REBA CEREMONY

Reba is part of the Ngadha culture and an annual traditional ceremony.This ceremony has several meanings, such as: (i) as the traditional new year's ritual; (ii) as a thanksgiving ceremony for a plentiful harvest; (iii) to honour the ancestors; and (iv) to unite the clan.

The Reba ceremony proceeds in several stages:
•    The Reba Lanu ritual, which is the opening of the ceremony.This takes place outside the village, in each clan’s own cropland.The reba lanu is conducted to honour the ancestors of each clan, who had bequeathed the traditional rules and land to successive generations. 
•    The Dheke Reba, which is the ritual to enter the traditional adat clan house, done on the first night when all the clan members gather to talk about things they deem important and related to the rights and obligations of the clan or ethnic group in relation to external parties. It is also conducted to welcome guests and new members of the ethnic group or clan.
•    The Reba O’Uwi, or carrying root vegetables to the centre of the village, symbolising the harvest. This is accompanied by dances and conducted to honour and thank God and the ancestors for their blessings.
•    The Sui Uwi is a root-vegetable-slicing ceremony, or the ritual to distribute the harvest. The ritual is led by the adat chief, and he would narrate the history and genealogy of the clan to the younger generations, and talk about internal affairs of the community, evaluate what the community has gone through and what has happened to the adat house, and discuss the rights and obligations of the members of the adat house for the succeeding year. 

Sweet-potatoes are the main dish in this ritual as for the Ngadha community. These are an abundant source of food that the earth would always provide, ensuring that they would never be hungry.At the heart of the Reba ritual is the effort to evaluate everything related to social lives in the community that has happened in the previous year and ask for guidance from religious and adat leaders so they can all lead a better life in the coming year. The reba usually takes place in December, January or February, depending on the policy of each village.