Despite the ongoing heat in the eastern part of Nigeria, it did not stop the yam festival. the Ooni Of Ife, Adeyeye Enitan Babatunde Ogunwusi Ojaja II, was one of the dignitaries that attended the 2017 Iri Ji Ozuruimo cultural carnival “Imo yam festival” including Governor Rochas in Imo State.
The New Yam Festival of the Igbo people (Orureshi in the idoma area, Iwa ji, Iri ji or Ike ji, depending on dialect) is an annual cultural festival by the Igbo people held at the end of the rainy season in early August.
The Iwa ji festival (literally “new-yam eating“) is practiced throughout West Africa (especially in Nigeria and Ghana) and other African countries and beyond, symbolizing the conclusion of a harvest and the beginning of the next work cycle. The celebration is a very culturally based occasion, tying individual Igbo communities together as essentially agrarian and dependent on yam.
Other dignitaries include Nothern traditional rulers at the Eze Imo palace as HRM Eze Samuel Ohiri hosted traditional rulers from the 36 states of the federation for the festival that held on September 15, 2017.
