From New Yams To Pizza On Igede Agba’s Day

Culture, Stories, Tradition 2/09/2024 by Kate Ogah

When I was little I always looked forward to Igede Agba day! It was a special day in Igede land, marked with pure unadulterated pounded yam, eaten with beniseed soup with a dash of vegetable and locust beans(Okpehe).

I do remember celebrating this day in the village, marked with singing, dancing and a lot of fresh palm wine. Fresh palm wine, drank as soon as it’s tapped from a palm tree, in its purest undiluted form is the best! Drink it chilled(chai, who wan send me some).

My grandfather used to wake up at the sound of the first cockcrow, and walk to his yam farm on the outskirts of the village, far away to bring home some newly harvested yam. It had to be done on the day, not before.

He got back home, usually mid-morning, grandmother Aekpe, would’ve prepared the firewood and all the soup ingredients, waiting for the arrival of the yam. Our jobs as kids were to go get water from the river in our small calabashes. We would walk the narrow path back to the village, with the water on our heads, trying not to drop and smash the calabash as we hurried to get home in time for the celebrations.

The elders of the compound came together, made incantations, pounded the yam into a paste with palm oil and offered it to their wooden gods, only then was it ok to eat the yam.

I always used to wonder why the gods allowed the chickens to peck at their food.

Most Igede people are now Christians and now know better, and the celebration of the arrival of the new yam is no longer a paganistic celebration but a day for celebration and fun, where people visit friends, dance and eat lots of pounded yam. In the recent past, the Igede youths have organised carnivals and crowned a Miss Igede Agba.

Happy Igede Agba to my family and Igede friends. Hope you are having some pounded yam for me, as I go try to find some pizza to eat.