Nigerians in Uganda welcome harvest season with pomp

Some of the traditional entertainers do their thing at the event Courtesy PHOTO.

Majority clad in their traditional Agbada and Ankara outfits, Nigerians living and working in Uganda celebrated the Igbo annual new yam festival on Sunday at Moonland Gardens in Nsambya. The event, graced by Nigerian High Commissioner in Uganda, Cornelius Oluwateru, and the chairman of the Igbo in Uganda, Chief Boniface Arinze, started off with the breaking of the kola nut, a symbol of life in the Igbo culture. It is said if you eat the kola nut, however bitter it is, it brings back life. It acts as a sign of togetherness, thus all must eat it before a Nigerian event kicks off.
Celebrated in August, the New Yam festival commemorates the harvesting season in Nigeria by offering the first bounty to the gods and ancestors in the hope of attracting their blessing. Two huge yams flown in from Nigeria made for the centre piece of the festive grounds.
The Ohanaze Cultural group entertained guests, with a combination of Nigerian and Ugandan dances.

More pomp
A masquerade, with a mask and sisal coverings, brought more light to the evening, dancing around as a man waved a chicken in front of it as other guests threw money over it. In the Igbo culture, the masquerade embodies the spirit and human world and is believed to spring from the soil. The identity of the masquerade is kept a secret. Nigerian cuisine and palm wine crowned the event.