NIGERIA'S FESTIVALS-by Clara Pastor

I want to write about Nigeria’s festivals but first I am going to say what a festival is. A festival is a celebration that a group of people do (normally they are a local community) and it is about a specific topic (usually these festivals are really important for the people who celebrate it).

The most impotant festivals in Nigeria are:

Calabar carnival

The Calabar Carnival festival referred to as “Africa’s biggest Street Party” was created in 2004 by Donald Duke (the president of Cross River state). It starts the 1st December and it finishes the 31st December . The carnival has a lot of events. Every year they change the theme, so for example in 2009 they did a football competition but they also did comedy and fashion shows. Traditional dancers and famous Nigerians singers go there and they perform. Before the festival starts they do a fabulous opening, it is a performance where the bands which performs dresses up with glamorous garments.

 That is not all!! In this festival there are a huge parade, thanks to this parade, Nigeria can show off their culture, costumes, traditional dresses…

 Osun festival

The Osun Festival is usually at the end of August at the Oshogbo Sacred Forest, in honor of Oshun (River God) and it lasts for a week. It starts with a ceremony where the priest asks for protection of their communities and after that they offer prayers and  sacrifices to their god.

Argungu fishing festival

This festival takes place in Argungu (north of Nigeria) it began in 1934. Fishermen have to fish the biggest fish if they want to win, but the reliable competition is on the final day, when many people jump into the river and they have an hour to get the largest fish. The winner earns a lot of money but this is not easy at all, the contestants have to use traditional tools (this is the only thing they could use).

The Eyo Festival

The Eyo is a costume ball created in 1854 but it is different from other festivals due to its purpose, which is not entertainment. This festival commemorates the death of one of their most important people in Lagos

We do not exactly know how this festival started, the legend says that it started commemorating a princess. The royalty was so grateful that they decided to commemorate it in that way for the important people.

On the first day the Nigerians go to the streets with their masks, they dance and sing (The masks are essential, if you do not have one you cannot take part in it). They also do a procession  where they pray and they build five groups. They usually to wear white clothes that  symbolize peace.

If you just want to see the festival you can, but there is a series of regulations. you must not carry an umbrella, smoke, or, if you are a girl, you must not wear your hair with plaits because the princess usually have this hairstyle.