Aro Festival: On the Brink of Extinction

Some years after Chimamanda Adichie brought Aro Festival to global prominence in her award-wining novel Purple Hibiscus, what used to be an elaborate festival is gradually winding up as a mere yearly ritual.

Every year, usually during the yuletide season, Ndigbo return home from all over the world to celebrate with their loved ones. Surpisingly, in the past a good number of people made their way to Abagana, Anambra state not to celebrate Christmass, but to witness the famous Aro Festival usually held in the month of December.

As a child, Adichie visited Ezi Icheke, Abagana to watch mmuo, masquerades. Little did she know then that years later her keen observation of the Aro Festival will occupy a chapter in a book that will bring her to prominence worldwide.

"When we got to Ezi Icheke, cars lined the road almost bumper to bumper," wrote Adichie. "the crowds that pressed around the cars were so dense there was no space between people and they blended into one another, wrappers blended into T-shirts, trousers into skirts, dresses into shirts. "

This discription is true for those who attended Aro Festival some years ago. Unfortunately, today this discription can not hold water for the crowds that attend the event. Every year, the number of people who attend the festival is reducing and even Adichie herself will not describe it like this if she is to visit Ezi Icheke again on the festival day.

An excellent faction (a combination of fact and fiction), Purple Hibiscus hinted that Aro Festival was on the brink of extinction. Just like in the dark ages in Albion (the oldest known name for Great Britain) when the new religion expelled the old religion shrouded in sorcery, Christianity and western exposure have come to kill Aro Festival.

This development is coming at a time when the world is focusing on tourism as a means of generating revenue for developmental purposes. This is also happening at a time when Nigeria is considering breaking away from over-dependency on crude oil and focusing more on the non-oil sectors of the economy.

Abagana, being a major Aro settlement in South-eastern Nigeria, witnesses a massive influx of Aro people in Diaspora during the Aro Festival held to celebrate Ade Aro (New Cocoyam Harvest). People from across Anambra and beyond, including foreigners also attend the festival to watch a galaxy of masquerades never seen elsewhere at a time. Cultural dancers, drummers, flutists, contortionists, acrobats, snake-charmers, soloists, and a litany of spectators clad in resplendent attires make the festival have a look of a world-class carnival which can be harnessed by the Federal Ministry of Culture and Tourism as the staple of the tourist's itinerary.

Since the advent of Christianity in Abagana, Aro Festival has been suffering. This can be attributed to the fetish practices of Aro worshippers in the past. According to Nduka Nwosu in his article entitled Ibiniukpabi: Futile Search for a Slave God (2002), Aro's major contribution to civilization is "the issue of slave trade and the killing of twins and their mothers as well as children whose early set of teeth formed from the upper dental region. These were considered anathema and death was the answer". Though these fetish practices have been stopped, the stigma lingers on.

To crown it all, Nwosu also wrote in glowing terms that "today more than 90 per cent of the Aros worship the God of the ancient Jewish kingdom, Jehovah." Christian leaders forbid members of their churches from attending pagan rituals, including Aro Festival.

Adichie wrote how a Catholic church Reverend Father admonished a member of his congregation for watching masquerades at the Aro Festival: "you understand that it is wrong to take joy in pagan rituals, because it breaks the first commandment. Pagan rituals are misinformed superstition, and they are the gateway to Hell."

As the wind of Christianity and Western exposure sweep across Africa, Nigerians must realise that they have a cultural heritage which must be preserved otherwise her identity will be lost for eternity and her posterity will be denied of the opportunity of knowing their root.

Nigeria should learn from other countries that abused their heritage and ended up regretting ever doing so. One of such countries is China. In 1966, China initiated a political programme known as the country's Cultural Revolution under Communist leader Mao Zedong. As part of the programme aimed at halting the old way of Chinese life, Mao appealed to the Chinese people to destroy anything associated with traditional culture.

Unfortunately, this sad development heralded Chinese greatest cultural damage in history- the destruction of some parts ot the Great Wall of China which hitherto was the staple of the western tourist's itinerary.

Waldron Arthur wrote in his article Great Wall (China) that "the magnificent wall surrounding Beijing was torn down for quarrying during this period. Other wall ruins were also destroyed."

In the meantime, as China began to realise the indispensable contributions of tourism to national economy, the Ming Wall began to undergo extensive renovation of thier most visited locations in 1980s.

Now the question is must Nigeria wait for Aro Festival to die completely before considering what to do to save her? Oil wells have only fifty years to dry up. Sooner or later, non-oil sectors of the economy will be the only hope for Nigeria. The time to act is now.

The new religion can confortably accommodate Nigeria's cultural heritage. Through acculturation, the church can absorb the good aspects of the old religion and halt the unwanted ones. The church in most part of the Igbo land have accepted Ikeji (New Yam Festival) and even allowed "women" masquerades to enter the church court during bazaars. "Women" masquerades are harmless since they do not carry charms around.

In the same vein, Aro Festival can be transformed into an interesting and harmless carnival which will appeal to everyone and serve as a major tourist attraction for Nigeria just like the Argungu Fishing Festival and the Abuja Carnival.

In sum, apparently, people do not value what they have until they loose it. When they loose it, they start looking for it. Aro Festival must not be lost before its value is realised. A word is enough for the wise!