ORIGINE OF ORI- UNA AMAIDI UTURU

ORIGINE OF ORI- UNA AMAIDI UTURU

What we know today as Ori- UNA AMAIDI and Ori- Una Uturu l’Uturu is one of the accient festivals in Uturu locally called “Itu Eka” or Itu aka”.

It usually falls in the month of November every year. It is the second to the last festival in the Uturu traditional calendar and it is usually celebrated eight days before the Gbudugbu festival.

In the olden days, Itu- Eka is a period in time when a full fledged man in Uturu performs rituals of cleansing and purification. One of the significance of Itu-Eka festival in Uturu is to mark the end of toiling, hustling, bustling and other intrinsic activities of Uturu man for the year running and thereby users him into a delightful, colorful and impressive end of the year celebration- Gbudugbu festival, which usually starts from every( 3rd Orie -Aho Nkwo Achara) within the Month of November probably, the end of Uturu traditional calendar year.

It is also the period when men(Heroes, Warriors, and War lords), make appeasement for the ancestors and the gods. If it is a case of one that has killed a human being, leopard in an expedition or escaped, a fowl will be tied legs together and hove round his head three times. After this, the fowl’s head will be cut off with bare hands, and then the blood will be poured into the Worrior’s eyes. Ethnically, this ritual connotes the symbolic “law of similarities or contact.

On the other hand, if the man is an ordinary person or farmer, a ritual in form of sacrifice will be performed in the family shrine, Agwu/Agwu-nsi(the ethnic Igbo god of medicine). In Igbo tradition, Agwu or Agwu-nsi is usually built or installed in the home of the head of the family.

In Uturu, the Uturu Agwu or Agwu-nsi is said to be in Njanja the home of Imobi, located behind the Amaidi Civic Hall, Amaidi Achara. It is also said that Imobi inherited Agwu or Agwu-nsi Nde Uturu from his father as the first son. After the death of Imobi, Amaidi Achara inherited Njanja – “Obi” Imobi and still maintains the feast of Itu-Eka in “Obi” Imobi even till date. They are always the first clan to celebrate the festival before other clans in Uturu will join.

WHY IT IS NAMED ORI-UNA AMAIDI AND UTURU L’UTURU

Note: Itu-Eka is a prelude to gbudugbu. During Itu- Eka festival, male children usually wear masquerade, running after girls with whips and sometimes dance from one house to another soliciting for gifts from the women. The gift the women usually give them is Una, that is how the name came to be “Ori Una Amaidi and Ori Una Uturu l’ Uturu”.

During this feast, Amaidi used to decorate “Njanja” Obi Imobi with “Omu” as you can see in the picture below, with so many other items. This festival is one of the reasons why the Amaidi People always claim to be the SENIOR in Uturu.
But is that true?
Is Amaidi actually the eldest son or senior in Achara and Uturu in general?
Why do they inherit “Obi Imobi”?
Who is Idi?
What is Idi’s relationship with Imobi?
These are some of the questions we’ll look into in the next edition tagged, “The Man Idi”.