“Behind the Scenes in Iregede Festival: Does the World Know This?”

“Behind the Scenes in Iregede Festival: Does the World Know This?”

Dagbala is a rural community in the northern part of Edo State specifically within Akoko Edo Local Government Area where this act of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) has been in practice for many years and this vile act has resulted to traumatic death, physical and emotional torture to many girls and families had to flee the community for safety and mental well-being.

Our curiosity to establish more facts prompted us to attend their Iregede festival. This festival is usually celebrated annually for four days with consultation to the Oracle and the Sun for a favourable time before the festival will be commemorated. This investigation shows the reason why there is no particular month of the year when this festival takes place. According to other sources, it is mostly held between May or August of each year. The Iregede festival for this year started on the 14th of May 2025 and was concluded on 17th of May 2025. One of the major reasons for this festival is the initiation of girls into “womanhood”. The ladies that survived the process of circumcision in the previous year were made to dance naked while those that were to be circumcised were prepared for mutilation which took place after the festival. Unfortunately, this aspect of the traditions was carried out below the surface and has been a restricted secret as the community sees it as their heritage and according to other sources, it is believed that women are “purified” and seen as being “complete” when she goes through the knife cut traditionally. This moment comes with tragic experiences and abrasion lingers in memories almost the lifetime of the victim. Our attempt to take pictures and videos was botched during the physical experience of the naked girls at the festival and were strongly warned that cameras were not allowed. Another shocking revelation was that most of the girls were full grown ladies with full chest and covered pubic hairs that must have been in their late 20s to early 30s. Other sources further revealed that there is no age barrier to this tradition as long as the lady is yet to submit to tradition.

However, I would like to give my account of our witness to some of the event that unfold during the days of celebration. Just like many years past, this year’s Iregede festival started on the 14th with a burn fire night which takes effect immediately we heard the sound of the gun, and it resounds about three times. Subsequently, the maidens to be initiated to womanhood would be stripped naked and water will be poured on their feet then, they make a procession into the house where no one will see them till the next day. This process is a highly classified part of the initiation where a whole lot of activities took place before the next day which was 15thMay, 2025. In this day, the maidens will be paraded and have their families, friends and other “so called well-wishers” to the spot where they were all seated. They all sat on a white traditional stood called “Akpoh” alongside with a little girl also in nude sat with each maiden. Then, those unadorned little girls who will be initiated in few years will move to the community meeting point under a process called “orire” where local drum will be played and they will dance to the tune of the Iregede festival music. While celebration still continues on that 15th, the kindred celebrating the festival called “OSOR” and “AFAKI” kindred in each age groups have the responsibilities to buy drinks and other delectable foods. While the men were busy drinking and eating all through the remaining three days, the maidens were also busy fetching water for relatives. So, the girls who fetched most and poured more water on their feet on the first day of the opening ceremony after this day shall await the new yam festival where the maidens who has already been initiated to “womanhood” would go to farms and bring new yams home.

In conclusion, we wish to emphatically state that female genital mutilation is still been practiced and we are making a clarion call on the people in authority to end this barbaric act to our girls and create more ways to educate the communities involved to eradicate the act. This experience had caused a very traumatic and insanity memories to the victimised girls to those yet to submit themselves to this harmful cultural practice called traditions

Written by:

Babatunde Balogun

Eghosa Osagie