Basic Igbo Language Foundation Class

Igbo English

Ede cocoyam

Ede esiri esi. Cooked cocoyam

Chidimma na-eri ede esiri esi Chidimma is eating cooked cocoyam
🖊️

Isi kote ebu, ọ gbaa ya.

🖊️

Borrowed words(okwu mbite)

Borrowed words or loanwords are words adopted by the speaker of one language from a different language. A loanwords can also be words, at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language, through the process of borrowing.
This can happen due to civilization, innovation, technology etc. No language can stand in isolation without borrowing words. It helps a language to be updated with the present development. Borrowing is a tool of enriching one's language.
Words borrowed can be given another name base on their color, shape, sounds the make, their functions or written the same way they where borrowed.
In igbo language, we can 'Igbonize' a word by writing/spelling it the way the word is being pronounced.
eg: Ball - Bọlụ
Table - Tebụlụ
Pump - pọmpụ
Gas - gasị
Wire- waya etc.
🖊️

IRI JI NDỊ IGBO(NEW YAM FESTIVAL)

The New Yam Festival of the Igbo people (known as, Iwa ji, Iri ji, Ike ji, dgz depending on dialect) is an annual cultural festival by the Igbo people that is held at the end of the rainy season in August.

Igbos in diaspora also celebrate theirs with family and friends. This festival is practiced throughout West Africa (especially in Nigeria and Ghana) and other African countries and beyond.It symbolizes the conclusion of a harvest and the beginning of the next work cycle. The celebration is a cultural occasion tying individual Igbo communities together as essentially agrarian and dependent on yam.

Yams are among the first set of crops to be planted at the beginning of the planting season. Between April and August, early crops such as maize, grandnut, cocoyam, pumpkins and others are harvested and eaten without fanfare. The New Yam Festival is, therefore, a celebration depicting the prominence of yam in the social-cultural life of the Igbo people. In some Igbo communities, all old yams (from the previous year's crop) must be consumed or send to the yam ban(Ọba ji) before the eve of the New Yam Festival].The next day, only dishes of yam are served at the feast, as the festival is symbolic of the abundance of the produce.

Though the style and methods may differ from one community to the next, the essential components that make up the festival remain the same. In some communities, the celebration lasts a whole day, while in many places it may last a week or more. These festivities normally include a variety of entertainments and ceremonies, including the performance of rites by the Eze /Igwe (King), or the eldest man, and cultural dances by Igbo men, women, and their children. The festival features Igbo cultural activities in the form of contemporary shows, masquerade dances by the men, women and Children of the community.

The ritual is performed either by the oldest man in the community or by the king or eminent titleholder.This man also offers the yams to God(CHUKWU OKIKE ) by showing gratitude to the supreme GOD for his protection and kindness in leading them from lean periods to the time of bountiful harvest without deaths resulting from hunger.] After the prayer of thanksgiving to GOD, they eat the first yam. The rituals are meant to express the gratitude of the community to God for making the harvest possible.

The day is symbolic of enjoyment after the cultivation season, and the plenty is shared with friends and well-wishers. A variety of festivities mark the eating of new yam. Folk dances, masquerades, parades, and parties create an experience that some participants characterize as "art"; the colorful festival is a spectacle of exhibited joy, thanks, and community display.

The yam used for the main ritual at the festival is usually roasted and served with palm oil (mmanụ nri).
This event is important in the calendar of Igbo people all over the world.
🖊️

Eburu pụta ụwa nyịrị Dibịa ọgwụgwọ.
🖊️

IGBO BELIEVES IN AKWỤ OJUKWU

AKWỤ OJUKWU is a specie of palm fruit known for its unique orange and green color all over its body, that explains the proverb of our people which says that "no palm fruit can ripe like AKWỤ Ojukwu", any palm fruit that attempts to ripe like Ojukwu will have a rotten mouth. It's gotten from a rare African oil palm tree.

AKWỤ OJUKWU which stands for defense is valued by the Igbos for it's spiritual powers, it is believed to have healing and protection power too..

The AKWỤ OJUKWU is surrounded by a sacredness that a plot of land where it is can never be sold, likewise it is a taboo to buy a plot of land with AKWỤ OJUKWU tree, and it is said that it doesn’t grow in a land that is in dispute/contention. The palm tree is said to be so special, that you can’t stand under her to point to another AKWỤ OJUKWU palm tree. It’s very scarce.

In Igbo land, a widow does not pick the nut with mourning cloth.

The akwụ Ojukwu has so many life-saving abilities marking it's uniqueness, some of them include:

1. Charm neutralizing: If you suspect or physically saw a charm on your premise, simply get some Akwụ Ojukwu, squeeze out the juice with water, and spread them on the charm or around your surroundings. It destroys it completely.

2. Repels Evil Attack: Put one fruit of this wonderful palm fruit in your pocket or bag to resist evil attacks.

3. Keep Evil Forces Away: Throw some fruits around your compound and at the entrance to scare witches and wizards away.

4. The palm kernel oil is used to prevent and cure convulsion in children.

5. The palm kernel oil is used to cure chronic cough.

6. It neutralizes poison by drinking the palm oil.

7. When you step on charm or poison, apply the Akwu Ojukwu oil on the affected leg and experienced healings.

8. One can apply the oil when suspected that you match poison/charm.

9. The palm kernel oil nourish the skin when used as cream ( especially the children)

10. The smoke of the kernel when burnned also prevent and scare away evil attack.

🖋

Ajọ nwaanyị bụ ọrịa.
🖊️

Ichekiriche n'enweghị elu, mgbada n'enwe okpuru ụzọ.
🖊️

Onye nwere ndidi n'eri azụ ọkpọọ.
🖊️

Ọnwụ amaghị D**e.
🖊️

Ihe m efule, onye àmà agbaralam.
🖊️

Mkpịsị aka aghaghị otu.
🖊️