Attorney Onyirimba
By James
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The 12th edition of the Igbo World Festival of Arts and Culture is ongoing in Georgia, the United States of America.
Organised by the Council of Igbo States in America, CISA, the two-day festival began yesterday, Thursday, July 25 and will be rounded off today.
The spiritual, ritual, and sacred communal with progenitors of Igbo Landing will be solemnised at the historic Igbo Landing site at Dunbar Creek, St. Simons Island, with most festival activities taking place at Seldon Park, 100 Genoa Martin Dr., Brunswick, Georgia, USA.
Undoubtedly, Igbo Landing, a significantly historic site at Dunbar Creek, St. Simons Island, has grown in spiritual importance, given the 1803 powerful and evocative bravery displayed by 75 enslaved Igbos, who, rather than submit to enslavement, rose in defiance to overpower their enslavers and opted to walk back to their Igbo homeland.
According to a statement released by Chief Mathias Mgbeafulu, the CISA Publicity & Media Director, this year’s festival is meant to commemorate 223 years of this special event as well as provide for Ndi-Igbo an opportunity to commune and re-establish relationships with the Gullah Geechee descendants of Igbo Landing survivors that now populate the communities in the region.
CISA Igbo World Festival has become another milestone in Igbo reconnections with their kith and kins across the Atlantic. It is known for its vibrant, fun-filled indoor and field activities that parade the beauty of Igbo cultural heritage, and which display to the world the peculiarities of Ndigbo, their roots, culture, and cross-continental influences across the Americas.
All lovers of culture are invited to experience unique and fabulous cultural exhibitions of Ndigbo outside Nigeria.
The fiesta features intellectual presentations, artistic display, thrilling cultural dances, masquerades, Igbo cuisine, exquisite Igbo fashions, and many others. The reconnection and naming ceremony, which remains one of the most emotional highlights of the festival, will take its pride of place. The reconnection is a ritual in which African Americans, who traced their ancestry to Igbo communities in Nigeria (through DNA testing) and have chosen to reclaim Igbo roots, are cleansed, take Igbo names, and re-connect with their Igbo siblings and their Igbo homeland.
The festival’s Royal Father, His Majesty, Eze Chukwuemeka Eri, Eze Eri, the 34th, and the team of custodians of traditional institutions have arrived from Nigeria for the event. CISA is happy to welcome them all, including delegations from London, South Africa, and the Caribbean.
The group’s Njeje TV has also arrived to stream the festival live for the world.
CISA President, Dr. Josephine Aguoji, Chair Board of Presidents, Abagana Regent, Onowu Dr. Nwachukwu Anakwenze, and the Festival Planning Chair, Mazi Emeka Nwosu, have all reaffirmed the readiness of the CISA to make this year’s festival very phenomenal.
The moderator of the event is Dr. Charles Onyirimba, an eminent Attorney based in the USA and a star politician in Imo State.
