Art & Culture

                                                              Oranmiyan Staff

In an ancient city like Ile-Ife, mysterious finds are never rare. One top tourist attraction that has defy explanations how it got there is the Oranmiyan Staff (Opa Oranmiyan). The staff is 18 feet above the ground and some deft designs are on it. The mystery attached to the staff has brought tourists from all over the world to see it. The Oranmiyan Staff can be seen at the Oranmiyan Shrine at the Arubidi quarter of Ile-Ife. Although certain traditional rites are performed there, it is still open to tourists. But there are some parts of the shrine that could only be accessed by those who are can only be peopled by initiates. The Oranmiyan obelisk is hundreds of years old and has history behind.                            

       



                                                                                                                                                     



History of Eyo Festival
Eyo masquerade is not original to Lagos Island but was brought there sometimes around 1750 by two unnamed personalities from Ibefun and Ijebu communities in present day Ogun State. Owing to the fascinating appeal, they succeeded in introducing it as part of interment rites of passage for the departing Oba at that time, Oba Ado who is believed to have married one of their cousins, Olugbani.

Another version has it that the main deity Adamu Orisha originated from Ibefun just as Eyo masquerade came as a result of the need to protect the deity from the activities of hooligans who might seek to destroy or steal it.

Those who hold this view say that the traditional iconic staff of the masquerade known as Opambata, was invented as part of the regalia for the purpose of warding off undesirable elements.

Another dimension was added to the supposed origin of the masquerade and festival as a prominent indigene, Chief Adekunle Alli, opined, “Orisa Ogunran and Orisa Elegbaopopo were originally brought to Lagos from Benin by Chief Olorogunagan Asagbemi, and Chief Olorogunigbesule during the reign of Oba Ado of Lagos, over 350 years ago.”

Since time immemorial, the festival as depicted by the image of a masquerade in flowing white apparel has grown from a rural festivity to an internationally acclaimed event, attracting both local and international tourists, even though the frequency of such festivities vary depending on who the Oba considers worthy of having such play staged in his/her honour.

According to Alli who is an authority on local custom and history as they relate to people of Lagos Island, “The first Adamu Orisa play to be recorded was the one held by King Dosumu for his late father, King Akintoye, on February 20, 1854, six months after the death of the latter.”

Initially, five groups, different others have emerged, while participation in the play was restricted to family members of various individual Eyo groups of both the nuclear and extended family members, and any person or group of persons who have no filial link to any of the families can also join them for the purpose of the festival.

                                                           Calabar Carnival: 

Calabar Carnival often dubbed ‘Africa’s biggest street party’ in the state of Cross River, in south Nigeria started in 2004. The festival started in order to make the Cross River State one of the country’s top tourist destinations. It happens as the end of the month long Calabar Festival (during the month of December), which celebrates local culture and heritage. Much like the king of all carnivals in Rio de Janiero, dancers adorn huge brightly coloured costumes with feather headdresses and dance down the streets to music, all 50,000 of them. The event draws in two million spectators but for those that can’t make it you can watch the events unfold on the small screen as it's broadcast on TV.

As the end of the rainy season approaches in August, the Osun festival is held. In the state of Osun, inside Oshogbo Scared Forest, the festival is a week-long event and held to honour the river goddess Oshun. Thousands of people attend the festival, where the whole of the riverside is dotted with shrines and sculptures for Osun. The forest it is celebrated in is actually a World Heritage Site as it is one of the last primary high forests in southern Nigeria.

Calabar Carnival

Sharo Festival is a testament to a young nomadic Jafun Fulani and man’s endurance and manhood. If the men pass, they are eligible to marry, with the scars of their braveness sunken upon their skin. Escorted by girls, men are led into a ring, surrounded by spectators only armed with a whip and bare chested. They are encouraged to not flinch or show pain whilst they are being flogged; drum music increases in tempo as does the flogging. This is the main event of the festival that usually lasts a week and happens twice a year – once in the dry season guinea corn harvest and the other during the Muslim festival of ld-el-kabir. Other events are more upbeat with singing and dancing

                                                                       Argungu Fishing Festival

The country of Nigeria is located in the crook of Africa’s west coast, sandwiched between Benin and Cameroon. Its coast lies on the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean. There are over 500 ethnic groups in the country, leading to a wide range of annual festivals and celebrations. Many of the celebrations last for weeks or longer and are made up of colourful dances, processions and hearty competitions. The main religions of the country are Muslim in the north and Christianity, predominantly in the south. Therefore, Nigeria celebrates everything from Ramadan to Christmas. Known as the ‘Giant of Africa’, comprising of 36 states, Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country which is also home to exciting and cultural festivals.

A very popular and famous festival in Nigeria is the four day Argungu Fishing Festival which started in 1934. Imagine hundreds of men lining up along the river bank, armed only with their fishing nets. At the sound of a gun, everyone piles into the muddy water, leaving no inch uncovered of the Matan Fada River in competition to catch the biggest fish. As a male only event, the audiences are predominantly male too, where state and federal government officials attend. Imagine. The competitors have only one hour in which to search the narrow murky waters of the river to win the prize of a new bus and one million naira (£4,000). After the hour is up, the fish are carried to scales for the all-important tense weigh in. The competition is the final day’s events of the four day cultural Argungu Fishing Festival, held in the north western state of Kebbi