Itsekiri awankele festival

In  Nigeria,every village celebrates some kind of traditional festival. These festivals brought families together, and they are usually full of singing, dancing and rejoicing. Many of these festivals send praise to God, ask for good luck for their communities, or ask God for a good harvest.  Though most of the feasts have spiritual and some form of ritual meaning embeded in them, the over all goal is for every one in the community to be involved in thanking God and other deities for keeping them alive and for prosperity in the coming year.
Warri (Itsekiri).

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The aboriginal inhabitants can be said to be as far back as to some few years before the medieval time when communities were frequently engaged in inter-communal clashes, most especially from the Yoruba communities. John O. Sagay said “the people called Itsekiri today did not have a common origin.  They represent different migrant groups on which a monarch was superimposed.

It is said the much earlier peoples from Ode, near Ijebu Waterside and Igala in Nupe country had moved to settle in Omadino and Irigbo-Okotomu (Ode-Itsekiri) respectively. Others had come from Akure and Owo, and through the coast to settle in various parts, including Uregu and Ugborodo. Even though they remained a part as independent mini-communities, they appeared because of the predominance of the Yoruba stock amongst them, to have developed a Yoruba dialect (Itsekiri).
Again it is said that, several waves of migration before the 15th century and some a little later, groups from Igala in Nupe country, came in through the Creeks, Yoruba from Ijebu-Ode, Akure and Owo found their way into parts of the kingdom and a group from Aboh also came in. Some along the coast came in.
When the struggle for the carving out of kingdoms were at its peak, various communities in the Yoruba Kingdom engaged themselves in inter-communal clashes. The resultant consequence of these clashes was a mass exodus of refugees looking for a safe haven. The migrants like ants moving in echelon had come from diverse places: Akure, Owo, IjebuOde through the coast by way of Gulani to settle in various parts, including Ureji and Ugborodo.  This should explain some affinity between the Itsekiri Language and Ijebu; if we accept this, then there may have been some Yoruba settlements along the Benin and Escravos Rivers, but it was unlikely that they were found before then, there may have been small fishing settlements. The people of Ugborodo and Ogidigben still describe themselves a descendants of their immortalised ancestor named Olaja-Oriwu. Those of Omadino claim to be descendants of Lenuwa, the title of the ruler of Ode.” we can see that some communities in the kingdom still believe in their ancestral descents before their settlement. Nevertheless, they are still bonafide citizen of the kingdom in view of the monarch’s dominance over all the communities in the kingdom.
Of all the movements for a safe haven by these migrant groups, one that is most instrumental to the carving out of a race that is today known as the Itsekiri tribe is that conducted by one Mr. Itsekiri and his family. The journey, which started from Ode in Ijebu, saw them migrating to Kerenmu. From Kerenmu, the horde moves to Ijalosan and then finally to Okoyitemi (Okotomu) presently called Ode-Itsekiri.From the foregoing text, it can be seen that the word Itsekiri which was corrupted by these variants: Jakri, Jekri by various Europeans who had contact with the tribe is not an interpretation of cowardice or a man who could not fight as surmised by Granville and Roth; but rather a word adopted from the name of the founder of a place.
While Yorba settlements were maturing along Escravous and Benin Rivers, the children of one Ijenekun called Fifan Wandobo and Itsekiri were migrating from Kerenmu to Ijalosan and later from Ijalosan to Okoyitemi: Itsekiri led the migration to Okoyitemi (Okolomu). He was thus head of the settlement of Okolomu when the migrants from Benin arrived.”
The itsekiri people among other things have a pot pouri of traditional activities all year round. But worthy of note is the annual Awankere festival “okere juju” which they have been celebrating for the past 500 years.

Awankere (okere juju) Festival in Warri
This festival is celebrated in July, and it has become the national festival of nigeria. Music, singing and dancing are all part of this celebration. During the festival, people sing to God and give sacrifices for a good harvest and for a steady Niger River. The first part of the festival is ritualistic and closed to the public, but the second part is a big party where people wear masks.
Like most African mythology this festival have two versions. One version is that its origin dates back to the later part of the 15th century when Ekpen, the Chief Warrior and founder of Okere introduced it, while the second version says that a certain woman, named Mogboruko went fishing along the Okere creek, near Ajamimogha and caught a strange object which is a symbol of Okiroro in her fishing basket on three different occasions. Most Okere people however tend to stick to the first version due to the great similarity between the Awere were festival of Benin and the Awere were ritual enactment, an integral part of Awankere festival. The masquerade and male participants of the festival holds “Ukpasha”, the symbolic weep which represents the deity, Okiroro whose life is enacted during the Awankere festival. Community sources also explained that the staging of the festival during rainy seasons is due to the “therapeutic effect on all participants and spectators alike, as it washes off all sicknesses, ailments, curses and ill luck”.
Festivals as celebration of life is an integral part of our African existence.

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