Two cultural perspectives can be distinguished in Nsukka: the Museum of the Institute of African Studies at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and the tradition of the Onunu Festival. The museum is designed for learning, entertainment, recreation and research; the festival centers on honoring Nkwo Nsukka and on customary practices passed down through generations. Thus, a university institution and a festival tradition with its own sequence and various rituals stand side by side as distinct cultural perspectives.

The museum on the main campus

The museum is located on the main campus of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Its mission encompasses four purposes: learning, entertainment, recreation and research. It is therefore not devoted to research alone; learning and recreation are also among its intended uses. This institutional setting differs from the individual practices of the Onunu tradition. When considering Nsukka’s cultural themes, you can distinguish a university focus from the festival sequence and its rituals.

Onunu: Honoring and festival sequence

The Onunu Festival, held annually in Nsukka, honors Nkwo Nsukka. The people of Nsukka pay tribute to her and venerate her; she is regarded as the city’s ancestral mother. This act of honoring gives the festival its special connection to Nsukka and explains why Nkwo Nsukka is at its center. Onunu follows the twenty-eight days of the Ngburu-ahua celebration. This sequence places Onunu in the traditional festival calendar and makes the preceding Ngburu-ahua celebration a temporal point of reference.

Wrestling on the eve of the festival

In the traditional festival sequence, the Ote Nkwo wrestling competition opens the Onunu Festival on the eve of the celebration. As an opening event, Ote Nkwo is distinct from the Onunu Festival itself: one name refers to the competition, the other to the festival that follows. The wrestling tradition at Nkwo Square involves a circle of spectators and two contestants wrestling at a time. Thus, both Ote Nkwo’s place in the sequence and the format of the wrestling are clearly defined.

Orome and prayer

Another Onunu custom is called Orome. Selected girls are carried on the shoulders of older women and dance to drum rhythms and the women’s songs. Here, the focus is not on the competition and its arrangement of spectators, but on dance and musical accompaniment. The roles are specific: girls dance, older women carry them, and drum rhythms and the women’s songs accompany the dance. As part of the festival tradition, the Umuada, the older women, bring kola nuts, palm wine and Okpa for prayer at Onu Nkwo Nsukka. Thus, wrestling, dance and prayer can be distinguished; at the same time, these customs show different roles and activities.

Two questions can help make sense of the customs: Where do they fall in the traditional festival sequence, and how do their activities differ? The timeline runs from the Ngburu-ahua celebration through Ote Nkwo on the eve of the festival to the Onunu Festival; comparing them distinguishes wrestling, the Orome dance and prayer. This provides a clear framework based on sequence and different forms of ritual.

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