Hundreds of Nigerians of Igbo origin living in Ireland converged in Dublin recently to celebrate the famous Iriji or New Yam Festival.
“Iriji is the festival that officially marks the eating of new yam in the south eastern states of Nigeria,” explained JK Kelechi Onwumereh, chairman of the Igbo Union Dublin. “It is an integral part of Igbo culture which also marks the start of the harvest season.”
The event at St Andrews Community Centre in Rialto was organised by the Igbo Union Dublin and attended by Igbos from across Ireland as well as friends and well-wishers. Cultural displays on the day included a masquerade and traditional women’s dance.
Iriji is typically celebrated by the head of the family between August and October and offers an opportunity to give praise for a bountiful harvest and other successes in life beyond the farm. The ceremony is a time for thanksgiving, sharing and peace offerings, and is marked with colourful celebrations and fanfare.
“This is because originally it signifies the end of the lean season and the start of plenty,” said Onwumereh. “A bumper and rich harvest denotes fertility and fruitfulness.”
He added that not long ago, the celebration was marked by rituals in reverence to the yam goddess Ahiajoku, or Ifejioku. “But with the advent and entrenchment of Christianity in Igboland, the Ahiajoku ceremony has been replaced by the Christian harvest festival.”
Onwumereh further explained that the yam or ‘ji’ – a tuber not dissimilar to a large sweet potato in appearance or consumption – is “the king of crops in the Igbo world view”.
Due to the importance of the yam to the Igbo people, it was a mark of high status to cultivate it. Attaining a certain pedigree earned the proud farmer the title of ‘Ezeji’ or ‘Diji’ (king of yams), responsible for picking the choicest yams for roasting and cooking.
Whether roasted or boiled, yams are chiefly eaten with palm oil, and in more modern times they are also garnished with salt and pepper, herbs and oil beans, or ‘ugba’.
