The evening prior to the day of the festival, all old yams are consumed or discarded. The next day, only dishes of yam are served at the feast. In some communities the celebration lasts a whole day, while in many places it may last a week or more. These festivities normally include a variety of entertainments and ceremony, including the performance of rites by the Igwe (King), or the eldest man, and cultural dances by Igbo men, women, and their children.
Usually at the beginning of the festival, the yams are offered to gods and ancestors first before distributing them to the villagers. Palm oil is used to eat the yam.
1 comment:
I think the New Yam Festival and other Igbo celebrations in the novel really emphasize the point Achebe was making about African culture, namely that it exists in a manner in no way inferior to Western culture. Holidays are a good way to see this idea of cultural relativism as I think it's possible to see how odd many of our own celebrations might seem to those who aren't used to them. We are more used to images and practices related to Western holidays like Christmas and Easter both because we have grown up in Western culture and because the legacy of imperialism has led to such ideas being more widespread and accepted. But it's not that difficult to see that, even if we are used to it, the traditions of hiding plastic eggs around a yard or keeping a tree in our house for one month per year might seem very odd. To think that a celebration like the New Yam Festival and its associated traditions is somehow inferior and more primitive then Western holidays is based simply upon centuries of imperialism asserting Western superiority rather than on any actual basis in reality. This is true with cultural practices in general, but I think the nature of holidays really emphasizes this point.
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