Yam festival is general festive period celebrated by Africans, in the western part of the continent Nigeria happens to be the destination where this culture is widely and mostly practiced. In the southern part of Nigeria, this festival is annually practiced among the Yorubas, Igbos and some parts of the north. The period is usually observed to celebrate the emergence of new yam in any community where they take this as heritage. In some part of Ondo State where I know very well, it’s always meant to celebrate a new yam and also unveil new chieftaincy tittles and probably to attract their sons and daughters who live far away from the community to come back and meet again.
I personally I am a living witness of this, I hail from Ode Irele in Irele Local Government Area of Ondo State. My father is head chief of our quarter, Lumeko under the authority of the apex royalty rank which is the Royal Majesty title, the overall royal head (King) of Ode-Irele. My father was confirmed the a chieftaincy title, High Chief Lumeko of Irele kingdom in 2016, it all happened during yam harvest festival and this title is annually renewed whenever it’s time for a new harvest.
My concentration today would be on Ilara-Mokin under Ifedore LGA, a small but mighty community in the Akure axis of the state. People of this community are mostly known for farming, they specialize on planting yam and some cash crops like cocoa, cola nut and host of others. They produce this in large quantity that they even supply within and outside the state. They are blessed with notable dignitaries like Adeojo, the CEO of Elizade motors and founder of Elizade University, another breed of the community is Major General Kola Bakare, the Chief of Account Budget in the Nigeria Army.
Ilara-Mokin usually celebrate their yam festival once a year. A day ahead of the date of the feast, men in team will troop to the farm to harvest new yam, on their way coming back with yams on their head, people will gather and be chanting in their dialect, “this is the first new yam of the year, we’ll live to see another next year”. The crowd will all follow the men to King’s palace for the his royal majesty to bless the new yam and declare celebrations open.
All households in the community will hold feast throughout that week, food will be more than sufficient to the extent that nobody will starve as food is being shared from one household to the other. Sons and daughters of the community who have left their homes for a long time will have the privilege to meet again and have a blissful moment together. Most times when they celebrate this festival, they used to invite some renowned and notable musicians in Yoruba land to spice up the feast. This is not different from how it’s being practiced in other part of the state where they celebrate annual yam festival.
About Author
