Significance of the Ogbhe Festival
The Ogbhe Festival is a significant cultural event celebrated between October and November. It holds profound cultural importance, linked to abundance, sobriety, and fertility. The festival features wrestling matches, rituals, and sacrifices at two shrines. Drumming and music are integral parts of the celebration.
1. Cultural Importance: The festival holds profound cultural importance, linked to abundance, sobriety, and fertility.
2. Wrestling Matches: The festival features wrestling matches, which take place in front of the narrator’s house.
3. Shrines and Rituals: The festival involves two shrines, with rituals and sacrifices performed by the Chief Priest and his lieutenants.
4. Drumming and Music: Drumming is an integral part of the festival, with distinct rhythms and beats.
5. Procession and Celebrations: The festival includes processions, feasting, and celebrations, with the elderly men playing a significant role.
6. Link to Uruamhi: The Ogbhe Festival precedes the Uruamhi age-group initiation, which culminates in the marrying off of young maidens.
7. Divine Significance: The festival is believed to have divine significance, with neglect of the festival potentially leading to displeasure from the gods.
The festival’s importance is underscored by its potential impact on the community’s well-being, as evidenced by a past incident where neglect of the festival was believed to have led to a severe drought.
The white, sharp sand in front of the Anaweokhai house was not only meant for kindergarten chores and the like; it also served as a wrestling pitch. Conceding that the trappings of a model day, well-packaged wrestling like The Undertaker and Hulk Hogan brands of The World Wrestling Entertainment were lacking, it was no less a beauty of entertainment to savor.
The excitement went beyond wrestling; it was the final rite of a yearly Ogbhe festival. Of all the festivals in the village, the Ogbhe festival was the shortest but the most fetish. Everything about it was shrouded in the mysteries of incantations and sacrifices. The celebration never lasted beyond one day, yet a lot went into it. The tight celebration was preceded by the town crier announcing the age group saddled with the responsibility of clearing the two shrines and ensuring that the accessible paths were cleared of stunts and debris. The main shrine is between the gully site beside Eramha Aliu Idegbesor’s house and Mr. Sunday Imhana’s compound in Okotor quarters. The second shrine is in Ivhiochie quarter, right inside the deep forest behind the Odior family compound. Both shrines were linked together by a narrow path that passed through the back of the Asekomhe, Illegah, and Eshiesimua compounds. All the same, wrestling matches took place in front of the Anaweokhai family’s house.
The Okotor shrine is a very small hut of about 3 square meters. The Chief Priest was Eramha Omokhape, whose house was between the Okhakumhe and the Oshiomhogho compounds, both in Okotor. He was quite elderly, and after some time, he became the oldest man in the village. His dedication to the idol was unparalleled. Though he had lieutenants, there was no doubting the fact that he was in charge, and of course, he enjoyed the loyalty and respect of his subordinates. Two drums were constantly being beaten, each with a distinct sound that combined to give a rhythmical beat. It took a while before you could master the beating pattern. Though kids were allowed into the shrine, they were excused whenever sacrifices were to be offered. There was enough pounded yams with egusi soup and palm wine. Towards evening, the elderly men would carry calabashes and earthen pots on their heads and file out in a procession to the second shrine.
Activities at the second shrine were much more secretive than the relatively open ones at the main shrine. There were no huts, just a big tree behind the Odior family compound. We were not allowed to beat drums but to observe proceedings from a far distance. The gulping of cups of palm wine by the elders signified the end of the rituals. They would also file out in a procession right to the front of our house, the venue of the entertainment part of the festival, which was wrestling. The elders, looking worn out, would give a flavor of importance and grandeur to the whole thing by staying for a couple of minutes to watch a few wrestling matches.
The OGBHE FESTIVAL is typically celebrated between October and November and holds profound cultural importance. It is a celebration linked to abundance, sobriety, and fertility—with fertility being especially significant because the Ogbhe Festival precedes URUAMHI, the age-group initiation that culminates in the marrying off of young maidens.
During this period, while IWOGO (young boys awaiting initiation) gather to wrestle in front of the Anaweokhai family house, young damsels preparing for initiation are encouraged to partake in the Ogbhe Festival. As part of the ritual, white chalk powder is rubbed on their foreheads and backs.
The festival’s importance was starkly demonstrated in the early 1980s when a severe drought extended into May, causing crops to wither. Upon consulting the ancestors, it was revealed that the gods were displeased due to the neglect of both the Ogbhe and Aghie festivals the previous year. Although Ogbhe could not be celebrated at its usual time that year, Aghie was observed with great pomp and grandeur. Remarkably, a heavy downpour occurred on that very day, even before the celebrations concluded—a clear sign of divine approval.