It’s a tradition to travel for the New Year for most Igbos. This is the only opportunity to see their relatives who are based in other parts of the country and even abroad. They meet to discuss family issues. No matter the fare, they must go.
It sounds weird but it’s true. In the South East zone, the people consider New Year celebration more important to them than Christmas celebration for obvious reasons.
The yuletide and New Year season is one of the few seasons millions of people look forward to every year all over the world. In Nigeria, it is one of the few seasons that bring friends and families together, including long-lost ones, and as such, one that a countless number of people always look forward to.
However, the Igbo people in the southeast section of the country are known to have, over the years, developed a special interest in this season (seemingly above all others) and as such would do everything possible they mark the season in grand styles.
It is therefore a very common sight to see the Igbo using the occasion of New Year, January 1 of every year which is generally viewed as a day for almost every religious adherent because it ushers everyone into a new calendar year, irrespective of religious affiliations, to storm their villages from wherever they might be, including far away cities like Lagos and Abuja, while some even travel from outside the countries for the same purpose.
The Igbo, as believed in some quarters, love to show off their wealth and flaunt what they have and this they do more than any other ethnic group in Nigeria. It is believed that they use Christmas time to travel to their villages to show off the wealth they have been able to accumulate over the years.
Available records show that these periods witness a mass exodus of people from all walks of life and regions to another area for merriment and other activities probably because government, private institutions, groups, and individuals always declare those days’ work-free or official holidays.
The South East geopolitical zone is one such area where people, mostly indigenes, and their friends travel to within these periods especially the New Year celebration which to them starts from January 1 to 15 every year. Investigation shows that much of the activities in the region were held within this period.
It is, therefore, not uncommon to see Igbo men or women and their families shut down their businesses and services in Abuja, Lagos, and Kano and travel to their villages in Anambra, Abia, Enugu, Ebonyi, and Imo states, respectively for the New Year celebration unlike what they will do in the Christmas season.
In villages, the ‘homecomers’ would directly or indirectly participate in annual football competitions, marriage ceremonies, community cultural, social, and religious events, child dedications, house dedications, charity works, etc.
For many, one reason the Igbo travel home for Christmas is to ensure family reunion. According to those who nurse this belief, only a few tribes in the world could match the adventurous and industrious nature of the Igbo. Therefore, according to those who hold this argument, if an Igbo individual has been away from his home and roots all through the year, it is only normal for such people to create an avenue for themselves to meet once again in an atmosphere of unity and camaraderie.
Okechukwu Atuanya, a businessman in Lagos said that people from his geopolitical zone prefer to celebrate New Year at home with their loved ones, unlike the Christmas season where they hustle to make ends meet.
“People may transact their businesses from 25 to 29. But when it comes to 1st January, they will close shops to go home for prayers; to reflect on their lives, and rededicate themselves to God and for merrymaking. Also, in some parts of Igboland, some communities usually restrain or ban their members from organising burials and other events sometimes from December 15 to January 1.
“As a result, these individuals would fix their programs and events they could hold from Christmas (December) to New Year. These include wedding anniversaries, birthdays, traditional or matrimonial weddings, meetings, and social, and other events. Most traditional rulers prefer celebrating their Ofala or Igu Aro festivals, and so on in the New Year period”, he said.
Ifeanyi Agu, also a businessman in the Ladipo market in Lagos, said New Year witnesses much influx of South Easterners to the geopolitical zone than the Christmas season.
He said: “Our people prefer to return home mostly in the New Year season due to many reasons. One is that the cost of transportation is usually high during the Christmas season which sometimes is caused by transporters or the fluctuating prices of fuel. Apart from that, New Year is usually packed full of activities such as traditional and matrimonial weddings, and village, town, and kindred meetings, unlike the Christmas season.
“In the zone, people don’t usually excuse themselves from those meetings because of the consequences. It is during the New Year that wise decisions and laws binding on the community members both within and in the Diaspora are made. This is also where taxpaying male adults of most communities/kindreds share the lands inherited from their forefathers, accordingly.
“High fines which individual members of these communities and groups might find hard to pay are usually imposed on absentees to discourage them from staying away from homes (the meetings). This is why some will decide to attend the meetings rather than absence themselves and pay fines which they might not even recover from while transacting their businesses during this period. You know also that workers are usually on holiday then,” Agu said.
A traditional leader from the east, who opts not to display his name said that the reasons most Igbo prefer the New Year homecoming is because they want to celebrate with their people; they want to be prayed for by their parents and elders. They believe that receiving God’s blessings from their homes will help them to prosper in the year.
The traditional leader stated that the reason most traditional rulers celebrate their Ofala, and other events within the New Year period is the advantage of the dry season which he said was mostly preferred for organising such events in the zone than in the rainy season.
The South Easters, like other parts of the country, is a tropical rainforest area where rain drops mostly from February to November annually. It is also home to the majority number of Christians in the country which one expects them to attach higher importance to the Christmas season but because of the sociological belief of the people of the zone, the New Year holds more appeal to them than the day Jesus Christ was said to have been born.
-Benprince Ezeh
08068599879
