IGBO CALENDAR 1901-2100s - DERIVABLE FROM FORMALAE

            IGBO CALENDAR 

Igbo Week and Market Days 2000s-2130s

                                  

By:                                 

Chukwuemeka B. Ezekwe                                                                      

             

                                .                               

Welcome to a comprehensive calendar on Igbo market days and one of the most convenient to be used in deriving the tribe's native week days in many earlier or future decades. Igbos make use of a 4-day week: Nkwo, Eke, Orie and Afor. But in order to create more room for a variety of cultural activities and market places for trading, many clans adopt 8-day gaps, thus giving each of the four days in their native week two days of distinct cultural and trading activities. For instance, Orie Ntigha, located in Isiala-Ngwa North is traded every eight days and is indicated, as "Orie_2" in the long tables of marketing days below. That market place is visited, every eight days, for the selling and buying of goods and services, not only by the native Ngwa people, but also by people from many communities in Umuahia, belonging to same Abia State as the Ngwas, as well as many other people that cross the river, on that eighth market day, from neighbouring Mbaise communities in Imo State. The fourth day after Orie Ntigha is traded, comes another Orie day, indicated here as "Orie_1", which day is occupied by people from the various communities that visited Orie Ntigha four days earlier, by trading in other market places closer to them, such as Orie Amorji situated in the same Isiala Ngwa North as Orie Ntigha.  The foregoing explains why prepared tables have: Nkwo_1, Nkwo_2;  Eke_1, Eke_2; Orie_1, Orie_2; and Afor_1, Afor_2.  Note that for the purpose of this work, Eke_CBE has same meaning as Eke_1.            

Finding the day in the Igbo week that a certain dated event takes place, is made easy here. Example:  There was a total solar eclipse that widely affected Igbo land on Tuesday May 20, 1947,  but that date is not included in any of the tables here;  however one simply has to add 112 years to that date to arrive at the 112th anniversary of the said eclipse event, which gives a result of Tuesday, Orie May 20, 2059.                                        

However, the Igbo week day derived from that formula is shown here as "Orie_1".  It becomes a correct assumption that if other 112 years are added to 2059 (which gives 2171), the exact Igbo market day (of the 8-day week) in the 224th anniversary of that 1947 solar eclipse, will be shown as "Orie_2", being also a Tuesday.  Thus, the 224th birthday of the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe -- born on Wed November 16, 1904 -- will be shown here, in the table for 2120-2129 decade, to fall on Wed "Eke_1", November 16, 2128. This means that Zik was born on an Eke day, termed "Eke_1", in the 8-day week system being used here.  Similarly, the solar eclipse which will be "total" in Igbos' neighbouring Benin City by 10:23 AM on Monday March 20, 2034, and seen "partial" in Igbo land, will occur on an "Orie_1", and this is noticeable here by scrolling down in the table for the 2030-2039 decade.  You may also scroll down to, say, the May Day and Boxing Day of the same year, to get Monday May 1, 2034  and Tuesday December 26, 2034, with the Igbo weekdays as "Nkwo_2" and "Afor_1", respectively.  It is that simple.                                                                             

However, if it is preferred to find only the Igbo 8-day weekday without having to match it with the coinciding 7-day weekday, this is easily derivable by applying multiples of 32 years.  Thus, Nkwo_2, 1-May-2034 is found to be the 32nd anniversary of the Nkwo_2 of 2002 May Day, being 1-May-2002; and the 64th anniversary of the 1947 total eclipse falls on Orie_2, 20-May-2011. The verifications of these are done here by scrolling to the last two tables -- prepared for the first and second decades of the 2000s -- which is 2000-2009, made here to come after the 2nd decade, 2010-2019.                                                                                                   

The first two decades of this 21st century – entirely made up of past years -- were prepared last here in order to create easily accessible room for dates of the current decade, 2020-2029 -- in which this work is done -- so, making the current and subsequent years easier to find.             

--  CBE