Pomp, panoply of a cultural heritage

Monday, 14 December 2009 21:24

WITHOUT doubt, the remaining part of the transiting year has been largely a reassertion of the various cultural trappings of the disparate linguistic communes that make up the country.

While some of the cultural fetes have been held at a national scale providing a window for the collective expression of the different ethnic groups in the nation, others only earmarked the unique heritage of certain cultural identifications.

The Abuja Carnival for the year has come and gone, yet the indications of its success are still conspicous. It provided a platform for the collaborative representations of the exclusivity of Africa’s cultural vastness.

Barely a month ago, the Olojo Festival in Ile-Ife gave a binding credence to the long held belief that the locale is the cradle not just of human civilisation but of the emergence of the Yoruba race. The celebration was an ‘open sesame’ to the hegemonic complexities that placed Ile-Ife as the religious and political home of the Yoruba race.

The Ooni of Ife, Oba Sijuade Okunade, was typified as the only Yoruba deity among the over 200 deities in the Yoruba pantheon who could talk. With an air of sacrosanctity, he bore the Are crown which is believed to be one of the choicest heritages passed down by Oduduwa himself.

Indeed, it was a long week of the re-enactment of the diversities of the peculiarities of the indigenous cultures of Oyo State. The event was inaugurated on December 7, 2009 as it ran across till the 11th of the same month. The first day of the festival which was at the Lekan Salami Sports Complex, Adamasingba, Ibadan, had in attendance the executive governor of the state, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala among other dignitaries who had come to felicitate with the governor.

After the opening prayer, the traditional iwure by Alagba Adebayo Faleti was an oral performance which no doubt left many caught in the traditional linguistic beauty of the people of Oyo State. In her welcome address, the Honourable Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Alhaja Risikat Oyebimpe Alabi, stressed on the need for the authentic reaffirmation of the unique specifics of the cultural identity of the people of Oyo State.

In his speech, the state governor opined that “there has, for a long time, been a misconception of what cultural values stand for. A clear distinction should be made between religion and culture. One evil effect of colonialism is the assault on our culture. We were actively encouraged to forget our past.”

After the various romaticisation of the uniqueness of the people of the region, then took stage the carnival floats and different cultural performances by the local governments’ troupes and those from outside the state. It would be recollected that at the recently concluded Abuja Carnival, Oyo State was adjudged the best in terms of masquerade display. Equally the state came first in Best Float award.

The festival was spiced with logodance, egungun performance, culture fair, gangan/omele show, kembe/yeri display, beauty pageantry of the face of tourism in Oyo State, among others. This year’s edition was indicative of the interesting cultural ambience that will be created in the next edition.