FESTIVALS

This study examine the role of festivals in preserving the cultural heritage of the nsit ibom people. The Ekpo Festival, one of the most prominent and ancient festivals in Nsit Ibom, is a classic example of how a traditional event can serve as a reservoir of cultural knowledge and identity. Ekpo, derived from ancestral spiritual beliefs, is not just a masquerade performance but a complex traditional system that embodies spiritual authority, moral instruction, community justice, artistic excellence, and social hierarchy. The masquerades, believed to represent the spirits of ancestors, appear during the dry season and are used to enforce traditional laws, entertain the public, and remind the people of their connection to the spiritual world. Each performance is laced with symbolic gestures, coded language, and historical references, which serve as a cultural textbook for the youth and a source of pride for the elders. The Ekpo institution is passed down through secret societies that initiate and train members in the meanings, functions, and codes of the tradition, ensuring that this sacred heritage is not lost over time.

There are many Festivals in Nigeria, some of which are dated to the period before the arrival of the major religions in this ethnically and culturally diverse society.1 Festivals in Nigeria can be categorized into four, which are music, film, cultural, Christian and Muslim festivals. Most importantly, celebration of cultural festivals such as Argungu fishing festival (Kebbi State, North Western Nigeria), Calabar Carnival (Cross River State), Carniriv (River State) to mention a few is acclaimed to be a unifying force connecting people from different race and background together.2 This is because celebration of these cultural events in most cases remind people of their past. It is regarded as heritage resources that facilitate social cohesion. Celebration of cultural festivals serves as vehicle that drives the economy of a community through the derivable economic benefits especially during the festive period.3Against this backdrop, this study examines the socio-cultural and economic impact of the Igue festival to the contemporary Benin Kingdom. The Igue festival is the biggest and most flamboyant of all the festivals celebrated by the Oba and people of Benin Kingdom. It is normally celebrated with a lot of pomp and pageantry during the first half of the month of December (first fourteen days of the month) of every year.4 The Igue festival is a set of annual cycle of rituals and rites that are performed to purify and strengthen the Oba and the kingdom in preparation for the New Year