04/05/2024
The History of Ọka People and the Imo Ọka Fest
THE EARLIEST Ọka PEOPLE – ORIGIN AND HUNTING ECONOMY:
The territory known today as Ọka has been inhabited by man for several centuries, perhaps for millenia. In the 1930s, stone tools were discovered in the area which belong to the Neolithic stage of human development. It is largely because of the antiquity of man in this area that the ‘core’ Ọka people do not have any memory of migration from outside the Ọka area; they claim that they have been there from the beginning of time! These first Ọka people lived on the banks of the Ogwugwu stream in what is now the Nkwelle ward/village in Ọka. How they got there, who their migratory leaders were, whence they came, are all lost in the haze of remote history. We do know that these earliest people consisted of three kin groups – Urueri, Amaenyiana and Okpo – and were collectively called the Ifiteana. ‘Ifiteana’ roughly translates into “[people who] sprouted from the earth”.
The Ifiteana people (i.e., the Old Ọka people) were a settled agricultural society. However, big-game hunting constituted a very important sector of their economy. The elephant was their most prized game; its tusk was a very valuable article of trade.
The Ifiteanas already knew the art of smelting iron ore and fashioning the implements of farming, hunting and, of course, war. Their first and chief god was an old deity called Ọkikanube (usually shortened to Ọkanube). According to the myths of these people, Ọkanube was a supernatural being who came from the sky and taught the Ifiteana people of old the arts of working iron and making medicine. His name Ọkanube means ‘He who is Pre-eminent with the Spear’. He was basically a hunting god and the myths say he showed the people how to hunt with iron spears (ube) laced with medicine, hence his name.
The elephant tusk, called okike, was the symbol of the god Ọkanube. Every Ọka compound had this important ritual symbol kept in the family chapel cm reception
