Chapter+5b+festivals

media type="youtube" key="CqtVx1GZnsg" width="425" height="350"[|**R**] http://www.motherlandnigeria.com/festivals.html http://www.masksoftheworld.com/Africa/African%20Igbo%20Yam%20Mask.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yam_(vegetable)#New_Yam_Festival_.28Igbo.29  = =   Brooke Anderson 
 * Yam Festival **
 * //1. New Yam Festival is one of the biggest festivals celebrated by the Igbos. //**
 * //2. It is celebrated in the month August of each year. //**
 * //3. The individual Igbo communities each have their days for this august occasion. This day symbolizes the conclusion of a work cycle and the beginning of another. //**
 * //4. It is open to anyone who wants to come; there are a lot of cultural dances. //**
 * //5. On the last night before the festival, yams from the last year are gotten rid of by the people who still have them. This is because it is believed that the New Year must begin with tasty, fresh yams instead of the old dried-up crops of the previous year. //**
 * //6. Before the festival starts, the yams are offered to gods and ancestors first before distributing them to the villagers. //**
 * //7. The ritual is performed either by the oldest man in the community or by the king. They eat the first yam //**** //because it is believed that their position gives them the privilege of being intermediaries between their communities and the gods of the land.// **
 * //8. The rituals involved in the new yam eating are meant to express the community's appreciation to the gods for making the harvest of their yams possible. //**
 * //9. //**** //At the new yam festival, only dishes of yam are served since the festival is symbolic of the abundance of the produce.// **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt">
 * //<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt">10. //****<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt"> //A lot of yam is cooked that, no matter how heavily the family eats or how many friends and relatives they invite, there is always a so much food left over at the end of the day.// **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt">
 * //<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt">11. //****<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt"> //The festival is a traditional annual event organized by the Igbo tribe of Nigeria in thanksgiving to God for a good harvest and in celebration of numerous other achievements.// **
 * //<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt">12. //****//<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt">At the festival creative masks were worn called the Mma ji, the name comes from the hatchet used at the yam cutting, and the peg-like projections may represent teeth. //**
 * //<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Arial Narrow'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt">13. //****//<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt">This mask was used at the beginning of the dry season. It has three cylindrical projections, believed to represent teeth, and a blade thrusting upward from the forehead which represent the hatchet. Treated in a wholly abstract manner and sometimes painted in red, white and black colors, these masks are worn at the harvest festival by young men after the initiation ceremony. //**<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt">
 * //<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt">14. Pounded Yam and vegetable soup is the main food in the celebration. //**
 * //<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt">15. //****<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt"> //Celebrating this festival is a way of thanking the spirits above them.// **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt">