SLC-S25/W2 | Community World Tour: Festivals & Celebrations

Have you seen a huge clothed-masquerade that stood up straight as long as a pawpaw tree, then came down flat and empty to the ground?, or a full clothed and designed ship that moved without a person driving or riding it?. How about a sharp stick piercing through the neck of a person but after some incantations he becomes whole with no scars or wound?. Shocking right?. That is the tradition and culture we are talking about in my state.

In my country, Nigeria we have about 300+ ethnic groups with different or closely similar culture, different kinds of languages spoken and different cultural activities are carried out. Being in a state and not being able to understand the language the other person from that same state is saying, is somehow surprising and that shows you how large the language and culture is.

Our Grandfathers were immersed in traditions and culture but it seems we were letting go of most of those things. Trying to get back to the culture, the state government set aside the last month of the year for all the 31 states having each day for them to display their cultural heritage and tradition.

In general, the culture practiced by the Akwa ibom state people is the EKPO MASQUERADE, this has been in existence for many years. I would love to talk more about the Culture.

Brief History, Origin and Meaning

EKPO masquerade which is practiced by the Akwa ibom people, is translated to a Ghost or spirit of a dead person. It was believed that the people that died were not afar off in which they created that bond, now the EKPO MASQUERADE is like a cult which you have to be initiated into to fully understand the rituals.

It is an ancestral worship which links them(EKPO) to the spirit world. The EKPO masquerade kept law and order in the land as it punished the defaulters, during the colonial rule and introduction of churches, the masquerade used to flog and chase people to go to church. They stood for peace, just and order in the society.

The mask on the masquerade symbolizes what kind of masquerade it is, you will see ones with horns and red clothing's which signifies danger, while some have happy faces. "Don't be deceived by how the mask looks like it's smiling, the masquerade might be angry inside". This is an ibibio Proverbs which I have just explained. The mask might seem happy or sad but it doesn't show the mode of the bearer, I can wear a smile and have a huge burden inside.

The emotions mostly portrayed by EKPO is mostly;

• Fear, you will quickly run just by sighting them from a distance. Another is
• Respect; as they preserved law and order in the land.
• Festivity: EKPO doesn't just come out if there will be no Festivity, there must be a joyous reason.

The Cultural day by Etinan local government was filled with joy and happiness as they were all ready to show their culture, they were clothed in their cultural attires. The state has a lot of palm wine which Is a very enjoyable drink to the indigenous family and many visitors, a palm wine tapper came in with his wine, his bicycle and all his tools to create awareness on what he does and how it is done all for the cultural day purpose.

Palm wine is very important in our culture, if you want to marry or pay your dowry you'll be asked to provide litres of palm wine to show how important it is. Even in town hall meetings with kings there must be palm wine.

How about my personal Story about this cultural day?

I was really anticipating to take part in this day because I missed the other cultural day due to school. I was already ready by 11 while waiting for my brother to finish up, to show how curios I was. We paid our way to the venue where everything was done. The welcoming sounds brought a smile to my face and I knew, yes this is the tradition.

I saw masquerades of different kinds having a kind of procession with the elders, as they toured about the location dancing to the sound, my dad told us about some of these masquerades which we were not able to see since childhood but we saw them that day. In the venue I saw different kind of dishes which are cultural dishes and food stuffs

A microphone was passed to the woman in charge of food section, as the camera and the journalist was asking what kind of dish it was she was answering with what was used in preparing them. The white solid substance you see there is called Fufu which is locally prepared from casava and it goes well with soup

As I said earlier, they have different kinds of attires, this is a cultural attire of the people as they performed their cultural dance. I really had a memorable experience and all the dishes looked so appealing to me. The culture speaks a lot about the state and I can't compare it to other states, the varieties of dishes, the time given for the celebration and everything, you have all the moment you need to showcase your culture, I would love to attend all the days this year.

During my childhood, it was difficult attending such an event because of the crowd and all that, I am so happy to make memories of our cultural heritage.

I was shocked to know that Garri, a locally made product from cassava was produced that day, as I took pictures of them.

This is the Garri frying procedure and the outcome is the picture of my element below.

Details	key
My Celebration Element with date
Steem atlas link

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@samuelbrilliant, @bossj23 what was your experience with the EKPO MASQUERADE during your childhood?, I'm still lucky not to be flogged by them.

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