WikiPortallus: Igbo.html

Igbo people eeg•bo (sometimes referred to as the Ibo, Eboe,⁶ Ebo,⁷ Eboans⁸ or Heebo)⁹ (Igbo: Ndi Igbo) are an ethnic group in Africa numbering in the tens of millions. Most Igbo people live in southeastern Nigeria,¹⁰ where they are one of the larger ethnic groups. Igbo people can be found in significant numbers in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. Lesser populations live in other African countries as well as in nations outside of Africa due to migration and to the effects of the Atlantic slave trade. Their exact numbers out of Africa are unknown. They speak the Igbo language, which includes hundreds of different dialects and Igboid languages. In rural areas, the Igbo are mostly farmers.¹¹

Politically, the Igbo are a fragmented group. There are various subgroups which are set according to clan, lineage, village affiliation and dialect. There is no centralized chieftaincy, hereditary aristocracy, or kingship customs, as can be found among neighboring ethnic groups. Traditionally, the responsibility of leadership is left to the village elders, titled men, and men who have established themselves in the community.¹²

The Igbo people are well known for their involvement in the Nigerian-Biafran war. The Igbo were the main group calling for secession and recognition of the Republic of Biafra out of Nigeria. The war saw the devastation of Igboland in the late 60s and early 70s along with a massacre of close to a million Igbo people along with closely related ethnic groups such as the Efik/Ibibio people.¹³

Identity

The Igbo identity is hard to define as they are a heavily fragmented ethnic group, living in localized communities.¹⁴ Before knowledge of Europeans and the full exposure to other ethnic groups neighbouring them, the Igbo had not had this strong Igbo identity, but instead each community was independent, usually governed by elders. Alexander X. Byrd argues, upon engaging in a close textual reading of Olaudah Equiano's narrative (1789), that the Igbo identity has its origins in slavery, emerging in the "Holding patterns" of coastal towns of West Africa.¹⁵

Like almost every ethnic group in "sub-saharan Africa", the British and fellow Europeans had identified the Igbo as a tribe.¹⁶¹⁷ Chinua Achebe, among other scholars, have challenged the idea of the Igbo being a tribe, suggesting it has negative connotations. The suggestion is that the Igbo should be considered a nation similar to the Cherokee or Japanese, although the Igbo do not have an official recognized state of their own.¹⁶

Etymology

There are several theories regarding the etymology of the word Igbo (wrongly spelled Ibo by colonialists). It is presumed that the word has Sudanic origin, derived from the verb gboo.¹⁸ Theorists have suggested that the word may originate from the neighboring Igala, coming from the word onigbo (a word for slave),¹⁸ but the meaning and origin of the word is still generally unclear.

Igbo had been spelled Ibo until the 20th century by British colonialist. Ibo can still be found being used to refer to the Igbo. Officially, Igbo is the correct spelling and has been used in many different publications such as in the novel Things Fall Apart. The word now has three uses, to describe indigenous Igbo territory, domestic speakers of the language and the language spoken by them.¹⁹

History

Origin

According to several sources, Igbo people evolved over a long period of 4000 BC to 500 AD in Igboland through waves of migrations.²¹ There is evidence that the ancestors of the Igbo people and most of their neighbors were the proto-Kwa group. This ancient group came from the African Great Lakes and Mountains of the moon of East/Central Africa and settled at the old Sahara grasslands.²²²³ It was the desertification of the Sahara that forced some of the Kwa people to migrate further down to the north of the Niger Benue confluence and founded Nok. Elements of the Kwa people migrated South of the Niger Benue confluence and later became the Igala, Idoma, Yoruba, Igbo, and possibly the Tiv peoples. The Kwa people's first area of settlement in Igboland was the Nsukka-Afikpo-Awka-Orlu uplands over a 5000 year period. Elements from the Orlu area migrated south, east, and northeast while elements from the Awka area migrated westwards across the Niger river. The Igbo also share linguistic ties with the the Bini, Igala, Yoruba, and Idoma.²⁴

Alternative view of origin

The Nri-Igbo believe that the Igbo are one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, although the Igbo people have not been officially acknowledged by Israel or the Jewish community.²⁵²⁶

Nri Enweleana (the present Eze Nri) has said that the Igbo are descendant's of Jewish Egyptians who had fled Egypt to come to their present settlement, their head being the Nri Kingdom's progenitor, Eri.²⁷²⁸ Eri's children had been said, by Nri Enweleana, to have met a group of people who they called "Igbo bush people". Eri's children had been said to have come with their culture, language and monarchy, assimilating the Igbo to the fullest extent.²⁹

Nri Kingdom

The city of Nri is considered to be the foundation of Igbo culture.³⁰ Nri and Aguleri, where the Igbo creation myth originates, are in the territory of the Umeuri clan, who trace their lineages back to the patriarchal king-figure, Eri.³¹ Eri's origins are unclear, though he has been described as a "sky being"³² sent by Chukwu (God).³³ He has been characterized as having first given societal order to the people of Anambra.³³

Archaeological evidence suggests that Nri hegemony in Igboland may go back as far as the 9th century,³⁴ and royal burials have been unearthed dating to at least the 10th century. Eri, the god-like founder of Nri, is believed to have settled the region around 948 with other related Igbo cultures following after in the 13th century.³⁵ The first Eze Nri (King of Nri), Ìfikuánim, follow directly after him. According to Igbo oral tradition, his reign started in 1043.³⁶ At least one historian puts Ìfikuánim's reign much later, around 1225 AD.³⁷

The Kingdom of Nri was a religio-polity, a sort of theocratic state, that developed in the central heartland of the Igbo region.³⁸ The Nri had a taboo symbolic code with six types. These included human (such as twins), animal, object, temporal, behavioral, speech and place taboos. The rules regarding these taboos were used to educate and govern Nri's subjects. This meant that, while certain Igbo may have lived under different formal administration, all followers of the Igbo religion had to abide by the rules of the faith and obey its representative on earth, the Eze Nri.³⁹

Traditional Igbo society

Traditional Igbo political organization was based on a quasi-democratic republican system of government that guaranteed equality of the citizenry as against a feudalist "dictator king" in tight knit communities as witnessed by the Portuguese who first arrived and met with the Igbo people in the 15th century.¹⁰ With the exception of a few Notable towns of the Igbo like Onitsha, which had kings called Obi, and places like the Nri Kingdom and Arochukwu, which had priest kings such as Eze Nri; Igbo communities and area governments were overwhelmingly ruled solely by a republican consultative assembly of the common people.⁴⁰ Communities were usually governed and administered by a council of elders and the group's leader was determined by who was the eldest.⁴¹

Although title holders were respected because of their accomplishments and capabilities, they were never revered as kings, but often performed special functions given to them by such assemblies. This way of governing was immensely different from most other communities of Western Africa, and only shared by the Ewe of Ghana. Igbo secret societies (namely the Okonko fraternity) have a ceremonial script called Nsibidi.⁴² The Igbo have an indigenous ancient calendar in which a week has four days, a month consisted of seven weeks and thirteen months made a year. In the last month, an extra day was added. This calendar is still in use in villages and towns to determine the market days.

The Igbo people have a form of mathematics called Mkpisi and Okwe used for counting, measurements and a form of an ancient strategic Igbo game called "Okew". The Igbo have had a banking system for saving and loans called Isusu which is still in use today. They settled law matters via mediators.⁴³ The Igbo produced bronzes from as early as the 9th century. Some of these bronzes have been found at the town of Igbo Ukwu, Anambra state.⁴⁴

The Niger coast acted as a contact point between African and European traders from the years 1434-1807. This contact between the Africans and Europeans began with the Portuguese, then the Dutch and finally the British.¹⁹

Transatlantic slave trade

The transatlantic slave trade which took place between the 16th and late 19th century affected the Igbo heavily. The Bight of Biafra (also known as the Bight of Bonny)⁴⁶ was the area where most Igbo were taken from. Major trade ports for goods and slaves in the area included Bonny and Calabar town. The Bight of Biafra included modern day southeastern Nigeria, Western Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and parts of Northern Gabon,⁴⁷ but a large amount of slaves from the Bight of Biafra would have been Igbo.⁴⁸⁴⁹ Slaves were usually stolen from the shore or were sold by fellow Africans to European slave traders to be taken to the Americas and Europe. African slave traders were more experienced with the areas and would be used by Europeans to obtain people from the mainland.⁵⁰ The Bight of Biafra was the third area where the most slaves where gotten from with 14.6% from the year 1650 to 1900.⁵¹ Igbo slaves were known for being rebellious, having a high count of suicide in defiance of slavery.⁵²⁵³⁵⁴

Contrary to belief, European slave traders were fairly informed about various African ethnic groups, this led to slavers targeting certain ethnic groups which plantation owners preferred. Ethnic groups consequently became fairly saturated in certain parts of the Americas.⁵⁵ The Igbo where dispersed to colonies such as Jamaica,⁵⁶ Cuba,⁵⁷ Haiti,⁵⁸ Barbados,⁵⁹ United States,⁶⁰ Belize,⁶¹ Trinidad and Tobago⁶² among others. Elements of Igbo culture can still be found in these places. For example, in Jamaican Patois the Igbo word unu, meaning you plural, is still used⁶³ as well as the term red Ibo (or red eboe) which describes a fair skinned black person,⁶⁶⁴ because of the prevalence of fair skin among the Igbo. The word Bim, a name for Barbados, was commonly used by enslaved Barbadians (Bajans). This word is said to derive from the Igbo language, derived from bi mu (or either bem, Ndi bem, Nwanyi ibem or Nwoke ibem) (English: My people),⁶⁵⁶⁶ but it may have other origins (see: Barbados etymology).

In the United Sates the Igbo were found common in the state of Maryland (ironically, recent immigrants still are)⁶⁷ and Virginia,⁶⁸ with a total of 37,000 Africans that arrived in Virginia from Calabar in the 1700s, 30,000 were Igbo.⁶⁹

Colonial period

The arrival of the British in the 1870s and increased encounters between the Igbo and other Nigerians led to a deepening sense of a distinct Igbo ethnic identity. The Igbo proved remarkably decisive and enthusiastic in their embrace of Christianity and Western education.⁷⁰ Due to the incompatibility of the Igbo decentralized style of government and the centralized system required for British indirect rule, British colonial rule was marked with few conflicts and much tension. ⁷¹ Under British colonial rule, the diversity within each of Nigeria's major ethnic groups slowly decreased and distinctions between the Igbo and other large ethnic groups, such as the Hausa and the Yoruba became sharper.⁷²⁷³

Colonial rule drastically transformed Igbo society as seen in Things Fall Apart. British rule brought about changes in culture, such as the introduction of Warrant chiefs as Eze (traditional rulers) where there had been no such monarchies. Christianity had played a great part in the infiltration of foreign ideology into Igbo society and culture, sometimes shunning parts of the culture, such as worshiping Alusi.⁷⁴ The rumours that the Igbo women were being assessed for taxation, sparked off the 1929 Igbo Women's War in Aba (also known as the 1929 Aba Riots), a massive revolt of women never encountered before in Igbo history.¹⁰

Living conditions also changed from houses having being built out of mud walls and thatched roofs to houses being built with cement blocks and zinc roofs. Roads for cars were built. Buildings such as hospitals and schools were also erected in many parts of Igboland. Along with these new buildings came electricity and running water. Electricity brought new devices such as radios and televisions which are now common place in most Igbo households.

Nigerian-Biafran War

There had been killings of the Igbo and other peoples of Eastern and Central Nigeria living in other parts of the country between 1966 and 1967. There had also been the assassination of the Nigerian military head of state General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi by Northern Nigerian elements in the army⁷⁵ followed by the failure of peace talks between the military government that deposed Ironsi and the regional government of Eastern Nigeria at the Aburi Talks in Ghana in 1967. These events led to a regional council of the peoples of Eastern Nigeria deciding that the region should secede and proclaim the Republic of Biafra. A war, after which the federal government reabsorbed Biafra into Nigeria, stretched from July 6, 1967 until January 14, 1970. Several million Eastern Nigerians, especially Igbo, are believed to have died between the pogroms and the end of the civil war. In their brief struggle for self-determination, the people of Biafra earned the respect of figures such as Jean Paul Sartre and John Lennon, who returned his British honor, MBE, in protest against British collusion in the Nigeria-Biafra war.⁷⁶

In July 2007, former Biafra leader General Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu renewed calls for the secession of the Biafran state as a sovereign entity. He reaffirmed that "the only alternative is a separate existence" and went further to say that "what upsets the Igbo population is we are not equally Nigerian as the others".⁷⁷

Modern Igbo society

After the Nigerian-Biafran War, Igboland was devastated. Many hospitals, schools, and homes had been completely destroyed in the brutal war. In addition to the loss of their savings, many Igbo people found themselves discriminated against by other ethnic groups and the new non-Igbo federal government.⁷⁸ They were even (and somewhat still are) discriminated against by closely related ethnic groups and Igboid groups such as the Ika. This is partly because of the stigma that came with either being or associating with Igbo people. This stigma saw the changing of names of both people and places to non-Igbo sounding words such as the changing of Igbuzo towns name to the Anglicised Ibusa.⁷⁹

Due to the discrimination, many Igbo had trouble finding employment, and the Igbo became one of the poorest ethnic groups in Nigeria during the early 1970s. Igboland was gradually rebuilt over a period of twenty years and the economy was again prospering due to the rise of the petroleum industry in the adjacent Niger Delta region. This led to new factories being set up in southern Nigeria. Many Igbo people eventually took government positions.⁸⁰⁸¹ Even though this happened, a vast majority were engaged in private business and constituted and still constitute the bulk of Nigerian informal economy. Recently, there has been a wave of Igbo immigration to other African countries, Europe, and the Americas.⁸²

Culture

Igbo culture includes the various customs, practices and traditions of the Igbo people. It comprises archaic practices as well as new concepts added into the Igbo culture either by evolution or by outside influence. These customs and traditions include the Igbo people's visual art, music and dance forms, as well as their attire, cuisine and language dialects. Because of their various subgroups, the variety of their culture is heightened further.

Language and literature

The Igbo language was used by John Goldsmith as an example to justify deviating from the classical linear model of phonology as laid out in The Sound Pattern of English. It is written in the Roman script and the Nsibidi formalized pictograms which is used by the Ekpe society and Okonko fraternity. Nsibidi is not used widely.⁴² These pictograms existed among the Igbo before the 1500s, but died out after it became popular amongst secret societies, these secret societies then made Nsibidi a secret form of communication.⁸³ Igbo is a tonal language, like Yoruba and Chinese. There are hundreds of different dialects and Igboid languages that the Igbo language is comprised of such as Ikwerre and Ekpeye dialects.

In 1789, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano was published in London, England, written by Olaudah Equiano a former slave. The book featured 79 igbo words.⁸⁴ The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano also illustrates various aspects of Igbo life based on Olaudah Equiano's life in his hometown of Issaka.⁸⁵ Although the book was one of the first books published to include Igbo material, Geschichte der Mission der Evangelischen Bruder auf den Carabischen (English: History of the Evangelistic Mission of the Brothers in the Caribbean) published in 1777 was the first book to publish any Igbo words.⁸⁶

In 1939, Dr. Ida C. Ward led a research expedition examining Igbo dialects which could possibly be used as a widely used and accepted literary means. Dr. Ward formed a basis of a growing standard Igbo dialect. This dialect included Owerri and Umuahia areas including the Ohuhu dialect. The dialect was gradually used by missionaries, writers, publishers, and Cambridge University.⁸⁷

Traditionally, stories were told orally, usually under a blue moon, the audiences being children. These stories usually always had a moral to them. These stories would also be accompanied by music and dance and various games such as a clapping game.

Perhaps the most popular and renowned novel that deals with the Igbo and their traditional life was the 1959 book by Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart. The novel concerns influences of British colonialism and Christian missionaries on a traditional Igbo community during an unspecified time in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. The bulk of the novel takes place in Umuofia, one of nine villages on the lower Niger.⁸⁸

Performing arts

The Igbo people have a melodic and symphonic musical style, into which they incorporate various percussion instruments: the udu, which is essentially designed from a clay jug; an ekwe, which is formed from a hollowed log; and the ogene, a hand bell designed from forged iron. Other instruments include opi, a wind instrument similar to the flute, igba, and ichaka.⁸⁹

Another popular musical form among the Igbo is Highlife, which is a fusion of jazz and traditional music and widely popular in West Africa. The modern Igbo Highlife is seen in the works of Dr Sir Warrior, Oliver De Coque, Bright Chimezie, and Chief Osita Osadebe, who are the four greatest Igbo Highlife Musicians of the twentieth century.

Igbo music has undergone some changes in recent times. In the 60s and 70s, High-Life was born.⁹⁰ High-life is a fusion of traditional West African Music and music from Western cultures. It combined fast tempo Hispanic beats and colorful Reggae, with rhythmic West African sounds.⁹⁰ Recently, Nigerian rappers have brought changes to the palates of the Igbo people with the infusion of hip-hop. This music is a cross between American rap beats and Igbo lyrics.

Masking is one of the most common art styles in Igboland and is linked strongly with Igbo traditional music. A mask can be made of wood, fabric along with other materials including iron and vegetation.⁹¹ Masks have a variety of uses, mainly in social satires, religious rituals, secret society initiations (such as the Ekpe society) and public festivals, which now include in Christmas time celebrations.⁹² The Ekpe society, introduced from the Cross River area, uses contrasting masks to represent the beautiful and gentle maiden spirit and the elephant spirit with it's ugliness and aggression. Best known are the Agbogho Mmuo (Igbo: Maiden spirit) masks of the Northern Igbo which represent the spirits of deceased maidens and their mothers with masks symbolizing beauty.⁹¹

Other impressive masks include Northern Igbo ijele masks. At 12 feet high, Ijele masks consist of platforms 6 feet in diameter,⁹¹ supporting figures made of colored cloth and representing everyday scenes with objects such as leopards. Ijele masks are used for honoring the dead to ensure the continuity and well-being of the community and are only seen on rare occasions such as the death of a prominent figure in the community.⁹¹

Visual art and architecture

Igbo art is any body of visual art originating from the people of the Igbo. Igbo art is generally known for various types of masquerade, masks and outfits symbolising people animals or abstract conceptions. Igbo art is known for its bronze castings found in the town of Igbo Ukwu from the 9th century, the earliest sculptures discovered in Igboland. Here, the grave of a well established man of distinction and a ritual store, dating from the 9th century AD, contained both chased copper objects and elaborate castings of leaded bronze.²⁰ Some popular Igbo art styles include Uli designs. The majority of the Igbo carve and use masks, although the function of masks vary from community to community. Igbo art is also famous for Mbari architecture.⁹³

It is near impossible to describe a general Igbo art style because the Igbo are heavily fragmented. This has added to the development of a great variety of art styles and cultural practices.⁹¹

An example of Igbo architecture are the Mbari houses of the Owerri-Igbo which are large open-sided shelters, square in plan. They house many life-sized, painted figures (sculpted in mud to appease the Alusi (deity), Ala, the earth goddess, who is supported by other deities of thunder and water).⁹⁴ Other sculptures are of officials, craftsmen, foreigners (mainly Europeans), animals, legendary creatures and ancestors.⁹⁴ Mbari houses take years to build. Because the process of building is regarded as a sacred act, they are left to decay, new ones being constructed rather than old ones maintained.⁹⁴ Everyday houses were made of mud and thatched roofs with bare earth floors with carved design doors. Some houses had elaborate designs both in the interior and exterior. These designs could include Uli art designed by Igbo women.

Religion and rites of passage

Today, the majority of the Igbo people are Christian and there is a strong Roman Catholic community among them.⁹⁵ There are also a small population of Igbo Jews by religion. The traditional ancient Igbo religion is known as Odinani. In Igbo mythology, which is part of their ancient religion, the supreme God is called Chukwu ("great spirit"); Chukwu created the world and everything in it and is associated with all things on Earth. Chukwu is also a solar deity. To the ancient Igbo, the Cosmos is divided into four complex parts:⁹⁶

Chukwu is the supreme deity in Odinani Chukwu is the creator in their pantheon and the Igbo people believe that all things come from Chukwu.⁹⁷ Chukwu brings the rains necessary for plants to grow. Everything on earth, heaven and the rest of the spiritual world is under the control of Chukwu.⁹⁸ Linguistic studies of the Igbo language suggests the name Chukwu is a portmanteau of the Igbo words: Chi (spiritual being) and Ukwu (great in size).⁹⁹ Alusi, also known as Arusi or Arushi, are minor deities that are worshiped and served in Odinani. There are a list of many different Alusi and each has its own purpose. When there is no longer need for the deity it is discarded.¹⁰⁰

The Igbo also believe in reincarnation. People are believed to reincarnate into families they were part of while alive. Before a relative dies, it is said that the soon to be deceased relative sometimes give clues of who they will reincarnate as in the family. Once a child is born, he or she is believed to also gives signs of who they have reincarnated as. This can be through behavior, physical traits and things that the child says. A diviner can also help in detecting who the child has reincarnated from. It is seen as an insult if a male is said to have reincarnated as a female.¹⁰¹

Children are not allowed to call elders by their names without using an honorific (as this is considered disrespectful) Children are also required to greet elders when as a sign of respect and good upbringing. Children usually add the Igbo honorifics Mazi or De before an elders name when addressing them.¹⁰²

Burials

After a death, the body of a prominent member of society is placed on a stool in a sitting posture and is clothed in the deceased's finest garments. Friends and relatives of the deceased visit and pay their last respects before the body is buried. Burial usually follows within twenty-four hours of death. The head of a home is usually buried beneath the floor of his house.¹⁰² Different types of deaths warrant different types of burials. This is also affected by your age, gender and status in society. For example, children are burried in hiding and out of sight, their burials usually take place in the early mornings and late nights. A simple untitled man is buried in front of his house and a simple mother is buried in her place of origin in a garden or a farm-area that belonged to her father.¹⁰³Presently, a majority of the Igbo bury their dead in the western way, although it is not uncommon for burials to be practiced in the traditional Igbo ways.

Marriage

The process of marrying usually involves asking the young woman's consent, introducing the woman to the mans family and the same for the man to the woman's family, testing the bride's character, checking the woman's family background and paying the brides wealth.¹⁰⁴ Sometimes marriages had been arranged from birth through negotiation of the two families.¹⁰⁵

In the past, many Igbo men practiced polygamy. The polygamous family is made up of a man and his wives and all their children.¹⁰² Men sometimes married multiple wives for economical issues so as to have more people in the family, including children, to help in farms.¹⁰⁶ Christian marriage and civil marriage have changed the Igbo family since colonization. Igbo people now tend to enter monogamous courtships and create nuclear families mainly because of Western influence.¹⁰⁷

Traditional attire

Traditionally, the attire of the Igbo generally consisted of little clothing as the purpose of clothing then was to conceal private parts, although elders were fully clothed.¹⁰⁸ Children were usually nude from birth till their adolescence (the time when they were considered to have something to hide) but sometimes ornaments such as beads were worn around the waist for medical reasons. Uli body art was used to decorate both men and women in the form of lines forming patterns and shapes on the body.

With colonialism and the Westernization of Igbo culture, Western styled clothes such as shirts and trousers over took traditional clothing.¹⁰⁹

Women carried their babies on their backs with a strip of clothing binding the two with a knot at her chest. This baby carrying technique was and still is practiced by many people groups across Africa along with the Igbo who still carry their babies this way. This method has been modernized in the form of the child carrier. In most cases Igbo women did not cover their breast areas. Maidens usually wore a short wrapper with beads around their waist with other ornaments such as necklaces and beads.¹¹⁰ Both men and women wore wrappers.¹⁰⁹

Men would wear loin cloths that wrapped round their waist and between their legs to be fastened at their back, the type of clothing appropriate for the intense heat as well as jobs such as farming.¹⁰⁹ Men could tie a wrapper over their loin cloth.

In the same era as the rise of colonial forces in Nigeria, the way the Igbo dressed also changed. These changes made the Igbo adopt Westernized clothing.¹⁰⁹ Clothing worn before colonialism became 'traditional' and worn on special occasions. Although the Igbo wore them, the 'traditional' clothing itself became westernized with the introduction of various types of Western clothing including shoes, hats, trousers, etc. Modern Igbo traditional attire, for men, is generally made up of the Isiagu top which resembles the Dashiki worn by other African groups. Isiagu (or Ishi agu) is usually patterned with lions heads embroidered over the clothing and can be a plain color. It is worn with trousers and can be worn with either a traditional title holders hat or with the traditional Igbo stripped men's hat. For women, an embodied puffed sleeve blouse (influenced by European attire) along with two wrappers and a head tie are worn.

Cuisine

The yam is very important to the Igbo as it is their staple crop. There are celebrations such as the New yam festival (Igbo: Iwaji) which are held for the harvesting of the yam.¹¹¹ During the festival yam is eaten throughout the communities as celebration. Masquerades also appear during the festival, different styles of masking vary from community to community.

Rice has replaced yam for ceremonial occasions. Other foods include cassava, garri, maize and plantains. Soups or stews are included in a typical meal, prepared with a vegetable (such as Okra, of which the word derives from the Igbo langauge)¹¹² to which pieces of fish, chicken, beef, or goat meat are added. Jollof rice, which has its origins in Sierra Leone, is popular throughout Nigeria. Palm wine is a popular alcoholic beverage among the Igbo.

Demographics

There are a significant amount of Igbo people found in other parts of Nigeria in such places as the cities of Abuja and Lagos.

The official population count of Nigeria has remained controversial as a majority of ethnic groups in Nigeria believe the government deliberately deflates the official population of the various ethnic groups to give other ethnic groups numerical superiority.¹¹⁵ The CIA World Factbook puts the Igbo population between 24 and 25 million.¹¹⁶

Diaspora

Igbo.html

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