A CRITICAL EVALUATION OF IWA AKWA CULTURAL CEREMONY OF DIMNEZE COMMUNITY IN IHITTE-UBOMA, IMO STATE

Abstract

The concept of the cycle of life in Igbo worldview is aptly captured in their traditional practice of rites of passage. For traditional Igbos of Dimneze community puberty rites known as Iwa Akwa serve as a means by which the cultural norms and values are preserved. In the course of the festival young boys are initiated into the men’s forum, enlightened about what the family and the society at large expect of them. This age-long traditional practice is gradually dwindling. Despite the significances of Iwa Akwa rite of passage to community building and development, in contemporary times this rite becoming abandoned and considered obsolete this probably may the effect of modernity and acculturation. The research adopts the phenomenological method in its investigation. Through lived experience and from a subjective perception, the research is aimed at describing the activities, significances and challenges of Iwa Akwa rite of passage in Dimneze Community. The paper is qualitative research; the information used in the work is derived from existing literature on the subject. It is anchored on the theory of functionalism. The paper holds vehemently that the recent moral decadence and social vices in Dimneze community may be associated with the infiltration of western culture into the practice of Iwa Akwa cultural ceremony and the devaluation of the practice. Therefore, the research advocates the need to revitalize the Iwa Akwa cultural ceremony as proposed paradigm for proffering solutions to these problems.