CONVIVIALITY AND FRATERNITY IN IKPIYUWAN FESTIVAL OF UGBOSHI-AFE IN EDO STATE, NIGERIAN

Abstract

African traditional festivals serve as crucial mechanisms for social cohesion and cultural preservation. This study examines the Ikpiyuwan Festival of Ugboshi-Afe in Akoko Edo, Nigeria, focusing on how its age-grade system, communal practices, and ritual performances foster conviviality and fraternity. Using ethnographic methods including participant observation, oral interviews and archival research conducted between 2022-2023, the study documents the festival's seven-year cycle, hierarchical age-grade structure, and associated communal feasting practices. Findings reveal that while the festival historically reinforced social bonds through shared meals, masquerade performances, and collective rituals, it faces extinction due to the influence of Christianity, rural-urban migration, and the decline of subsistence agriculture. The study argues that deritualizing certain practices while preserving the festival's social and aesthetic dimensions could reconcile indigenous traditions with contemporary religious sensibilities. Recommendations include digital documentation, government sponsorship, tourism development and strategic adaptation of festival elements. This research contributes to scholarship on African cultural preservation by demonstrating how traditional festivals can be reimagined to maintain their communal essence while addressing modern challenges.