ABSTRACT

Imo-Ọka festival which is celebrated every year by Awka people is gradually being misunderstood due to infiltration of agents of vandalism. Sequel to that, the festival that is supposed to create peace and conviviality, often times generates fracas. More so, the younger generation seems to be totally ignorant of the history of the festival. Such ignorance is evident in the fact of not knowing that man is naturally astride of two cultures: the divine culture and the temporal culture. The temporal culture is that into which one is born and consequently forms the foundation of one's life and ultimately of a people. On the other hand, the spiritual culture has to do with the way they commune with the divine Being independent of what name they call it. The way of communing with transcendent varies from place to place. It makes for a beautiful diversity that abhors monotony. The researcher therefore called for a faith-culture dialogue in order to eradicate the conflict that exists between the Christian faith and Imo-Ọka festival. The researcher employed the qualitative method of sourcing information through literatures, journals and interviews which helped in unravelling the inner content of Imo-Ọka festival and established the possibility of its dialogue with Christian faith. The research unveiled the rich content of this festival and how its richness could be better preserved and how the aspects that no longer cohere with the signs of the time could be transformed or chiseled out.