Leboku

Leboku is the new yam festival of the Yakurr people, celebrated at Ugep in Cross River State, marking the first harvest of yam and giving thanks for a successful farming season. It is one of the most prominent new yam festivals in southern Nigeria, combining ritual thanksgiving with cultural displays, wrestling and traditional dance, and it draws large numbers of visitors, indigenes living elsewhere in Nigeria, and members of the Yakurr diaspora who return to Ugep for the occasion.

Leboku has long served as the calendar marker between the old and new farming year for the Yakurr communities of Ugep, rooted in the agricultural cycle and the central place of yam in local diet and status. Traditional priests and community elders have historically overseen the rites that permit the harvesting and eating of new yam, a role maintained by the Yakurr traditional institution today. Over time, the festival's public programme has expanded to include cultural competitions and performances that attract state government support and wider regional and national attention, while its core thanksgiving rites remain under the custody of Ugep's traditional priesthood.

The festival begins with ritual rites performed by traditional priests to sanction the harvesting and eating of the new yam, after which community elders formally declare the new farming year open. Days of cultural celebration follow, including traditional wrestling contests that are a hallmark of the festival, masquerade displays, and dances performed by age grades and cultural groups from Ugep's constituent clans. A durbar-style procession and cultural parade bring together traditional rulers, dignitaries and visitors, with participants dressed in traditional attire. The festival closes with communal feasting on new yam dishes and further performances, and it has become an occasion for family reunions among Yakurr people living outside Ugep.