There was excitement at the 9th World Festival of Igbo Arts and Culture in Staunton Virginia when Americans whose DNA matches the Igbo tribe took on tribal names to reflect their ancestral home.
The 2-day event organized by the Council of Igbo States in America was held from July 29 to July 30, 2022 at the Igbo Frontier Village Museum.
The event is an annual event initiated nine years ago to unite Igbos in the diaspora and those in Nigeria.
But the 2022 edition was shrouded in intrigue involving the naming ceremonies of Americans of Igbo descent, organizers said in a statement. nightingale.
CISA said, “Many African Americans were present for the emotional reunion of the trans-Atlantic brotherhood. Their families, whose DNA test confirmed their Igbo ancestry, were given Igbo names based on the 8-day Igbo market week, reconnected with their Igbo brothers and sisters, and officially welcomed to their ancestral Igbo homeland by elders and traditional title.
keepers.”
The statement said Reconnecting Igbo Americans tells the story of Igbos who were separated from their homeland through slavery and settled in America.
According to the organizers, Igbos who are now “descendants of African Americans have traced their roots to Igbo ancestry and are reconnecting with their living relatives in Nigeria and the diaspora.
The reunion remains one of the emotional high points for many in attendance.
“Emotional tears were seen on the faces of many people that the 400-year-old shackles have been broken. It largely reflects the latest step in a quest to discover and reconnect with relatives separated by time, space and distance dating back to the era of the slave trade,” he added.
The festival also featured world-class musical talent, exhibitions, costumed cultural shows, symposium, interactive art, traditional cuisines, fashion shows, wedding traditions, masquerades and carnival rides.
There were also masquerade shows as well as legendary Igbo dances such as the Ohafia/Abam war dance, and Atiliogwu youth acrobatic shows entertained the audience.
The dignitaries who witnessed the reunion were: “Her Excellency Dr. was ordained by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., former Haitian ambassador to the United Kingdom. Jean Pillard, John Avoli, from the Government of Virginia, Chairman of the World Igbo Congress, Professor Tony Ejiofor, HRH Eze Chibuzor Ngwakwe, Igbo Council of Traditional Title Holders (ICOTTHUSA) and delegates from communities Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti and Barbados. “
