Why Anam People are Passionate About Nzire-Ani Festival – Chief Engr. Nnaemeka

Chief Engr. Chukwuemeka Nnaemeka, Isietienyi II, a historian hails from Umuava Village in Umueze Anam, Anambra West Local Government Area of Anambra State. Nnaemeka is the Chairman of Umuava Village and the Anam People’s Assembly, Awka branch. He was a former Youth Leader of Umueze Anam and the President of the Anam Youth Organization. In this exclusive Interview with Anambra Daily’s Olisemeka Obeche, he provides a historical perspective on the Nzire-Ani-Anam festival and other associated events.  

What is Nzire-Ani Festival and why is it so significant for Anam People?

Nzire Ani is a festival celebrated by Anam people who are predominant settlers in Anambra West and bank of Anambra East Local Government Areas of Anambra State, South East geopolitical region of Nigeria. Anam is made up of eight autonomous communities, Umueze Anam, Miata Anam, Umuoba Anam, Iyiora Anam, Umudiora Anam, Oroma Etiti, Umuikwu Anam, and Umuenwelum Anam. One significant thing about us is that all the eight communities that makeup Anam migrated from different areas in and around Anambra State and Kogi State. They were attracted to the peninsula by fertile soil for agriculture, fish farming, and hunting expeditions. The progenitors of the eight communities decided to settle together and formed a clan called Anam. In other words, they came together out of their own volition to live together, work together, and prosper together.

That must have been a bizarre alliance by people from different walks of life in those days. How did they ensure the sustenance of peace, unity, and brotherly bond?

Well, that was also another interesting part of Anam’s history and something many have not appreciated to date. History has it that the progenitors, in other to ensure that they were bonded together on a sustainable basis and that they protected one another from any unforeseen circumstances decided to make a covenant that would bind them together through blood sacrifice. They took an oath of loyalty, unity, and fair play amongst themselves and sealed it with blood at a location known today as Ani Anam at the present Umueze Anam.

The reason for the Ani Anam deity which emanated from that covenant was to act as final arbiter in any of their dealings. Naturally, negative things like crime started creeping up amongst the early settlers as they began to steal amongst themselves, kill their fellow brothers, covet their neighbors’ properties and wives, etc. So, the Ani Anam, provisional laws are almost similar to that of the biblical Ten Commandments helped to preserve their covenant.

Some of the provisions of the Ani-Anam commandments are; Ani Anam akodi onye eme ive ma ive emie which means Ani Anam is a great judge who does not convict an innocent one. No Anam man should steal. No Anam man should kill a fellow Anam man, Defaulter shall die by hanging (iro). No Anam man should take by force a fellow Anam man’s wife. No Anam man shall poison his brother or harm him in any way. Ani Anam was made a deity and the Priest who must be a descent of Umueze Anam (being the eldest and the person who donated the object of sacrifice) shall be in charge of it.

So, what do these have to do with the Nzire Ani festival?

Anam being a riverine area is always totally submerged by flood during the rainy season and during that time the Ani Anam priest, after performing rituals, usually takes the deity and keeps it on top of an ant hill (Nkpu or Okpulukpu) to save it from flooding. After the flood had receded, the priest then performed a certain ritual to bring down the deity and after it was done the event was marked with celebration and festivity that we called Nzire-Ani, meaning that the Ani deity had been returned to its place on dry land. It’s important to note that this period usually marks the commencement of the new planting season and the Priest at this point, offers special prayers to the earth goddess for the fertility of the land and so will every head of the household offer sacrifice for prosperity of the respective families.

After the flood had receded, the priest then performed a certain ritual to bring down the deity and after it was done the event was marked with celebration and festivity that we called Nzire-Ani

Then, the second part of the Nzire Ani celebration has to do with the landmark victory achieved by the Anam people in those early days against Atlantis Slave Trade raiders. History has it that the Anam people fought two major wars between the 18th and 19th Centuries. The first was with Edda (Adah) people, slave hunters from Abiriba or Arochukwu in present-day Abia State. They used to come to the Omambala area on their hunting expedition for people they would sell into slavery in those days. Unfortunately, and fortunately for our people, when they tried to cross the river to raid Anam villages, our people fought them and against all odds, recorded a decisive victory against them. But it was not a mean feat, because those slave raiders were well armed and usually employed sophisticated tactics in warfare that hardly left opponents any chance of victory.

But when they faced Anam people, it was a different ball game entirely. Anam people came up with a battle plan that took them completely unawares. First, Anam warriors lured them into the crossing and when they reached the middle of Omambala River, charged at them and capsized their boats. Since they were not good swimmers unlike our people that have mastered the river, the clash in the middle of the river gave us a great advantage as our men massacred them with crude weapons like clubs and hurled stones. The majority of them drowned in the river.

And this gave rise to the popular saying “Adah si Anam kwalive nye mmili” (Adah told Anam to pay homage to the river). This is the reason why Anam has Adah Masquerade performed early morning of Nzire Ani day and when the masquerade which represents Anam warriors gets to Omambala River they usually hurl stones into the river as a commemoration of the decisive blow that led to the defeat of Adah warriors during the war.

The second war Anam people fought was with the Aboh warriors. After the Adah war, the Portuguese engaged the Aboh warriors to travel to the riverine communities to poach for slaves. History has it that this band of slave raiders was commanded by a Prince of Aboh named, Enebeli. His vehicle (boat) was usually armed with Ogbondu (Canon), arguably the most dreaded weapon at the time. Armed with this fearsome firepower which when fired with its strange loud boom heard far away, people became terrified and fled enabling the Aboh slave hunters to cart away young men who would be eventually sold into slavery. So, as they began to raid Anam, our people first decided to approach Enebeli for an understanding and settlement to avert bloodshed. As a result of this plan, they selected seven able-bodied men from the eight communities in Anam for the trip to Aboh to negotiate with Enebeli. Incidentally, the seven men sent on the emissary didn’t travel to Aboh as planned. Instead, they took a detour, settled at Ogbaru, and founded known today as Umunnankwo (formally known as Anamnankwo).

So, when these men didn’t return from the trip, Anam people then decided to engage a native doctor who prepared a charm for them to use and defeat Enebeli. The native doctor told them that the charm needed to be carried into Aboh’s slave boat but that whoever carried it must die and that his head must return to Anam. And a man known as Iwo from Umueze Anam volunteered to carry the charm while his brother Amah volunteered to bring back his head so two brothers from Umuebendu village in Umueze Anam undertook to save Anam and they successfully carried out their task while Obalichi from Umuoba Anam led the Anam warriors that defeated and killed Enebeli thereby putting to an end the slave poaching in Anam. This is why Umueze Anam and Umuoba Anam are always at the forefront of the celebration of this festival.

Can you take us through the essential features of this festival?

Sure! Nzire Ani starts with the Chief Priest of Ani or its representative performing the ritual of bringing down the Ani deity and this happens immediately after the flood recedes which is always by the middle of November. The Nzire Ani festival ought to have been done immediately but for convenience, the celebration is done on the last Eke day preceding Christmas but if it falls on the 24th of December it will be pushed back to the previous Eke market day.

Originally, the celebration started with the Otiekwe Ada which starts the announcement a month before the festival. The Otiekwe Adah is a representation of the man who mounts as a sentry watching out for the advancement of the Ada slave hunters in those ancient days. What he does was that whenever he noticed that they were coming towards the community he beat his wooden gong (ekwe) to alert the Anam warriors to quickly gather and confront the Ada warriors. Today the Otiekwe is represented by a masquerade that starts a month ahead to announce that Nzire Ani is approaching and the children will be singing along with him.

On the Nkwo day preceding the Nzire Ani day, the Akpali masquerade which is said to be the spirit of the tidal wave will perform all night and it uses its strength to take all boats to the upland. This Akpali masquerade is said to represent the tidal wave that destroyed the boats of the Ada people thereby drowning them in the river. During the Night every light in the village is taken out and no female or children shall be seen outside.

During the Nzire Ani day proper, the first program is the Adah Masquerade performance then followed by Ijo Nzire Ani where the community youths use the opportunity to expose all the ills committed by any member of the town. The aim is to stop the proliferation of crimes as people will be ashamed to be exposed.  It is expected that every male head of family shall appease their chi and pray for a bountiful harvest during the next farming season.

After the Ijo (carnival procession), masquerades (Otimkpala) will take over the community, whipping whoever obstructs their way. Before the masquerades start, they will first visit the eldest man of the community and whip him on the leg. This is like taking permission from him to whip. Towards evening, the spirits represented by the masquerade will engage mortals in a fight called Ikpa ege, and the winner is given a prize.

After the Ikpa ege comes the Owakwa masquerade whose job it is to chase away the small masquerades Otimkpala and Opoto Iyi masquerade will torment Owakwa by trying to snatch the fowl hanged at the back of the Owakwa masquerade. If the Opoto Iyi succeeds they will go home with the fowl. After the Owakwa masquerade comes the Odumodu masquerade which normally comes out at night. The Odumodu masquerade has magical powers that make it appear and disappear. The Odumodu visits the elders and he is given tubers of yam fowl. The Odumodu masquerade represents the great warriors of Anam. The outing of Odumodu marks the end of Nzire Ani festivities.

To this new generation of Anam people, what do these festivals connote?

Well, it is a festival that every well-meaning Anam person should identify and be proud of because it is an important historical event that brought us to this world. There would not have been anything called Anam in this form today, if not for those decisive wars and victories. So, during Nzire Ani, Anam people celebrate this victory too.  Ndi Anam takes this celebration very seriously as it marks their salvation from both flood and external aggressions of Adah and Aboh people. It is the highest celebration in Anam.

Most people, especially born-again Christians consider this kind of festival fetish or against their faith. What is your take on this?

Well, I’m a Christian but I celebrate it without any involvement in fetish activity. It is painful that the advent of Christianity in Anam made Anam lose their cultural practices thereby destroying what bound us together today Anam fights within themselves and there is so much disunity amongst ndi Anam today. All crimes alien to Ndi Anam are now rearing their ugly heads in Anam. We have a rich cultural heritage which must be preserved. Anam people need to reinvent the wheel of progress.

It is painful that the advent of Christianity in Anam made Anam lose their cultural practices thereby destroying what bound us together today Anam fights within themselves and there is so much disunity amongst ndi Anam today