It was another of year filled with fun and wishes as the Nri Ancient Kingdom in Anaocha Local Government Area in Nigeria celebrated its one-thousand-and-twenty-third Igu Aro Ndi Igbo cultural festival 2022.
According to pinkrepublic12.blogspot.com, the Igu Aro festival which took place at the palace of Eze Tabansi Udene, the keeper of Nri sacred artefacts, attracted people from all walks of life.
The “Igu Aro Igbo” or Igbo calendar, is a lunar calender, which measures space and time using the phases of the moon.
The calendar, which shares semblance with what obtains in China and Israel, is shorter than the conventional solar year which has three hundred and sixty-five days.
Unlike the Gregorian calendars, the Igbo calender has thirteen months in a year, seven weeks in a month and four days representing Eke, Orie, Afor, and Nkwo, in addition to one extra day at the end of the year in the last month.
Performing the Igu Aro ritual, the Chairman of ADAMA Council, Chief Emma Enemuo, said that Nri, being the cradle and custodian of Igbo civilization uses the moment to declare the beginning of the planting season for Ndi Igbo and prayed for lasting peace and progress in Nri Community.
While performing traditional itu nzu and breaking of kolanut, the Okwudolu Eze Nri, Oba Maduka Muojuluaru and Ichie Mike Igidigi, thanked God for his blessings on Nri Ancient Kingdom and prayed for better days.
In their separate remarks, the chairman on the occasion, Chief Eugene Obi-Okoye and the President General, Nri Progress Union, Chief Kelvin Obiegbunam, appreciated Ndi Nri in diaspora and the Igu Aro committee for making this year’s event a success, adding that the Igbo lunar calendar affords them, as a people, the opportunity of embracing their culture and heritage.
Highlights of the 2022 Igu Aro festival were launching of 2022 Igbo lunar calendar, distribution of yam seedlings, cultural displays among others.
