Cultural Comparison of Igbo and Japanese Festivals

Cultural Comparison of Igbo and Japanese Festivals

• Demonstrates the reason behind the culture's actions during the festival, which are influenced by their beliefs and values.
• There is a belief that powerful spirits or essences exist inside the rice seedlings that were to be replanted in Mother Earth.
• The performances, such as music and dancing, are believed to preserve and enhance the life of the grains.
• This is important to the Japanese as rice is a core food in their country.

Compare & Contrast

Significance

http://blog.jtbusa.com/all/celebrating-new-years-known-as-oshogatsu-in-japan-has-many-unique-traditions

https://practicemyeng.wordpress.com/2010/11/25/japanese-culture-oshogatsu/

https://www.tsunagujapan.com/rice-planting-festival-otaue-shinji-in-osaka/

http://visitbeautifuljapan.blogspot.ca/2013/06/otaue-shinji-rice-planting-festival-at.html

http://www.gangnamstudentvoice.com/iss51/a-jhol.html

http://www.lafujimama.com/2011/12/toshikoshi-soba/

Japanese Culture:

Rice Planting Festival (Otaue Shinji)

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/330592428867817511/

• One of the many rice planting festivals is held in Osaka every year on June 14.
• Use a process where rice seedlings growing in the nursery are replanted in the paddy fields
• Farmers plant rice seedlings in the paddy field while traditional performances are shown on the stage, such as dancing, ancient music, and folk songs performed with traditional instruments
• “Yaotome no Tamai” (Rice Paddy Dance of Many Maidens), is a famous performance where women are dressed as “maidens” and dance
• Dancers also wear kasa (braided hats) with flowers
• There is also a parade of samurai warriors in full armor.

http://dmooreapenglish.weebly.com/3/post/2013/01/things-fall-apart-iv.html

Japanese Culture: Oshōgatsu (New Year)

https://www.tsunagujapan.com/rice-planting-festival-otaue-shinji-in-osaka/

https://sites.google.com/site/southwindsoribo/ceremonies-social-gatherings-and-rituals

• Occurs between January 1-3
• Purpose: To spend time with families and to greet and welcome the god, "Toshigami-sama", who brings abundance, health, and happiness to families
• Homes are decorated with ornaments created from pine, bamboo, and plum trees.
• Clothes and houses are cleaned.
• It is tradition to visit a shrine or temple during the New Year.
• Dishes served include toshikoshi soba (buckwheat noodles), osechi ryori, otoso (sweetened rice wine), and ozoni (a soup with mochi).
• There are games and events during the festival such as Hanetsuki (Japanese badminton), takoage (kite flying), and karuta (a card game).
• A very popular custom on New Year's Day is sending out cards to friends, relatives, and co-workers.

Igbo Culture:

The Feast of the New Yam (Iri Ji)

Significance

Introduction

• Held every year before the harvest
• Purpose: To honour Ani and the ancestral spirits of the clan
• Discard old yams for rejuvenation and plant new yams for the new year
• Wash everything to prepare for new year
• "All cooking-pot, calabashes, and wooden bowls were thoroughly washed..." (26).
• Main food includes yam foo-foo, vegetable soup, yams, and palm-wine, all of which they offer to the earth goddess and ancestral spirits.
• Decorated homes by "[scrubbing] the walls and the huts with red earth" and "[drawing] patterns on them in white, yellow, and dark green" (27).
• Decorated themselves by drawing patterns on their bodies
• "They then set about painting themselves with cam wood and drawing beautiful black patterns on their stomach and on their backs" (27).
• At the ilo, spectators would come to watch the wrestling bouts while listening to the intoxicating rhythm of the drums.
• "At last the two teams danced into the circle and the crowd roared and clapped. The drums rose to a frenzy" (33).
• Illustrates the excitement that wrestling and music brings to Igbo society

Similarities

• The festival reflects important aspects of faith in Japanese culture.
• People welcome and entertain the deities to show their respect and gratitude.
• Helps them connect with their families, strengthen their sense of community, and plays an important role in building social lives
• Ex. Evident from the New Year's Day cards people make for others

Festivals mark a time of celebration. Every culture is unique, but similarities in certain aspects of the festivals can still be found . In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the readers learn about festivals celebrated in Igbo culture, such as the Week of Peace and the Feast of the New Yam. Although it may appear that Japanese culture differs greatly from Igbo culture, many similarities can be found in the customs and purposes of their festivals.

• Both cultures celebrate to honour deities or gods
• For example, they both show their respects to the gods with food offerings.
• Significance: They worship gods to bring happiness, success, and safety to the family.
• Feast of the New Yam and Otaue Shinji Festivals are celebrated in hopes of success for the cultivation of crops.
• Significance: Igbo and Japanese cultures both value agriculture, which is an important aspect in their lives as those crops are their main food source. Certain foods also have special meanings to them (ex. Yams = Success & manliness, Soba= Longevity).
• In both the Oshōgatsu and Iri Ji Festivals...
• Homes are decorated with items from Mother Earth
• Indicates that both cultures value nature
• Similar customs exist in preparing for the new year
• Symbolic rebirth of the new year
• Ex. Cleaning everything to be clean and pure for the coming year
• Dancing and music are forms of art that are present in both cultures' festivals.
• The Oshōgatsu and Week of Peace focus on family values and spending time with family or friends.
• Significance: Builds social relationships and connects communities

Significance

http://eng2dchinuaachebe.blogspot.ca/

Igbo Culture: The Week of Peace

Wrestling

• Form of entertainment
• Wrestling represents a test of manhood and valor. It also gives the ability for men to obtain a higher status as a warrior and a leader or to earn respect from others, as Okonkwo has earned when he threw Amalinze the Cat
• Influences intimate relationships as women tend to find suitors based on the winners of the competitions
• Ekwefi fell in love with Okonkwo through his success in wrestling
• "Okonkwo had won her heart by throwing the Cat in the greatest contest within living memory" (28).

Yams

• Central part of Igbo society, as most of their daily lives are focused on the cultivation of yams
• Seen as a sign of wealth and success or a symbol for masculinity
• This is one of the most important values to Okonkwo, as he does not want to resemble his father who died in debt, and was seen as weak, lazy, and improvident by his clan.
• The Feast of the New Yam festival shows Umuofia's appreciation to the earth goddess

Differences

http://jonesarchive.siu.edu/?page_id=317

http://pixshark.com/japanese-summer-festival-games.htm

Works Cited

• Occurs during the time period between harvest and planting
• Neighbours live in peace to honour Ani, the earth goddess, whose blessings allow the crops to flourish.
• No work is done during the week
• Palm wine is shared with neighbours
• Anyone who breaks the peace is thought to be punished by Ani and Ezeani, the priest of Ani.
• Okonkwo commits a nso-ani (sacrilege) when he physically abuses his wife during The Week of Peace (21).
• People of Umuofia were gravely worried about Okonkwo's actions as it is seen as a great evil that can ruin the whole clan.
• Okonkwo brought one female goat, one hen, a length of cloth and a hundred cowries to the shrine of Ani to ask for forgiveness and as compensation (22).

Websites

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2064.html

http://tadaimajp.com/2014/12/oshogatsu/

http://www.jinjahoncho.or.jp/en/festival/

http://www.matsuritimes.com/otaue-matsuri-rice-planting-festival-taga-taisha/

https://www.tsunagujapan.com/rice-planting-festival-otaue-shinji-in-osaka/

http://thingsfallapart5.wikispaces.com/Wrestling

Books

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Portsmouth: Heinemann Educational Publishers, 1996. Print.

Although most of the concepts and purposes of the festivals are similar, the way each culture celebrates it has some differences.

Examples:

• Sports
• The sports played during the Japanese festivals are more for leisure (ex. badminton), but in Igbo society, wrestling is important regarding a man's honour and reputation.
• In the Rice Planting Festival, the method used in cultivating their crops is more ceremonial than in Igbo culture.
• For instance, they conduct many special performances and have Shinto priests to perform rituals for good crops. Crops are also planted using ancient procedures in ceremonial style.
• Food
• Food eaten at Japanese festivals are more complex. In contrast, Igbo people have simpler foods at their festivals. This difference exists because of the different geographic regions of both cultures, such as what crops can grow in their climate. Additionally, crops that the culture values are eaten at the festival to show its importance.

Ani, the earth goddess and the source of all fertility. "She was the ultimate judge of morality and conduct" (26).

Significance

• Illustrates the values in Igbo society, such as agriculture and respect for the gods
• Unification for the clan
• The Week of Peace is celebrated to teach people and communities to be peaceful, grateful, and humble.
• Expresses the superstitions and beliefs they have
• Ex. Violence during The Week of Peace is believed to result in a bad planting season.
• "The earth goddess whom you have insulted may refuse to give us her increase, and we shall all perish" (22).
• Without the blessing of Ani, it is believed that the crops will not grow, leading to a loss in Umuofia's main source of food and essentially starvation.

By: Lauren Yeung