By Adesina Quadri Ademola
The Ijakadi Festival is an annual celebration that usually occurs in Offa, Kwara State.
The Festival is one of a kind among the Yoruba the festival usually occurs at the end of the year.
The celebration brings all the indigenes of the state together to enjoy the display of various talented people.
The colourful ceremony features traditional drummers, singing and dancing groups, and a hunting display.
The Festival shows the real facts of Yoruba and the beautification of the language. The show consists of various Yoruba cultures such as ewi, ekun iyawo, ijala sisun, moremi, Beauty Pageant, and Ijakadi itself.
The Offa Beauty Pageant is widely known as Idije Awon Arewa Offa, this beauty pageant is also among the cultural heritage of the Offa Kingdom where the young ladies of the Kingdom come out to show their beauty to the people of the kingdom and the king (Oloffa of Offa) will crown the winner of the pageant as the arewa of the Kingdom.
Thus, a beauty pageant is also done every year during the Ijakadi Festival, which gives opportunities to other contestants to try their luck if they can also be crowned as the arewa of the Kingdom.
Ijakadi is a 14th-century cultural festival of the Offa Kingdom. It was a long-time event that commenced around 1498 AD during the Moremi Festival.
Moremi was an Offa woman who became the queen of Oranmiyan of Ile-Ife. She single-handedly rescued the people of Ife from their enemies.
Ijakadi is a mock wrestling bout between the Olofa and Essa, his second in command.
Thus goes the popular saying “Ijakadi loro Offa,” a Yoruba phrase meaning “wrestling is an Offa game,”. The symbolic winning of the bout by the Oloffa is a constant reminder of his indisputable authority in the town, while the Essa would always give excuses for his loss.
A brief history of the praise poetry of the Kingdom: two brothers went to farms to harvest their cultivated crops, which include potatoes and cassava yam, among others.
After their harvest, they went to the stream to wash off their dirt during the period of washing one of the yams the two brothers harvested was carried off by the river which caused a dispute among the brothers which led to a fight they were taken to the king (Oloffa) to settle their dispute the king orders the yam should be cut into two equal sizes the judgement then gives them the praise poetry (oriki) which is omo Laare Bu Ree Ikan Ogbodo Ju Kan Ni Le Olalomi.
I urged all the Yoruba leaders to embrace their culture as others state usually do.
