The Awankere Festival

Since the 15^th Century, the Okere people have celebrated the Okere Juju, also known as the Awnakere Festival. The Okere people are an Itsekiri tribe from Delta State’s Warri, South Local Government Area in Nigeria.

The Origin of the Awankere Festival 

There are two different versions of the origin of the Awankere Festival. One version posits its origin dates to the later part of the 15^th Century when Ekpen¾the Chief Warrior founder of Okere, introduced it.

A woman named Mogboruko went fishing along the Okere creek near Ajamimogba, and caught a strange object in her fishing basket on three different occasions. Through divination, it was discovered that the object was a symbol of Okiroro, the deity whose life is re-enchanted annually during the Awankere Festival.

The shrine is in Ajamimogba, is the second version of the festival’s origin. However, most Okere people believe in the first version, Ekpen brought from Benin. Awankere is annually celebrated for three lunar months between June and August, except in any year when the more important Eleghe Festival is celebrated. The Eleghe Festival usually incorporates the Awankere and is celebrated every twenty years.

Awankere as a Fertility Festival

The Awankere is a fertility festival. The community is purified, and sacrifices are made to appease and thank the deity for all the blessings of the preceding festival year, before the ceremony’s commencement. The rites are known as Ajafifa (purification of the community), Ibiribi (the spiritual entering of the community), Ode’ gbigba (sweeping the arena) and Awerewere (cleansing ceremony) precedes the main event.

The festival is a convivial communal rite, miming sexual acts, phallic toys, and lewd songs replete with fertility images. In addition, explicitly expressive dance movements, evoke an erogenous empathy between spectators and performers. Men and women simulate sex on each other; it’s the most explicit festival in the Itsekiri kingdom.

Awankere Masquerade

Among the Masquerades, the Oshogw’umale, always attired in resplendent white, is the “Father”, while Okpoye, dressed in a robe made from a sack, is the “Mother”. All other masquerades are the children of the Oshogw’umale and Okpoye and wear costumes of varied colours. A typical Awankere masquerade wears a flowing robe of the local “Agbada” variety to cover the upper body and ties two loin cloths around the waist over white leotards to cover the lower parts.

Imerigo, made from palm fronds, is tied around each ankle. A hat, “Ebo” for the masker’s head, has a long loose raffia threading hanging halfway around its rim. A light black scarf hangs from the front of the Ebo, masking the wearer. All the masquerades, apart from Okpoye carry two specially designed whips called Ukpasha, one in each hand. The Ukpasha produces loud gunshot-like sounds when the masquerades whip it against the ground.

The festival takes place during the rainy season. Thus, masquerades and others splash in the festival to ensure that the environment on land is conducive for the temporary stay of the deity Okiroro, who lives in the waters. The mud splashing in the rains on the people, is a symbolic washing away of evil spells and diseases from their bodies. The festival lasts five weeks, with one performance each week on succeeding days. Like the Egyptian Osiris and Tammus, Okiroro’s festival combines the sacred in its numerous rituals and the profane in its orgiastic dance and lewd songs. Underlying it all, is the Final Ritual Race.

The Festival Celebrations 

Except during the bigger Eleghe celebrations, Awankere is celebrated yearly for three lunar months between June and August. The Eleghe festival, which includes the Awankere Festival is held every twenty years.

Young and old people including children create a vast crowd on both sides of the broad, the Okere square during the festival. Crowding is curiously created to catch a sight of the masquerade’s performance. The event also generates business through activities like, tailors busy making clothing for festival attendees. The cuisine is another significant event component. The main dish is Starch and Owo soup. Starch is a by-product of Cassava. In addition, some people prepare rice in various ways, such as Rice and Stew, Fried Rice, or the famous Jollof Rice.

The Final Ritual Race 

The final day climax of the Awankere Festival is the ritual race run by the masquerades. The race occurs at dusk at about 6:30 pm, when the first shade of darkness has crept in. The first proceeding is made with a call for all novices to leave the square. This includes women and young children. It’s forbidding for women and children to be present once the final ritual is about to commence. Once the arena is cleared, the masquerades start to disrobe, leaving only their loincloths, Imerigo and Ukpasha; at a designated point about 120 metres from the final point of departure, at the arena where the Ogieboro, Chief Priest (Ojo’umale) and other elders will be waiting. Apart from women and children, the entire community lines all sides of the market square, and an eerie silence descends on the whole arena.

The Oshogwu’umale is escorted by two elders on his left and right sides with slow calculated steps. The masquerades troops to the arena and stops at the centre facing the Ogieboro and Ojo’umale. The Oshogwu’umale chants a final goodbye litany to the people, turns round, and begins to trot to Ẹkun (point of departure). As he appears to the other masquerades, they all burst into a race, like sprinters shooting out of their starting blocks.

The quiet in the entire audience is also simultaneously broken, as they all shout with one voice, “gbare, gbare, gbare…” (Meaning the masquerades will carry all the disease and evil forces away from individuals and the entire community and will wash into the sea). As the masquerades run to the pulse centre and come back for the final journey to the shrine. Coins and cowries are thrown after them as they run away to their abode beneath the sea.

The first masquerade to reach the arena and return to where the race started is usually awarded a prize. In past times, a goat was awarded to the Winner.