Esan Festivals

Esan Traditional Events

Events

Esan Festivals

Ihuan Festival:

♦ What it is: The most important and widely celebrated festival among the Esan people, honoring the new yam harvest.
♦ When it’s celebrated: The festival occurs annually, with specific dates varying by clans and kingdoms.

Esanland is a land of traditional feasts which are celebrated to commemorate great historical landmarks of the past. By far the most important and widely celebrated feast in the land is “IHUAN”, the new yam harvest festival. Ihuan is celebrated clan by clan and in each clan. it is held in one village after another The new yam festival is an annual event which involves entertainments and a lot of eating drinking and general merriment particularly in the harvest in any particular year is really bountiful. Friends and relations from other places are welcome to a lavish feasting for three to four days. Various dances mark the celebration. But the traditional ruler of the clan would normally signal the commencement of the festival when he, accompanied by top traditional chiefs who handle various palace affairs, dances to the shrine of the particular deity responsible for the rich harvest to offer prayers and sacrifices to appease it. Such sacred dances by the Onojie are usually accompanied by pulsating drumming with a large crowd of people at the background all wishing the traditional ruler success (lyare) as he proceeds to pay homage to the deity.
Other Festivals:
♦ The Esan people also celebrate other cultural feasts to commemorate historical landmarks.
♦ The timing of these festivals often aligns with agricultural cycles.

Due to the localized and decentralized nature of Esan traditional events, specific dates vary widely by community, and many are not fixed to the Gregorian calendar

. However, some festivals recur annually or every few years and generally fall within specific seasonal periods.

Annual festivals

Ihuan (New Yam Festival): Celebrated across Esan communities to mark the new harvest. The specific timing varies by village, but it typically takes place from August through November.
- In Eguare, Uromi, the Ihuan festival was scheduled for September 21, 2024, and was planned for September 2025.
- In Ogidi-Ela, it is celebrated annually on June 15.
- In Ohordua, the festival is held in October.
Ukpe Festival: Observed by the Esan community as a time of cultural expression and unity, typically in the third quarter of the year, around August or September.
Ighele Festival: A traditional festival involving dances and rituals. The timing varies by community.
- In Ewu, it is held annually in June.
- In Ukuaza (Uzea), it takes place around August or September.
Ancestor worship: In Uromi, a day is set aside for the general worship of ancestors around March or April, after the rainy season has begun.

Using Uromi as a case study

ESAN NEW YAM FESTIVAL AND OTHER ANNUAL CEREMONIAL FESTIVALS.

The ceremonial calendar of a typical Esan village includes such annual feasts, sometimes simply called UKPE. literally “year.” Another typical yearly observance is a festival honoring the ancestors. Ancestral festivals are usually celebrated on the local level, but other festivals are organized on the state level, such as a ceremonial in honor of the land (Iluoto) or the celebration of new yams festival (IHUAN).

Using Uromi Kingdom as a case study, with an elaborate ceremonial calendar which illustrates the periodic nature of festivals in Esanland.

The public ceremonies begin in early August with (IDUAMUKPE). A festival organized by the king in honor of the royal family and characterized by the late Ojie as a “founder’s day” celebration. Two days later, the celebration of Uromi land (Otoromi) takes place, including a sacrifice in the palace quarter (Eguare), and general merrymaking throughout the kingdom.

Several market weeks later, ( UKORHAN) takes place. During this festival the carvers of the kingdom demonstrate their loyalty to the king by carving household objects for his wives. At this time, the wives of the carving clan(Imiena)are permitted to eat new yams. Two market weeks following the end of Ukorhan.

The term (Iduamukpe) includes the word for the first rains of the year, amukpe (amen-ukpe). Either the scheduling of the festival has shifted from around March when the first rains usually begin, or the term “first rains” is used as a metaphor for the beginning of the festival season.

The festival (IGBABOLOSAGUE) “in praise of harvest” takes place. During this ceremony, the wives of the king and other wives of the royal family may eat new yams.

In another two market weeks, IHUAN. the New Yam festival proper, begins. This is celebrated in three stages.

One market week apart, corresponding to the three groups of villages within Uromi (Okhiode, Obiruan, and Obiyuan). This is a time of great joy in the villages, when everyone may begin to eat new yams. The villages sponsor feasts, dances and other forms of entertainment, and young boys and girls go from compound to compound to entertain people in exchange for small coins.

Following Ihuan. (IREMHAN) is celebrated once in three years. Iremhan focusses on the village of Ewoyi, the royal quarter, but honors all the elders of Uromi.

Much later in the year, around December, the Ojuromi has his own Ihuan festival when he may finally eat new yams. Often the king sponsors various forms of public entertainment, including masquerades, at the palace.

After the rains have begun again, usually around March or April, Uromi sets aside a day for the general worship of ancestors. Again, the king will worship his own royal ancestors in a special and private ceremony.

These festivals are pan-Uromi, but various villages will also include ceremonies for their local deities and other festivals specific to their community in the ceremonial year.

Not all Esan calendars look quite like this. For example, some of the above festivals may be combined, and of course the festivals of local deities are interspersed with the ubiquitous New Yam festival and celebration of the ancestors.