The Feast Of The New Yam: A Civilized Society

A “Civilized society is the culture has a social order characterized by a government, a system of justice, a social structure, and some kind of spiritual belief system”(Free Dictionary). It is commonly used to describe human societies with a high level of culture and technological development. Civilization has changed several times during history over time and even today it is used several ways.Igbo society is civilized because it has cultural celebrations and fair government justice system.

The Igbo society is civilized because it has cultural celebrations. For example Achebe states, “The Feast of the New Yam was held every year before the harvest began, to honor the earth goddess and the ancestral spirits of the clan”(Achebe, 1994, pg 36). The Feast of the New year was a special day

During the celebration old yams are disposed of to symbolize the upcoming arrival of the new year if the yams. This festival is somewhat similar to our present day Thanksgiving because of it’s symbolism of welcoming a new year's harvest and of course tons and tons of food to eat with your family. On this day, everyone enjoys themselves and had a great time.

The society of Igbo is civilized because it has a fair government justice system. Igbo justice system is fair to their society because the elders of the society are responsible for maintaining order in society. For Example, Chinua writes, “Okonkwo's gun accidentally goes off and kills Ezeudu's sixteen-year-old son.”(Achebe, 1994, Ch.12). The elders were the ones who acted to enforce the punishment and maintain order. Basically they act on if people kill others they make sure consequences are enforced so it won’t happen again. The elders are simply carrying out what their wisdom tells them is the will of the gods. Although, my opponent may believe Igbo society is uncivilized because the government system is unfair. The point of view makes