(Okey Ndibe)-- …It was in that ancient town [of Enugwu
Ukwu] that my awareness of the depth, beauty and pageantry of Igbo language,
customs and culture was awakened. Every traditional ceremony in the town was
marked by an enchanting festive air featuring a parade of hundreds of
masquerades of different sorts, sometimes including the majestic Ijele.
Part of what struck me in those impressionable days was
the ecumenical spirit that shot through the social atmosphere. For example,
masquerades would feature at traditional feasts, but also at such Christian or
secular celebrations as Christmas, Easter and the New Year. Besides, Christians
as well as animists took part in the variety of festivals, a time when music
rent the air and food as well as drinks seemed to flow in inexhaustible
quantities.
Those were days of sheer enchantment. Even today, I am
filled with a sense of nostalgia as I recall those celebrations marked by
spectacular color, great dances, and much feasting.
By far the most memorable event in the town’s cultural
calendar was Igwe Osita Agwuna’s Igu Aro, the formal proclamation by the
monarch of the end of one year and the beginning of a new one based on Umunri
lunar calendar. The cultural and social import of this event was far reaching.
It was attended by thousands of people from Enugwu Ukwu, other parts of
Igboland, Nigeria, and indeed from abroad. I was always moved as a child as I
observed this amazing event from a distance—spellbound by the sense of grandeur
it exuded.
The Igwe’s proclamation was a signpost of communal renewal.
It was an opportunity for the community to take stock of its fortunes and
misfortunes during the past year, and to consecrate an altogether wholesome
departure and positive experience in the New Year. In addition, the event gave
the community a certain bearing in all aspects of its life, including the
determination of farming and harvesting seasons.
Prior to presiding over this potent ceremony, Igwe Osita
Agwuna would observe a mandatory period of seclusion. For a period of three
traditional weeks—or thirteen days—he retreated to uno-nso, a mud-hut located
in the center of a thicket near his palace teeming with medicinal and ritual
trees. Here, Igwe Agwuna concentrated his mind on his approaching sacred duty,
subjected his body to self-denial, and devoted himself to a cycle of prayers—in
the morning, afternoon and at dusk.
On the thirteenth day, the compelling spiritual exercise
completed, he would emerge, finally, from his place of isolation, fully
prepared for the task of leading his people into a new vista.
At a time when traditional rulers are often associated
with a backward mindset, if not regarded as anachronistic and a throw back,
Igwe Agwuna exemplified an admirable modern and modernizing outlook. He was an
early champion of women’s rights, demonstrating in words and deeds his
opposition to practices that authorized the subjection of women. He
incorporated a guild of women into his regimen of authority, ensuring that he
was always open to the central concerns of womenfolk in his domain. He was
particularly sensitive to the plight of widows in his immediate society, and in
the broader Nigerian collectivity.
As I noted earlier, Igwe Agwuna III achieved fame as the
traditional ruler of Enugwu Ukwu, but his stature extended far beyond his town
and outside the confines of traditional rulership. A fervent cultural
archivist, he founded Obu Ofo Nri Museum, a mecca for scholars of ancestral
Igbo metaphysics, culture and history. But in the absence of significant
investment of time and resources by public and private institutions, I fear
that museum, with its collection of rare artifacts, would be endangered. The
same fate might befall some of Igwe Agwuna’s profoundly insightful texts on
numerous aspects of Igbo cultural practices.
At a time when some Christian fundamentalists have
declared a misconceived wholesale war on anything that smacks of “tradition,”
even when these traditional customs are neither unenlightened nor at odds with
Christianity, we would do well to pay attention to Igwe Agwuna’s extensive
writings. Sadly, when I made enquiries recently, I found out that most of this
writing is not easily available.
A dynamic publisher should undertake the labor of
collecting Igwe Agwuna’s texts in a series of volumes that would instruct
scholars of Igbo history and culture as well as dilettantes who simply crave a
deeper knowledge of the Igbo world and cosmos….
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