Lagos- The New Yam Festival marks the end of the rainy season and the beginning of the harvest season for yams. Prior to the festival, yams are harvested from the fields, cleaned, and prepared for consumption. The first harvested yams, known as “new yams,” hold special significance in the festival.
In preparation for the festival, yams are paraded and displayed in a prominent place within the community. A ceremonial fire, often called “Oji,” is ignited, and the head of the community offers prayers and blessings to the yams, deities, and ancestors. Yam slices are also shared as offerings to the spirits. In line with this ancient historical heritage.
Ndigbo In Eti osa and environs have announced that they will commemorate this year’s new yam festival on the 9th of september2023. According to a press statement signed by the Eti-Osa Local Government Area New Yam Cultural Committee and Executive Council,
“Our New Yam Festival (Iriji) 2023 will be an empowerment event and to showcase our rich cultural heritage. It is also an opportunity to appreciate our sons and daughters and friends, who have distinguished themselves in their various endeavors and have one way or the other affected the lives of our people positively.
The committee said that New Yam Carnival is geared towards empowering indigents, widows, the youth, the elderly and the needy in the Ohanaeze community with different tools to help alleviate the economic stress on them.
It stated that it will use the event to honor deserving Igbo sons and daughters and friends with chieftaincy titles and awards in this year’s New Yam Cultural Carnival. It disclosed the event will take place at Royal Gardens Estate, Lekki-Ajah, and Lagos State.
The committee also said that those who want to support or support the organization of the event will have their photographs and names of their organizations made in the brochure. It encouraged Igbo sons, daughters and their friends and associates to send congratulatory messages and adverts for publication event brochure.
Those who signed the statement were Eze Gerald Onuchukwu, Eze Ndigbo, Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State; Friday Abah, chairman; Prince Uboch C. Ubochi, Prime Minister, Eti-Osa LGA; Chief Nicholas Onyema Agu, Palace Secretary; and Mrs. Helen Kalu, Woman Leader.
The New Yam Festival is a vibrant and significant cultural event that celebrates the harvest, promotes unity, and preserves the traditions and customs of the communities involved. It serves as a reminder of the importance of agriculture, gratitude, and the interdependence between humans and nature.
