Nsukka - Events

Events

According to Benjamin Chinweike Ezema (now called Ezemmah) Nsukka is a town that is made up of three prominent communities; the Nkpunanor community, the Ihe n'Owerre community and the Nru community. Oral history about Nsukka Town has it that it has a very close tie with three other neighbouring towns ; Obukpa, Okpuje and Eha as they are said to have common ancestral origin. The first three - Nsukka, Obukpa and Okpuje are siblings of Asadu Ideke Alumona while the last - Eha is a relation to the earlier three. The town is therefore called 'Eha-Alumona'. Nsukka town has very ancient culture and tradition which is almost lost in antiquity due to the late awakening of the indigenes to the relevance and necessity of the pursuit of intellectual erudition and research. Each of these communities is composed of many other small villages and clans.

There are a number of festivals celebrated in Nsukka by the Nsukka people, such as the Omabe Masquerade Festival; the Onwa Eto, or Onwa Ito (the 3rd moon) Festival, which is characterized by the slaughtering of several fowls in each household for each child in the household and in memory of deceased family members; the Onwa Ise (the 5th moon Festival - which is also known as the moon that marks the beginning of the harvesting of yams (some people call it the New Yam Festival); Onwa Esa'a (the 7th moon Festival); the Onunu Festival which is characterized by the going to 'Nkwo' market Arena (where the 'Oromme' Dance, traditional wrestling, etc., was performed); The Onwa Esa'a (the 7th Moon Festival) was noted as the period for the commencement of the eating of the dried cocoyam (Echicha). Of the numerous festivals by which Nsukka was known, only the Omaba festival is still being celebrated in the town.