Steemit Engagement Challenge Week 2 || Share your Country's Culture: AROGBO IBE DAY FESTIVAL by @tmighty.

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Good day Steemians!
It gladdens my heart to join this week contest in this community. Between Monday and Tuesday, I have seen a couple beautiful entries into the contest. Today I join this contest to explain a common festival in Arogbo Ibe Kingdom. This is the Arogbo Ibe Day Festival.

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THE AROGBO IBE KINGDOM

The Kingdom of Arogbo Ibe is an Ijaw Kingdom Ondo State, Nigeria that speaks a special dialect of the Ijaw language. The Ijaw ethnic group are people who speak Ijaw language and are spread across five states in Nigeria where they are known to be indigenes. These are Bayelsa, Delta, Rivers, Ondo and Edo States. There are many clans and dialects of the Ijaw language in these five states. One of this dialects is the Arogbo/Apoi Ijaw.

The people of Arogbo Kingdom occupy part of the coastal region of Ondo states. There are many communities are in this kingdom namely, Arogbo, Ajapa, Bolouwo, Opuba, Akpata, Biagbini, Asere, Igangbo, Kiribou, Igbotu, Gbekebo, etc. Arogbo is the headquarter of the kingdom where the Arogbo day celebration is done.

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ORIGIN/HISTORY OF AROGBO IBE DAY FESTIVAL

The celebration of Arogbo Ibe day can be traced back to the end of the war between Arogbo kingdom and the Ilaje people of Ondo state in the year 2000.
Between 1998 and 1999, an inter-tribal war happened between the Ijaws of the Arogbo kingdom and Ilaje Kingdom of Ondo state. The war came about as a result of land dispute between the Ilajes and the a village/community or the Ijaw Kingdom. Since they could not dialogue and come to terms, a war broke out. This war that started from a community of the Arogbo Kingdom with the Ilaje kingdom gradually put the lives of every member of the two Kingdoms at stake. This made all the communities of the kingdom to engage in a battle. Able men of the kingdom engaged in gunshot night and day putting the lives of men, women, children, animals and properties at risk.

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Arogbo Ijaw Men off to War

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The war became fierce and dreadful but the Ijaws were always victorious in battle. The war men of the Ijaws were able to get to the capital of the kingdom of the Ilaje which is called Igbo. They destroyed all the houses, and burnt the community to the ground as the people of the land ran away.

At that time, the king of Arogbo Kingdom, called the Agadagba who led the war to Igbo made a vow to the God of the land Egbesu, the God of War and Peace that he was going to celebrate Egbesu every year in the kingdom if the lives of the people of his kingdom is spared and they are able to victoriously end the war. That day was September 28,1999.The war ended in the favour of the Ijaws. 28th of September was set aside for the yearly celebration of Arogbo Ibe day to appreciate Egbesu for the power he grants the Ijaw people at the time of war and the peace they enjoy when there is no war.

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AROGBO IBE DAY FESTIVAL

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The Arogbo Ibe day formerly called Egbesu day is celebrated by the Ijaws of Arogbo Kingdom on the 28th of September every year. It is an annual festival that brings all the communities of the kingdom together while also bringing prominent Ijaw people from other Ijaw states.

The festival is a three day event that starts on the 26th of September and ends on the 28th. In preparation for the celebration of the event, a whole weak is usually dedicated majorly in Arogbo to celebrate. At this time, fish farmers stop going for fishing, students take a week holiday and many official works stop. All these are done so that everyone can enjoy the festival.

On day one of the celebration, three cannon are short to declare the celebration open. Once this has been done, a group of youth called the Ogele boys sing war songs round the village three times to announce the start of the celebration. This is called OgelegbanAny of this Boys who have had sex recently would be purified before he can join in the group. This is a culture of the event as Egbesu desire that any youth who takes part in the Ogelegban is pure. Many other cultural rights are done on this day also. One of the very important one is the one done for people who as killed an human accidentally in years past. In this particular event all such persons who have been involved in the murder of a fellow human being is purified by doing some cultural rites to cleans them of their sins.

On the second day of the festival, many cultural activities and games are done to lighten up the celebration. These includes traditional dance competitions, traditional chess play, canoe paddle competition, swimming competitions, football semi finals and final competitions. Many women of the Kingdom also showcase there talents in crafts as they make local fishing equipment for fishing. In all these contest, representatives of each community of the the kingdom are present to compete.

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Dance Competitions by different Dance groups in the celebration of Arogbo day Festival

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Moments of Boat Regatta in the Festival

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On the second day of the event, Egbesu symbol, a white cotton cloth is given to all indigenes of the kingdom who want profess their purity to Egbesu. People who collect this cloth are people who have not done anything evil.

The third day of the festival is a day declared to offer sacrifices to Egbesu, the God Ijaws. This sacrifices are done in the shrines of the deity. Sacrifices of seven folds are prepared to appreciate Egbesu on this day. A big pot of concoction called gudugudu belle is prepared in the shrine order for men of the kingdom who are to dine with Egbesu. Women are not allowed to be part of this feast as it against the tradition of the people for women to be part of activities like this. This activities done on the third day crowns and complete the festival.
Many persons are invited from outside the kingdom to grace the festival as a public lecture is usually conducted to enlightenment the people of the essence of the festival.

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CONCLUSION
The Arogbo Ibe Day Festival done by the Arogbo Kingdom of the Ijaw ethnic group of Nigeria was formerly called Egbesu day the first few years it started. It was changed to Arogbo day because of the presence of Christianity in the land and to accommodate all the people of the kingdom. It is a festival that begun in 2000. This is to say that this year's celebration of the festival will make it the 22 years since the festival was declared in the kingdom. Even though it is called Arogbo Ibe Day, three days are used in its celebration.

Apart from the primary objective of the festival which is attained all the time, the secondary objective of the festival is to bring development to the Arogbo kingdom. So many social and economic benefits have been brought by the celebration of this festival. These includes the construction of good roads, borehole for drinkable water, building of schools and health facilities by government and private individuals. Traders and business tycoons of the area also make good money at this period as a result of visitors from all over the country.

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On this note I would like to invite @ruthjoe, @temitopef and @hibrighto to be a part of this contest.

Thanks for reading my post