This chapter talks about the festivities around the New Yam celebration in Umuofia, a much-anticipated occasion in the town. We learn the celebration is all about thanking the earth goddess “Anị” who is the source of all fertility.
New yams cannot be eaten until they have been offered to the god. To paint a picture of the mirth that goes with typical New Yam celebration, the author tells a story of a wealthy man who set before his guests a mound of foo-foo so high that those who sat on one side could not see what was happening on the other nor see who was sitting there. The guest only saw themselves and exchanged pleasantries only when they have downed the mound.
Okonkwo’s family is not exempted from all the merriments. But as a hardworker, he hates sitting idly preparing for festivals. Okonkwo’s brutality wasn’t exempted in this chapter. He finds an outlet on his second wife who has cut a few leaves from their banana tree to wrap some food. He nearly killed her by a gunshot.
The chapter also reveals the love story of Okonkwo and Ekwefi who fell in love with him the day he threw the Cat in the great wrestling contest in living memory.
