ART FESTIVAL A STUDY OF OGA AGA AGWUAGWU IN

ACHI

Introduction

A festival or gala is an event, usually and ordinarily stages

by a local community, which centers on and celebrates some

unique aspect of that community and the Festival. Among

many religions, a feast is a set of celebrations in God or gods. A

feast and a festival are historically interchangeable. However,

the term “feast” has also entered common secular parlance as

a synonym for any large or elaborate meal. When used as in

the meaning of a festival, most often refers to religious festival

rather than a film or art festival.

Festival is an occasion for feasting or celebration,

especially a day or time of religions significance that recurs at

regular intends. Also a film festival is often regularly rearing

program of cultural performance exhibitions, or competitions.

In Nigeria, different tribes with different culture and

festivals. Some notable festivals in Nigeria include; Argungu

Fishing Festival which is a annual four days festival in north-

western Nigeria state of Kebbi. Other festivals include; the

Calabar Carnival, Durbar festival, Eyo festival, Imo Carnival,

Leboku, and Osun Oshogbo festival in Osun state. Also in the

Eastern part of Nigeria, we have the New Yam festival of Igbo

(Igo Iwa ji). It is an annual harvest festival by the Igbo people

held at the end of the rainy season in early August. The New

Yam Festival symbolizes 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 department on yam.

Art is the soul of Africa. This simply means that Africa cannot do

without Art. In otherwords. Art being the soul of Africa intells

that every artwork in Africa was made or designed for purpose

or function. Functionally, is a base point of African Art. To

clarify the above point Art serves many purpose in Africa such

as, utilitarian purpose easthestic role, religion, therapy and

aditural social role with symbolism attached to each of them.

Art may also serve purpose like ceremonial functions such as

child birth ceremony, naming ceremony initiations, marriage

ceremony; glorification of the kings and festivals.

Festival is an occasion for feasting or cerebration,

especially a day or time of religious significance that recurs at

regular intervals. A festival or gala is an event usually, and

ordinarily staged by a cocal community, which centers on and

celebrates some unique aspect of that community. Among

many religions, a fest is a set of celebreations in God or gods.

However the term “feast” has also entered common secular

parlance as a synonym for any large or elaborate meal. When

used as in the meaning of a festival, most often refers to

religious festival rather than a film or art festival. Also a film

festival is often regularly recurring program of cultural

performances, exhibitions or competitions.

In Nigeria, different tribes with different culture and

festivals. Some notable festivals in Nioena include, Argungu

Fishing Festival which is an annual four days Festival in north-

western Nigeria state of Kebbi. Other Festivals includes; the

Calabar Carnival Durbar Festival, Eyo Festival Imo Carnival

Leboku and Osun Oshogbo Festival in Osun State. Omenuwa

(2007) stated that in the Easthern part of Nigeria, we have the

New Yam Festival of the Igbo (Igbo Iwa Ji). It is an annual

harvest festival by the Igbo people held at the end of the rainy

season in early August. The New Yam Festival symbolizes the

conclusion of a harvest and the beginning of the next work

cycle. The celebrations is a very actually based occasion, tying

individual Igbo communities together as essentially agrarian

and department on yam.

Each town in Enugu state has its own way of celebrating

the New Yam festival. Achi in Enugu state has many festival,

which include Nnekeeji (New Yam festival), Isiogba Festival

Achihi Festival, Ajala festival and the famous Oga –Aga-Agwu-

Agwu festival.

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Oga-Aga –Agwu-Agwu is one of the famous and the most

celebrated festival Achi. From lime immentail till date, it is

usually held in the 3hours intervals. Oga –Aga-Agwu Agwu

reminds the Achi people the unending emergency of wambrs in

Achi.

Achi is a town located in Enugu State in Nigeria. However,

it is the largest town in Oji-River local Government area of

Enugu State. Achi town is made up of 12 village –isli na ulo, isii

na agu” as the native say. That phrase literally means that

there are 6 villages in the northern section of the town and 6

village in the southern section (if one imaginarily divide the

town into two sections) nnaedozie (2009) state that Achi dan

occupies an area of about twenty-five square miles. He also

noted the achi is bounded in the north by Nachi, Umuagu,

Umuabi all in Udi local government area, the River Oji and

Agbundu in Augu local governemtn area. In the east it is

bounded by the towns of Mmaku, Amoh, Ugbo, Awgu-nta, Nkwe

and Ezere in Agwu division. In the south it is bounded by Awlaw

and Inyi and in the west by Ugwuola.

Ogagagwugwu Achi, now vcelebrated every 3 years dates back

to Achi History but was made popular in 1914, when the 12

distrct villages in Achi (Ishi Iabu) raised 12 standing armies,

that defended Achi for 4 years (1914-1981) against the

invasion by West African Frontier Force led by British Mac

Grego Laid. According to the Ogaagagwugwu Achi Ishi L’Abu

(2011) the people of Achi were able to train their own soldiers,

manufacture their own war weapons (including egbe cham) and

kept the invaders at bay until August 1918, when the colonial

Authority commanded their soldiers to set the surrounding

bushes on five since Achi people were then living in grass

houses.

It further sited that the re-enforcement order of the 12

standing Armies was that there must be a changing force in the

war front per time. Always having standby force to relief the

charging force. It was it was this unrending charging force that

was refered to as Oga-aga-Agwu-Agwu (continals

OGAGAGWUAGWU reminds Adu people about their enormous

strength, when they come together, reason together and act

together.

Statement of the problem

Achi as a town lacks some developments. According to

Mbaekwe (2009), Achi for granted. No roads, no water, no

electricity, no industry, no tertiary institution, no scholarships,

no market development no directives and encouragement, in

agriculture and commerce. Ogagagwuagwu Achi Ishilabu

(2011) sited that the celebration of Ogagagwuagwu reminds

Achi people about their enormous strength, when they come

together and act together. This time Achi people shall use the

same OGAGAGWAGWU unbeaten formual to attack and

conquer economic advancement.

The researcher therefore wish to carry out proper research

on the Oga-Aga-Agwu festival. But it seems not much detail

work have been done on the costumes used during the festival.

The researcher therefore wish to carry out proper research

on the Oga-Aga-Agwu Agwu festival; especially on its costumes

used during the festival.

To help the researcher direct the course of this study.

Some research questions will be raised, such as

1. What is the origin of Oga-Aga-Agwu festival?.

2. What is the concept behind the activities in Oga-Aga-Agwu

festival.

3. What are the types of costumes worn during the Oga-Aga-

Agwu-Agwa festival.

4. What value those the people of Achi attach to these

costumes in terms of symbolism, function and use.

5. How does it relate to Art and Culture.

Objectives of the study

The general purpose of this research is to undertake a historical

and development role of Ogagaagwugwu festival in Achi?

1. To account for the origin of Ogagaagwugwu festival in Achi

and to provide an insight into its journey so far?

2. To explore the rendition fothe festival accounts and its

funding.

3. To trace and bring into limelight the projects to be

embarked upon by Achi and action programme on them.

Scope of the study

The scope of this project will be limited to the Achi clan

dealing directly with the Nze na Ozo’s and elders from the

twelve villages in Achi.

Also, chaimen and secretaries of

RESEARCH METHOD

The reeracaher intends to collect data for the research

work basically through primary or field data

Primary Data

The resracher intend to go to the research area and little

beyond to collect data through oral interview,live videos,audio

recorder and fields photographs will taken by the direct source

SECONDARY DATA

The researcher also intents to collect secondary or textual

data drawn from articles,journals,books and internet materials.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Analysing Festivals within the context of Artistic features is

not entirely a new scholarly enterprise. Dionysian Festival of

the ancient Greeks, for instance, formed the nucleus of a

vibrant theatre culture in Greece, which now serves as a

reference

point for world Art culture and the emerging new radical Art

forms. There have been raging arguments on whether African

festivals qualify as drama or artistic form. Eloquent voices that

contributed to these arguments include Mahood (1966),

Kirby (1974), Ogunba (1978), Adedeji (1978), Clark (1981) and

Rotimi (1981).Others are Echeruo (1981), Horn (1981),

Amankulor (1981) and Ibitokun (1993). Itis not the intention of

this project to further excavate, rehash and reposition these

claims and counter claims.

A festival is a periodic feast, a celebration of an event. It

includes forms of entertainment and performances and which

are often held at a particular time of the year. African festival

theatre brings together ideas, actions, aesthetics which are

partly sacred (religious) and partly secular (sometimes profane)

(Meki 1981)

For instance, there could be a new yam festival to thank a

particular god or pay homage to him for a good harvest and

pray for a better yield in the following year. A man sets out with

this noble intent but along the line, gets drunk, molests people

or indulges in other unwholesome acts. You see now that there

is a mixture of the sacred and the profane in his action. Festival

theatre is different from theatre festival. The former is a theatre

produced as festival. The latter is a conscious attempt to

declare theatrical productions in a given environment. Festivals

are important in the Nigerian traditional society because of the

following reasons:

• Festivals uphold and promote solidarity and collective

consciousness among a particular people.

• They are characterized by collective euphoria where the

sacred and the profane are interwoven. Usually there is a

suspension of the rules and norms of ordinary life.

• They are characterized by non-work posture. Leisure is the

central element in festivals so people look forward to festivals

as a period of enjoyment and relaxation. There is usually a

gradual change of occupational activities. Many festivals take

place during the period of ‘rest’ for the people when there is

less to be done in the farms. Festivals provide a forum for an

entertainment and recreation for the people. (Ogunbiyi,1981)

In most traditional African societies, masquerades are seen as

gods or heroic ancestors. They take different forms and there

are many varieties depending on the region, the purpose, the

content and the pattern( Adedeji, 1981)

They are usually masked figures of various kinds. A mask is a

covering or a disguise used to transform the identity of the

individual or the wearer into that of another character. So there

is an element of impersonation. In traditional African societies,

we can identify different types of masks according to their

functions based on the areas of the body covered( Echeruo,

(1981).

Oga-Aga –Agwu-Agwu festival is a ritualistic enactment of

myth, legend and traditional socialevents meant to mark the

end of the year and usher in a new one.

Mmanwu, that is the masquerade, is one major aspect of Igbo

traditional drama. The masquerade is ordinarily the

representation of the ancestors in the human world. The

masquerade operates as the ancestor and so has the protection

of manipulating man as a source of entertainment, social

controller, religious reflector etc. Nwabueze (2002:45) supports

the above claim: In the earliest period of Igbo history, the

ancestors were consulted through divination, but later their

physical presence became necessary when rituals were

evolved. The need for physical representation of the ancestor

created the

necessity to devise ways of representing the physical presence

of the ancestral

spirit. It was this situation that led to the evolution of the

masquerade as an artistic character.

Nwabueze (2003:45) says that it is an aspect of Igbo drama in

the sense that it displays various theatrical performances for

the audience at the village square. The gigantic masquerades

like Ijele, Akwunechenyi, Agboghommo and other gracious ones

that do not whip people create attractive sights that people

leave

whatever they do to watch such masquerades. They are always

in spectacular regalia and dance to music. The music could be

played by other masquerades or human beings. Masquerades

like this make their outings annually, especially during festivals.

Masquerade performances are described as dramatic due to

certain reasons. The masquerades have costumes as

dramatists do and their performances are scheduled at certain

dates, periods of time and venues, just as dramatists perform

in theatres,

masquerades perform at village squares or arenas specially

marked out by the people. They have their own costume room

and green room combined in oda. Oda is a make-shift shelter

for housing the masquerade. It goes out of it and returns into it

after

the performance. Amankulor (1982) and Ogunba (1978) in

Nwabueze (2005:83) argue that the masquerade drama does

not

have enough lines to build up adequate plots of its plays. But it

is pertinent to remark that many performances have the sing-

and-refrain activities between some masquerades like Atumma

or other singer masquerades on the one hand and their

followers on the other. Even when there are not many lines for

the masquerades’ performances, the dramatic styles take the

shapes of dancing to music sung and played for them. In

addition, they mime a lot. The old mother masquerades

demonstrate their

ages, while the maiden masquerades demonstrate pride and

the sense of selectivity of husbands whereas the young male

ones portray energy as their fathers control their household

with jealous guards against the public glare at their wives.

Various scholars acknowledge the existence of masquerade

dramatic performances. They include Ugonna (1981:495) that

states that “the term mmanwu, is generally used in two

different senses

either as a general concept for all forms of plays involving

masking or as sacred mask drama, in which traditionally

concerned masked spirits perform various dramatic activities

with speeches and dialogues, on an open air arena or stage”.

Further, Ugonna (1981;53) observes that “the development of

Mmanwu drama among the Igbo further illustrates how

widespread and well developed, in its own realistic way, is the

indigenous African dramatic tradition”. Amankulor (1986:53)

not only acknowledges the existence of the masquerade drama

of the Igbo people but also states that there are peculiarities to

the masquerade drama against human drama.He elaborates

thus:

The supernatural and mythic characters, in their own actions,

must portray traits which are strange and not ostensibly

human. Their patterns of speech, movement, and other

behaviour are required to match that which can only be

experienced in the

nightmare or dream state rather than reproduce ritual human

behaviour. Their guttural voice projections, side to side and

front to back movements and uncanny behaviour are meant to

accentuate their supernatural existence which their masks

aptly demonstrate. Anagudo-Agu (2008:460) studies the night

masquerade and concludes that it is dramatic. He describes the

night masquerade and its activities thus: Take Ayaka for

instance, composed of strong men armed with spears and

medicine, they come out at night at about11.00 p. m. and

disappear again before dawn. They summersault in the air,

climb

trees, beat drums and sing in disguised voices from heights in

order to create the impression of being air-borne ghosts.

In Igboland, there are various traditional festivals and

anniversaries of installations of traditional rulers. In a

community, there would be up to four festivals that are

celebrated annually. Festivals are mostly celebrated at the time

of plenty. That is during the dry season when the people are

yet to begin planting crops. The festivals are normally

celebrated in honour of different deities. The festivals have

seasons and the chief priests of the deities and some other

traditional authorities gather to schedule dates of the festivals.

When the dates are

announced, people began to make preparations of keeping the

shrines of respective deities clean. They also repaint the idols

and buy the items for thesacrifice. They would include fowls,

goats or cows, kola nuts, food items and palm wine as the case

may

be. On the appointed date, the chief priest officiates

at the shrine.. One has now seen that there are so many

aspects of Igbo tradition that are very much artistic . These

aspects are artritisc in their own rights because they are all

re-enactments of events that took place in the past and are

performed periodically. The original people involved in the

events have died and gone.

These aspects are artitics because those that performed them

are mere actors who emulate the first performers of each

event. The first performers were sacred and acted unplanned or

unarranged. Some of the events were accidental because they

saw the needs for their actions and would not have seen

through the tunnel that those acts of theirs would for ever be

remembered and re-enacted. The aspects are also dramatic

because they have their lines and plots that are peculiar to

themselves. The plots which may mostly involve miming are

understood by the

Audience .The performances of these aspects are not

accidental. They are arranged. There are rehearsals or training

of performers for immediate performances. Some of the

performances are carried out on the bases of rehearsals done

in the past and

stored for future performances. The performances are prepared

with dates, periods of

time scheduled and venues. The audience knows all these

pieces of information and attends with the hope of watching

the performances accordingly. At the mvenues, their rooms for

changing costumes for example, traditional rulers at the

anniversaries of their installations walk round the arena on

more than one occasion and in each case they put on different

regalia. From all the artistic qualities observed in the

conclusion above, one strongly believes that Igbo people, nay

Africans, have aspects of tradition that are dramatic. No matter

how much Euro-centric mentality adversely described them as

non-dramatic, the fact remains that there are aspects of African

traditional drama.

FUNCTIONAL VALUES

Sociologically, Oga-Aga –Agwu-Agwu festival serves a wide

variety of functions in Achiland. Scenes in the festival mirror

the society, preserve its legends, its lores and ethos, explore its

problems and criticise its weaknesses. In terms of form and

content, therefore, the festival, like drama, evolves from the

society; it is not imposed upon it. This is why the significance of

the audience cannot be played down. Oga-Aga –Agwu-Agwu

fes-

tival attracts a very large audience from the immediate locality,

neighbouring vil- lages and from other remote areas. For the

Achi people, the festival serves as the core of their existence. It

has become an annual magnetic force, which attracts many

Achis to their roots from all over the country and even beyond:

If an Achiman goes home only once in a year, it is mostly likely

for the purpose of participating in the festival. In fact, people

are known to have travelled back home from abroad for the

purpose of the festival .Oga-Aga –Agwu-Agwu festival is the

most eagerly awaited and the most remembered throughout

Achiland. This is because it engenders togetherness and

brotherhood and fosters ethnic cohesion among the Achi

people. It is also a stock taking period for an aver- age

Achiman,when life’s travails and successes are reflected upon:

Whatever you do during the year, it is during this time of the

yearthat people come to

Traditionally, less attention is given to the aesthetic qualities of

all the theatre ele- ments identifiable in the performance of the

singing masquerade during Oga-Aga –Agwu-Agwu fes-

tival. The general air of civilisation and modernisation

pervading the whole universe has also over-taken the

organisers of this festival performance.

. If the organizers take a full advantage of modern theatre

practice, the entire festival is a potential major tourist

attraction with outstanding economic and material values for

the peo-

ple.

REFERENCES

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Adedeji, J. A. (1981). “Alarinjo: The Traditional Yoruba Travelling Theatre” in Yemi Ogunbiyi (ed) Drama and Theatre in Nigeria: A Critical Source Book. Lagos: Nigeria Magazine.

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Ikechukwu Okodo(2002) African Traditional Drama: The Igbo-Nigerian ExperienceDepartment of Igbo, African and Chinese Studies Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka

©

2011 OGAGAAGWUAGWU, ACHI CEREBRATION FOCUS

Achi Development,Union,Achi

Nnadozie Elias.C (2009) ACHI CLAN, Yertaerday, Today and

Tommorrow,Enugu:Rabbon Publishers International