Obi Of Onitsha Kicks Off Festival

The 2016 edition of Ofala Festival of Onitsha, Anambra State, sponsored by the grandmasters of data, Globacom, kicks off on Saturday with the Obi, Igwe Nnaemeka Alfred Achebe, performing the traditional Umato festival.

The Umato, according to Onitsha tradition, marks the end of the planting season and the beginning of the period of harvest by the people of the kingdom. The Obi will traditionallly declare that “the period of dryness has ended and that the harvest season has commenced.”

The festival will be performed at the Ime Obi, where Igwe Achebe will personally serve the traditional corn meal to all the palace chiefs and those who came to witness the ceremony, thus signaling the commencement of the good season of harvesting. The Umato will also be replicated by other key families in their homes thereafter.

Ofala, also known as the New Yam Festival, is celebrated yearly by the people of Onitsha to commemorate their triumph over the Yam crop.

The 2016 edition of the festival is the 6thin the series since Globacom took over as the main sponsor.