How rainfall disrupted Oghu Orinwa Ododo 2024.
3 min read
Yesterday being Wednesday 4 July 2024, could have been a memorable day to remember in the history of cultural celebrations in Isiozi Akah in Umuaka Municipal Council. On this day, the much awaited yearly event of Oghu Orinwa Ododo was scheduled to take place but due to the heavy rainfall that got the whole place wet and messed up the roads, the event eventually held with a low turnout of spectators.
Oghu Orinwa Ododo is one of the oldest and greatest oghu celebrations in Umuaka and beyond. Each year, spectators, friends and well-wishers gather from far and near to witness the event especially when it is believed that Orinwa Ododo, the biggest masquerade of the event will come out.
As people gather for the big show yearly, the Isiozi Akah Autonomous Community makes sure that the oghu dancers (umu okorosha) who are selected from among the indigenous dancers will always be the best. The masquerades that appear during the event are always the big ones known as akatakposhi.
Like some other communities in Umuaka Municipal Council, Isiozi Akah first held her 2024 maiden oghu dance on Tuesday July 3 2024 and from this eventful day, people especially youths started preparing for the Oghu Orinwa Ododo which would naturally come the next day. When the D-Day arrived, spectators, lovers of oghu festival and friends of the community went into frenzy as they waited for the finest (kickoff) hour. The oghu dance was supposed to start around 2 pm but before then, the sky started looking misty and cloudy.
In less than an hour, the rain started to fall. The rain fell for a very long time to the extent that when it stopped, people were no longer interested to attend the show because the roads and the oghu Orinwa Ododo arena have been messed up. Against all odds, the youths who still came out held the event. There is a community hall near the venue of the event because of the rain, the oghu show was taken into the yet to be completed hall and later brought out when it was getting dark. Few persons who attended the oghu entertained themselves to an extent.
Although the crowd that watched the event was ordinarily big but not to be compared to what it could have been if there was no rain. The youths of Isiozi community really tried their best to stage the 2024 Oghu Orinwa Ododo which came against all odds.
The issue of rainfalls in Umuaka during oghu festivals has always been a big challenge. There is no big oghu event that has not suffered heavy downpour over the years. A couple of years ago, Oghu Odinala which is now rated as the greatest cultural event in Njaba LGA has suffered such fate over the years too. There have been years the event was shifted to Hilltop Primary School Uba Umuaka as a result of rainfall.
Oghu lovers from Umuaka have always expressed worries that there is a need for each village in Umuaka to build a community hall which will be spacious enough to hold such events like oghu and other events held during rainy seasons.
