Custom · Pre-colonial origin, 2019 edition · Fact and tradition
No matching image yet, so this page uses a plain title card instead of a photo.
Every ten, fifteen or twenty years, Ukpor parades its biggest cows to remember a war against Nnewi's forced labour. In 2019 the churches told their members to stay home.
Most festivals come round every year. Igba Asara in Ukpor, in Nnewi South, comes round every ten, fifteen or even twenty years. Some people only see it two or three times in their life. Chief Emmanuel Nwachukwu, President General of the Ukpor Improvement Union, called it the greatest cultural festival the community has. Speaking to journalists at his home in Umuhu Ukpor in April 2019, he went back to where it started, which was a war.
The way he told it, the king of Nnewi had a habit that the towns around him hated. He made young men and women from neighbouring communities set aside particular days to come and work for him. They had to bring their own food and their own water, because the king provided nothing. He didn't pay them or feed them, and he never thanked them.
Then Ukpor got a new king, and the new king decided it had to stop. He issued an order banning the practice. The king of Nnewi took that as rebellion and declared war on the neighbouring communities that had stopped working for him. Ukpor was the closest, so the fighting started there.
But Ukpor was ready. It had already joined up and planned with the nine villages known together as Ekweteghete, the villages that had been made to do the unpaid work. The conflict became known as Ogu Agbaja, the War of Agbaja, and Ukpor won it. Nwachukwu said they killed Metuh, the greatest and most feared warrior Nnewi had.
After the victory, Ukpor's king, Eze Obiukwu, killed a cow for his people and called for a celebration. That might have been the end of it, except the other villages that had shared in the win wouldn't be outdone. In Nwachukwu's words, they "hit their chests" and said they'd bring cows of their own.
So the cows came. They were looked over and led round the village square so that everyone could see which village had brought the biggest. After that they were slaughtered, and everyone ate. The celebration was called Asara. Nwachukwu said the word comes from saraka, which means merriment. That's the heart of the festival even now: a feast, and a bit of showing off about the size of your animal.
The date isn't picked at random. By tradition, the person who proclaims Asara is a titled man called the Dara, one of the Dara ozo title holders, who acts as a kind of spokesman. In 2019 it was Basil Agusi, known as Dara Nwakobe, head of the Dara ozo titleholders. Once a date has been proclaimed, Ukpor says, it can't be moved. That rule caused trouble in 2019. The festival was set for 22 to 27 April, which fell in the week after Easter, and some people wanted it shifted.
Most of the argument over Asara has to do with a woman. Udo was from Alor and married Eze Obiukwu. After she died she was deified as Udo Ukpor, because of what Nwachukwu called her great exploits and bravery. A lot of people believe the festival is held in her honour. Nwachukwu said that's wrong. Asara, he said, "had far begun" before Udo ever arrived from Alor, and today it isn't done for any idol at all.
The Catholic priest in the town didn't accept that. Rev. Fr. Johnbosco, parish priest of St. Mary's in Ukpor Centre, warned that any Catholic caught taking part in 2019 would be dealt with. That was an order from the Bishop of Nnewi, Hillary Okeke. The priest gave three reasons. He said the festival honoured the Udo Ukpor deity. It fell in the Easter octave, and the town wouldn't move it. And it had been proclaimed by someone who wasn't a Christian. The Anglican and Pentecostal churches had already said they would stay out.
Nwachukwu answered each point. The man who proclaimed it, he said, was a well-known Christian. Other events could go ahead that week and would simply count as part of Asara. There would be an inter-denominational service before it started. He also said the town had been cleaning the festival up since 1985, getting rid of the old religious parts one by one. The biggest change is about the cows. People used to take them to a shrine to be blessed. Now they're asked to take them to church so a priest can bless them.
Even so, he admitted, the arguments come back every single time. He said Ukpor respects its priests, so the bishop's ban was a real threat. The bishop had promised to lift it once the town's Catholics told him the matter was settled, and Nwachukwu said the talks would continue until it was. In the meantime, the festival would go ahead.
