GNS 203 ASSIGNMENT
IGBOGBE
FESTIVAL IN
OTUO, OWAN
EAST, EDO
STATE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
2.0 TRADITIONAL FESTIVALS
2.1 Definition of Terms
2.2 Importance of Traditional Festivals
2.3 Examples of Traditional Festivals in Nigeria
3.0 IGBOGBE FESTIVAL
3.1 General Overview
3.2 Criteria for Igbogbe Festival
3.3 Preparation for Igbogbe Festival
3.4 Procession of Igbogbe Festival
4.0 CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE OF IGBOGBE FESTIVAL
5.0 CONCLUSION
6.0 RECOMMENDATIONS
7.0 REFERENCES
1.0 INTRODUCTION
A festival is simply an event ordinarily celebrated by a community, which portrays some characteristic
aspect of that community and its religion or cultures. Such period is often marked as a local or national
holiday. This report seeks to discuss explicitly, the traditional Igbogbe festival that takes place every decade
in Edo state, Nigeria. The Igbogbe festival is unique to Owan East, specifically in a village called Otuo,
located in the Northern part of Edo state.
2.0 TRADITIONAL FESTIVALS
2.1 Definition of Terms
A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect of
that community and its religion or cultures. Next to religion and folklore, a significant origin is agricultural.
Food is such a vital resource that many festivals are associated with harvest time. Religious commemoration
and thanksgiving for good harvests are blended in events that take place in autumn, such as Halloween in
the northern hemisphere and Easter in the southern.
2.2 Importance of Traditional Festivals
Generally, festivals are an expensive way to celebrate glorious heritage, culture, and traditions of a
community. They are meant to celebrate moments and emotions in our lives together with our loved ones.
Festivals play an important role to add structure to our social lives, and it connects us with our families and
backgrounds. They tend to distract us from our day to day, tasking and exhausting routine of life, and give
us some inspiration to remember the important things and moments in life. Festivals were meant to pass on
legends, knowledge and traditions of a community to the next generation.
2.3 Examples of Traditional Festivals in Nigeria
There is a myriad of festivals that go on in Nigeria as a result of the richness of the Nigerian culture and the
dazzling diversity present in the country. Listed here are some of the more popular festivals we have in
Nigeria:
Port Harcourt Book Festival
Lagos Book and Arts Festival (LABAF)
Kaduna Book And Art Festival (KABAFEST)
Aké Arts and Book Festival
Badagry Festival
Lagos Games Festival (LGF)
Durbar festival
Igogo festival
Sango Festival
Ogwashi Ukwu Carnival
Lagos Black Heritage Festival
Lagos Photo
Mr Hobby Appreciation Festival
Osori Osos
3.0 IGBOGBE FESTIVAL
3.1 General Overview
The Igbogbe festival is a part of the culture of the people of Edo state. The festival is done principally to
welcome new elders (men) within the age bracket of 75 – 85 years. This festival, like any other age grade
festival, holds every ten years. It is a tradition in Otuo for outgoing elders who had their Igbogbe ceremony
ten years ago to hand over to a successor, so that they can continue with ruling and directing the affairs in
their respective quarters. Naturally, the outgoing elders are now called Izaghu or Edioma.
On getting to any of these age groups, (according to myth) they become invulnerable to harm from any
diabolical power.
3.2 Criteria for Igbogbe Festival
There are some criteria for elders to participate in this Ighogbe festival which are as follows:
a. The elders must have gone through all the ceremonies of the younger age group from the Egbibia town to
the Ighegho age group.
b. They must have settled all the funeral ceremonies of their aged parents.
c. They should have performed the ceremony attached to bringing forth into the world their first and second
grandchildren.
d. (Optional). They should also have performed the ceremony for when their grandchildren put to birth their
firstborn.
For elders who cannot, for one reason or another, fulfill any of the above criteria, there is the option of
paying cash for any of them.
3.3 Preparation for Igbogbe Festival
Towards preparation for the ceremony, every participant would be properly dressed in native attire. The
women would help with the wooden stools used and move round the twelve quarters of Otuo one after the
other, singing and having special prayers. The oldest among the women will be circled by the others and at
the conclusion of the praying in any quarter they visit, they all will rest their carved stick on the man at the
center. This is the Igheghoki age group.
3.4 Procession of Igbogbe Festival
The festival commences at the old ancient market called Okhi Osi where all the participants gather. One of
the major reasons for meeting at the ancient market is to select the new Chief and Oba, for which only
members of this age grade are qualified.
On the fateful day when the Igbogbe festival is to hold, an idol priest from Imarokhe quarter will have to
inform and invite the stone idol to come out by way of incantations to accompany the new elders in the
villages throughout the twelve quarters of Otuo in order to fulfill the conditions of the Igbogbe festival. The
idol priest will carry the stone idol otherwise call the Lady of Otuo on his head throughout the land of Otuo.
Every participant is to gather at Ohima quarter which is strategically located to commence the ceremony
which ends at the Imarokhe quarter where the last prayers are made and the idol priest invokes the idol to go
back to its base. It will be recalled that every participant must carve a wooden stick called Igbo which they
hit on the grass during the prayer session in all the twelve village squares they visit. It is also worthy to note
that before the closing day ceremony, these new elders and some Izaghu will come together at an ancient
market called Okhi Osi located at the Otuo old site to confirm the appointment of six senior chiefs and six
junior chiefs, one of which will emerge as the new traditional ruler of the town. He is called the Ovie or
Orososo of Otuo.
The festival is finalized with sacrifices of animals and giving of gifts to the elders and newly elected Chiefs.
4.0 CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE OF IGBOGBE FESTIVAL
It separates the men from the boys. It is also an honour. It shows that the men have gotten to live a long and
prosperous life.
5.0 CONCLUSION
As a true indigene of Edo state, you are expected to perform the ceremony if you’ve attained the age and
met the criteria.
6.0 RECOMMENDATION
The Igbogbe festival is a very important and essential part of the culture of the Otuo people of Edo state,
and the desire of every able-bodied man is to perform the ceremony when the appropriate time comes
7.0 REFERENCES
https://penandthepad.com/reference-person-apa-format-4140.html
https://nigerianfact.com/traditional-festivals-in-nigeria/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_festivals_in_Nigeria
S. D. Alabi (M.D.), personal communication, May 30, 2019
