#IZZI_CLAN_AND_OJIJI”
Culture has been variously described as the totality of people’s way of life, such as type food, cloth or dress, language, agricultural party, conduct etc. . .
Some people view culture as a framework of the behavioural patterns, values, assumption and experiences shared by a social group.
In Izziland and among the Igbos, the month of August every year, is a special month as it is associated with festivities especially that of new yam festival.
In Izzi clan of Ebonyi State, Nigeria, the month of AUGUST is a month which every Izzi man, woman, both old and young earnestly and fervently prays for.
This is because the month of August is special and gladdened with the celebration of new yam festival, popularly called Ojiji or “Eri ji ophu”.
It is pertinent to note that the species of people called Izzi clan occupy three large and highly populated local government areas in Ebonyi State. That is Izzi, Ebonyi and Abakaliki local government areas.
The Ojiji Izzi or Eri ji ophu (New yam festival) is one of the most popular and wide celebrated social cultural activities known to Izhi people, both at home and in the diaspora.
In Izzi land, as apparently in other areas of the state and entire Igbo land, yam is considered the King all crops and a divine gift from God.
This accounts for why an Izzi man treats yam with great measure of sanctity and sacrosanct.
In Izzi land, anybody or group of persons who desecrates a YAM is customarily required to appease the yam and placate the land, so as not to incur the wrath of the yam and the gods, whose consequences and repercussions are usually grievous and catastrophic.
This also accounts for the reason an average Izzi man dedicates a special place in his home or compound for the establishment of a barn, “ObaJi” for the preservation & storage of yams.
The Barn, which is commonly known a Obaji is usually positioned strategically to attract and arrest the interest and admiration of both the owner and visitors alike.
It is also for this singular reason that a typical Izzi man erects a small hut inside the barn called “ErOba” or obi where the man stays and keeps surveillance of his barn and the entire compound.
There is also a provision for a sit-out in front of the barn with a local shade canopy called “mkpu” constructed with palm fronds, Indian bamboo and sticks with tie-tie.
The place is called “Okpoku”, a convergence point for the family. It is also under that shade that great farmer takes his title ranging from Akwa lepfi and Jioke tille, respectively.
Any wealthy/great farmer in Izzi land who has accomplished tremendous farm adventures and escapades would have leveraged to take such tittles like Oko Ji Onyibe Ji, Ojelegu I, Ovu Ji acho ali, Oko ngele azulabo, among others.
The barn is also significant and symbolic that women who are in labour would rush to there for delivery and the children would he named Nwoba or Obaji or Nwulegu as the case may be.
As we celebrate this year's Ojiji, our New Yam Festival today, many people would want to know more or what the Ojiji is all about...
This brings about the Brief History Of Ojiji!
Keep reading!👇
No one can say precisely when this new yam festival (Ojiji) started. I think I will be right to say that it is as old as man.
Ojiji started when the clan came into existence, when God created the people. It is hereditary and passes from one generation to another. So we inherited it from our forefathers and our children will inherit it from us.
In Izziland, Ojiji, the Izzi new yam festival is an important event in the life of the people of the area. It is the day we celebrate the arrival of the new yam.
Ojiji is the best celebration of every Izzi man and woman, both at home and in diaspora; our people are known for their rich involvement in farming activities, we are the best producers of yam in the entire state.
In the olden days, our forefathers engaged in yam farming as their chief/major occupation.
The Ojiji new yam festival day is so significant that everyone from the area prays fervently to be alive just to witness the event yearly.
It's one of the events that usually brings people together; friends, neighbours, relatives and the well-wishers exchange gifts, visit and share merriments in a very memorable manner on Ojiji Day.
If you had observed very closely, you may have discovered that for few days now, our people have been going home from the market with a lot of goats, ram, fowls, cows etc. depending on what each could afford financially, just for this celebration.
In a nutshell, Ojiji celebration is an expression that the outgoing year was favourable and so rewarding; a year of bountiful harvest, an event that marks the beginning of a new year, a show of joy for the arrival of the new yam.
For the married women, Ojiji is a day to display cooking expertise; it is the day to prepare the best local soup known as Esusa (beni-seed) which is the best soup for every Izzi person.
The women usually make good and adequate preparations ahead of time on how best to prepare this special delicacy for their visitors and families, and make arrangement to also send to their own parents as a mark of honour.
Formerly, an Izzi man does not eat any other food except yam today, because it is Ojiji day.
Nowadays, whenever a man's daughter is given out for marriage, he will say, “OJE ALU JI”; that is she is going to marry yam.
He will not say, she is going to marry Mr Okeke or Okafor, but yam. That tells you the level of importance attached to yam as a crop by Izzi people. This informs you also why the day is celebrated with such joy and excitement.
If I begin to enumerate the uniqueness of this event, the day will not be enough to do that.
Ojiji Izzi is one celebration where any man who married from Izzi land is obligated customarily to send well-sized good number of tubbers of yams and drinks to his in-laws.
Some in-laws do send between 20 & 10 tubers of yam depending on the person’s affluence.
And if he is unable to fulfil this cultural task to his in-laws due to financial insolvency, if his father is still alive, he is customarily obligated to do so, on behalf of his son.
So, in-laws are always very expectant on this day. That is why it's mandatory for every son of the clan to come home during the celebration.
That is why since morning, your father has not stepped out of his house, because he has been around receiving visitors who have been coming in turns to celebrate the day with him.
As earlier said, every born Izzi man enjoys yam with sauce (mixed pepper and palm oil) more than any other food, especially today.
In fact, it is as a result of development that other foods such as semovita and garri were introduced to the people.
Such foods were completely alien to us prior to modern development. We are proudly farmers!
Just check from tomorrow, you will see that all our markets will be flooded with the new yams; the best yam you can think of is found here in Izzi land.
So that means that no Izzi man is allowed under our custom to harvest and eat yam before the Ojiji Day.
It is a taboo and highly sacrilegious to do so in the entire Izzi land. It is even an abomination to touch it, not to talk of eating it.
An Izzi man who knows and understands Izzi culture as regards to yam, will turn away his face if he mistakenly runs into a new yam before the Ojiji Day. He will assume he never saw one.
That emphasizes the seriousness of this Ojiji celebration to the people. We respect culture.
And there special benefits which we derive from this Ojiji culture. So many of them!
Our forefathers who are no longer alive enjoy the day with us; they are usually happy on this date that we are carrying on with the culture they bequeathed on or handed over to us, and as a result, whatever that is our problem receives their attention and solutions.
And that is why we honour them by always keeping the Ojiji and other cultures alive.
An Izzi man is usually proud to be addressed as one. Our culture is our pride and identify.
An Izzi man is more interested in having a big barn of yam than money. Very big/large barn that can contain his yams and that of his wife or wives.
From tomorrow, some Izzians who have yam seeds that are matured will start harvesting their yam for family consumption.
Under normal circumstance, no Izzi man dies on Ojiji Day. It is absolutely very correct; if an Izzi person dies on Ojiji Day, we will conclude that he or she was a witch or wizard.
We will believe that such a person committed abomination and as such can never be buried.
We will see him or her as having been rejected or killed by the gods of the land for evil deeds.
What it means is that such a person has been involved in murdering other souls and other abominable acts prohibited by the land.
If you die on Ojiji Day, your image is tarnished. Nobody cries for such a wicked individual. He or she is thrown away as a refuse not minding the social status, financial strength or any other consideration.
Such death is seen as shameful and a Divine way of exposing evil people in the society.
This is true, not a speculation or superstitious belief. A normal Izzi man dies before or after Ojiji festival Day.
We are proud of yam in Izziland and respect it too! Izzi culture is very interesting and highly demanding; so adherents must be free from every cultural profanity.
“If I think evil against you, let it come back to me, and vice versa”; that is the basic rule!
I assure you that if you adhere strictly to the stipulations of our culture, you will live long.
Today’s event is usually celebrated at family or household level. Each family celebrates within the household and can exchange visits and gifts with neighbours and relatives.
But we have a particular day when all the Izzi people will have to converge at Amegu, the ancestral home of the Izzi Nnodo Ekumenyi, for the grand finale.
That is the central venue where people gather for the celebration. There, the yam is cooked and eaten by all in attendance, while youths and women showcase their cultural talents, like wrestling, masquerading, dancing, etc.
Before this day, the date for the Ojiji Day celebration is usually fixed and announced.
The man that fixes the date for Ojiji festival is always the oldest man in the clan. He is by the culture forbidden from drinking new (fresh) water prior to the celebration.
He can only drink rain water which was stored from the previous year. And he is not allowed by the custom to eat any new crop including corn and groundnut prior to the Ojiji Day.
This is why he can command the tree to fall down and it will happen. He is the only one who communes with the gods of the land and communicates back to the people on when the festival is to be observed.
He only drinks fresh water from the Ojiji Day; then the old one stored over the year is thrown away and a new one stored from that day. This he takes till the next Ojiji celebration.
There is a place called Ojiji where he goes to commune with our ancestors. He goes there just on a wrapper, without a pants, trousers or shirt.
Worthy of note is the fact that he must abstain from sexual intercourse within this period that he is to visit the area.
There are many other things that we don't even know about Ojiji-Izhi. So I just want to advise that Izzi people who are far from home, should come back home and learn their culture.
The Ojiji Izzi festival presents and offers both the indigenes and strangers alike the ample opportunities of relishing and savouring our local delicacies like pounded yam, (“Nri ji”); “Esusa” soup garnished with akpuru-iphe, Ukpo, (dried Okro), Akpurata Oku, etc...
Essentially, this year’s new yam festival, Ojiji Izzi 2022, which is an annual event is used to mark the end of a yam farming cycle and the beginning of another farming season.
This is usually characterized by first harvest, thanksgiving, almsgiving, pouring of libation, compound cleaning, visitation to in-laws and relatives.
Others are circumcision, age grade initiation, peace and reconciliation, communal road construction, clearing of pathways to the local streams/rivers and ultimately showcasing of the cosmological values of Izzi clan.
To outsiders/strangers and lovers of Izzi clan, we are so proud of Ojiji-Izzi culture. It is rich; preaches peace and mutual coexistence.
An Izzi man is loyal, gentle, humble, obedient, sincere and reliable; and this informs why the Ebonyi State capital is located in Izzi land.
Izzi people are very hospitable and free-minded people wherever they are found. They are very meek and blessed with God's heart.
We are Izzians, good people, great Ebonyians!
Ge ehutso ojiji duru onyemonye ooo!
Ge o dukwaru pho onyemonye le ree ooo!
Happy Ojiji to Izhi Nnodo Ekumenyi!
© Iziogo Emmanuel Godfrey.
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