SOURCE:

Faculty: Arts
Department: History & International Studies

CONTRIBUTORS:

Ubaku, K.C;
Emejulu, I;

ABSTRACT:

Igbo society, as a system, is characterized by different components which enable its operation as a functional whole. These components, to a great extent, represent the people’s cultural insignia, and one of them is festivals. Festivals encourage intra and inter-group relations, foster generational transcending of a people’s ancestral heritage, contribute to communities’ progression, and encourage peace and unity in a given locality through the concept of oneness, which the period imbues. As one of the festivals celebrated among the Igbo of Nigeria, this study looked at the Owu festival in post-civil war Oru East Local Government Area of Imo State, which was a cultural identity for the people of this region. The study concentrated on and examined the concept and celebration of the Owu festival in the three selected communities of Awo-Omamma, Amiri, and Omuma. It further examined the similarities and differences of the festival in these communities, impact of the festival on the study area, challenges facing the festival and the changes, which have occurred overtime within the period under study. With data extensively derived from primary and secondary source materials on the subject and analyzed adopting qualitative approach in historical methodology, the study revealed that there were numerous impact, challenges and changes associated with the Owu festival. While the impact were observed in the areas of peace and unity, intra-group relations, tourism promotion, culture preservation and provision of contract opportunities; Christianity, western education, inadequate sponsorship and discrimination against women were perceived as the challenges. Divulging the changes from some of the features of the festival – costumes, ritual technicalities, and celebration patterns, the study concluded by proffering recommendations on how to nip in the bud the challenges which unarguably, had threatened and continued to threaten its existence as a cultural feature to the people of Oru East Local Government Area.