By Favour Goodness
Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, has celebrated this year’s Ofala festival.
The Ofala, is the highpoint of Onicha Ceremonial Cycle. It was held this year without the usual display of royal dances, tributes, parades, music, and art, in addition to other associated events, which have come to characterise the beauty and elegance of the festival.
Rooted in deep spirituality, the Ofala is primarily a celebration by the monarch and his subjects to mark the monarch’s annual emergence from seclusion, during which period he has successfully negotiated the fortunes of the kingdom.
His Majesty also used the occasion of the Ofala to reiterate his prayer for the end of the turmoil, violence, and hardship that have befallen the country in general.
This year’s low-key Ofala is in line with the proclamation by His Majesty that the community would fulfill its annual traditional and ritual obligations in a modest way to comply fully with the Covid -19 safety and hygiene protocols.
There was no Azu Ofala celebration, the second day of the festival which is an elaborate display by Onitsha indigenes made up of age grade societies in their very colourful uniforms. The Owuwa-Ji (New Yam) Festival, which commenced on Sept. 24 and will end on Oct. 21 with Ikelebe-ji (the new yam celebration by the monarch) is also being observed very modestly
It is the hope and prayer of His Majesty and the people of Onitsha that the challenges of the previous years will come to pass, and circumstances will enable these festivals to return to normal next year, which will be his 20th anniversary on the throne of his ancestors.
