Nkwu Ocha” (palm wine) tapped from raffia palm which is normally sweet and fresh with an inviting aroma. The best of wine are normally served during festivals and occasions. There are also traditional wrestling contest and traditional fashion, all these add colour to the festivals.

Indeed, it is better witnessed than imagined for one cannot adequately express or quantify the kind of fund and entertainment derived from these cultural festivals.

RECREATIONAL FUNCTIONS

One of the most important functions of these festivals to the community is in the area of recreation. Eke (2007) noted that “festivity is a human form of play through which man appropriate or extended area of life into his own experience”. The disappearance of life makes life duller, man is by his very nature a creative being who sings, dance, plays, tells stories and celebrates. He is a “homo festivus”. These periods always create recreational as well as holiday opportunities for the people. There is abundant scope of relaxation and creation. No labour, apart from normal household and public chores. Sporting events could be mounted in the market square or play ground to entertain people.

Festivals create avenues for people in the community to get together in celebrations. What this implies is that if there were no festivals, a situation of ‘every man to himself and God for us all” will develop since we believe that man is not an island. The essences of festivals are to bring people together in joyous celebrations (Achor, 1998).

RELIGIOUS FUNCTION

Festivals play very important roles in the religious life of the Mbaise people. They are organised to thank and appreciate the gods for a good harvest, good health and protection. This is the very reason why the people have different types of shrines where rituals are performed in respect of some of these festivals. For example, the Oji Ezinihitte festival is affiliated with the Wezinihitte shrine were the people gather to offer sacrifice and pour libation to their ancestors. Also the Ahiajoku shrine is associated with the New Yam Festival.

To show how important religion is to these festivals, in recent times, Mbaise people chose every August 15^th known as the Assumption day in the Christian circle as the celebration of New Yam festival. On the other hand, Ezinihitte chose January 1^st which is the New Year celebration as the date for celebration of Oji Ezinihitte festival. All these were to accommodate both Traditional wand Christian religions in celebration of these festivals.

On every festival day, thanksgiving rituals are performed by the Christians on the altar of God in their various churches to give the feast a Christian font and stamps, while the Traditionalist make their own rituals at the shrines of the gods associated with each festival.

It is generally believed that the appeasing of God or gods during festivals help the people to have a very successful season the next year thereby having a high yield of crops.  As Ezea (1980) aptly pointed out, “every land has its own gods and goddesses which keep open-eye surveillance over the land and its people. Most ill-omens that befall a people often result from the neglect of these time honored traditional values”. Since the people believe in ancestral traditional worship, they equally believe that if they do not follow the ways of their fathers (ancestors), among which are the celebration of these festivals, the spirit of their forefathers may desert them and hence, they will be exposed to certain dangers which may come in different forms such as season of famine in the land, mysterious deaths, outbreak of diseases, etc. Since some of the festivals are seen as religious festivals, they then play some vital role in the life of the people.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, cultural festivals are personal expression of community heritage that play very important significant roles in the life of the people. They are usually celebrated at various seasons as regards to the nature and aim of such festival. Such significant roles could be seen as religious, socio-economic, political, entertainment, recreational and psychological.

Mbaise cultural festival no doubt are evidence of rich cultural values of the people. The activities associated with the festivals no doubt promote unity, goodwill, understanding and social integration. This is a time when the people exchange visits, share common concern, sentiments, emotion and merriment. The significance of these festivals is the participation of everybody.

REFERENCES

Nwala, T. U. (1979). Igbo Philosophy. Ikeja-Lagos: The Literamed Publications

Eke, O.F. (2017). Selected Cultural Festivals and Their Tourism Potentials in Mbaise, Imo State. MA. Theses, Dept. of Archaeology and Tourism, UNN

Achor, I. (1998). The Role of Festivals In Tourism Development In Anambra State. M.A. Theses, Dept. of Archaeology and Tourism, UNN.

Ezea, S.O.K. (1980). The Pre-Christian Belief of the Super Being In Anambra and Imo States of Nigeria. M.A. Theses, Department of Religion, UNN.

Emeremadu, T.O.S. (1998). The Coming Of the Catholic Church To Ahian and The Emergence of Mbaise, Owerri: Assumpta Press.

O’Suvillan, d. and Jackson, M. (2002). Festival Tourism: A Contributor To Sustainable Local Economic Development. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Vol. 10. No.4.

Dickson Adom (2016). Cultural Festival As A Salient Tool for Strategic, Holistic and Sustainable Rural Development in Africa: The Case Study of The Opemso Festival of the Ashantes of Ghana. Advances In Social Sciences Research Journal, Vol. 3, No.11.