By Benjamin Mensah
Accra, Sept. 21, GNA-A thrilling crowd of celebrants joyfully responded to the invocations of Eze Dr Chukwudi Jude Ihenetu, Paramount King of the Igbo Community in Ghana when he cut into a tuber of roasted yam, dipped the morsel into a bowl of sauce and took a bite.
He had thanked God, in the name of Jesus, and invoked divine blessings onto the yam, which the Igbos described as the King of crops.
The symbolic ceremony took place in Accra when Igbos in Ghana celebrated the New Yam Festival and 11 years of Igbo throne in Ghana.
The celebration was on the theme, “Sustaining the Culture and Tradition of the Igbo People in the Diaspora.’”
The New Yam Festival, in the Ogidi community, is an important way of marking the beginning and end of the farming season. It is a celebration of life, accomplishments in the community, culture, and well-being.
It was to thank God for the farming season and invoke his blessings on the new season.
The tubers of yam, laid beautifully arrayed on a table, and the atmosphere at the Efua Sutherland Children’s Park in Accra, was ecstatic as celebrants in fine and beautiful clothes traditionally danced and made merry to music of different genres and moved to percussion, wind, brass, and woodwind instruments, amid the firing of musketry.
It was a royal celebration, and royalty from parts of Ghana and elsewhere in West Africa, political, and religious figures among who were Mr Kofi Akpalu, Leader of the Liberal Party of Ghana; Mr Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, former Minister of Youth and Sports, National Chief Imam Sheik Osmanu Sharabutu were present.
In his welcome address, Eze Dr Ihenetu thanked God for the harvest and the “opportunity to plant.”
The Paramount King urged Igbos and other Nigerians resident in Ghana to continue to be law-abiding and advised Nigerians resident in Ghana to get registered in the ongoing national identification exercise in Ghana for easy identification.
Eze Dr Ihenetu stressed the importance of teaching the younger general African values and culture and hinted of plans to establish Igbo schools in Ghana.
Sheikh Sharabutu emphasized peaceful co-existence and unity in diversity.
GNA