Good Cultures

Good African Cultures, Masquerade dance Africa is blessed with vast cultural heritage, many good cultures, many yet untapped in remote villages. We have Traditioal Wrestling, Masquerade Dance, New Yam Festivals, Traditioal Marriages, Etc.

Traditional Marriage:

In Africa, marriage is seen as a great institution, a ceremony of union between two people, the bride and the groom, that is to be blessed by the gods. That is why it is always celebrated like no other. This takes stages from the day the man sees the girl of his choice, to the day he takes his parents to go and see the parents of the girl informing them of his intention to marry their daughter, to the day the girl goes for 'visiting' at the man's family house. The main day is the day of the Final traditional wedding, popularly known as 'Igba Nkwu' or Nkwu ukwu [Big wine day] in the eastern part of Nigeria.

This stage is a day characterised by merriment and celebration. Palm wine is bought in large quantity. A large number of people are invited from both families and well-wishers. The bride and the groom will dress in uniformed traditional attire. The bridal train and the groom's men will also appear on uniformed traditional attire. There will be lots of food and .....

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Masquerade Dance:

Masquerade dance is a common culture in Africa . Four main types of masquerade are identified by the roles they play: those who embody deities or nature spirits and to whom sacrifice is made to assure the fertility of land and people, those who embody the ancestral spirits, those who placate the spirits through their dance, and those who perform principally as entertainers.

The type of mask influences the style of the masquerade dance. The Ikpelweme ancestral masquerades of the Afemai people of Bendel State, Nigeria, wear richly coloured, close-fitting costumes with face masks and elaborate headpieces of embroidered cloth, which allow for a dance that accelerates into a climax of rapid, abrupt movement. The Egungun ancestral masquerades of Yorubaland appear in a ....

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Traditional Wrestling:

This is one of the traditional sports in African and is carried out mainly by young and energetic youths. In many towns, the sport is taken very seriously and of great importance. Yearly competitions between communities are staged. Before each year's competition, each community select and prepare their wrestler who will represent them. They have to present their best man because victory is of great price and importance.

On the D-day, all the communities gather at a selected community's town center with their wrestlers and followers. The young maidens and some other dance groups present their dance before commencement of the competition. It's of great entertainment and celebration. Great expectation, not only because of the price, which in the olden days may include the hand of the princess in marriage to whoever emerges the ....

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New Yam Festival:

Yam is a large root vegetable that looks like a tube. People often confuse a yam with a sweet potato. Yams come from Africa while sweet potatoes are from Asia.

In Igboland, the occasion of Iri-ji (new-yam eating) is a cultural festival because of its significance. It is a day of merriment and great happiness, a day everybody have been waiting for [After the months of hard labour and expectancy for the yam to mature, nobody is allowed to harvest and eat until it is announced, a day to eat [hence, the new yam festival day]. Individual communities, as agrarian people, have their days for this august occasion during which assortment of festivities mark the eating of new yam. To the Igbos, therefore, the day is symbolic of enjoyment after .....

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