Nigeria, a kaleidoscope of cultures, finds its most vibrant expression through its cultural festivals. These celebrations are more than mere events; they are the soul of the nation, pulsating with life, tradition, and an unyielding spirit.
While exploring these festivals that proudly exhibit our diverse cultural heritage and ethnic groups, I stumbled upon a sad reality.
What began as an attempt to spotlight cultural festivals in Nigeria dedicated to honouring women was met with a hiccup that could not be navigated or dismissed. I found that women were not just absent at the heart of cultural festivals but constantly shunned from them. Many cultural festivals in Nigeria impose strict rules that limit or prohibit entirely women’s participation.
Cultural festivals with restrictions on women
What proved to be a more accessible search was cultural festivals around Nigeria that had restrictions on women, and it was also jarring to find that often, these restrictions were very detrimental to women, even leading up to death.
Here are a few:
Oro Festival
The Night Masquerade, also known as Oro, is one of several cultural practices well rooted within the Yoruba people in southwestern Nigeria. As its name implies, the outing of this masquerade is usually at night. The masquerade is believed to be an adult male member of society. This person traditionally walks about the town nakedly in the company of numerous other adult male members of society, performing rituals and appeasing the gods. Generally, women are forbidden from viewing this masquerade, and any woman who violates this rule is put to death to appease the gods.
Women’s mobility is severely curtailed whenever the night masquerade is scheduled to tour the town, confining them to their homes. This confinement has tragically resulted in the loss of lives, particularly in medical emergencies. Women have been prevented from accessing urgent healthcare due to the masquerade’s presence, including pregnant women in labour. The deaths of mothers and unborn children are heartbreaking consequences of this custom.
Another particularly tragic incident linked to the festival occurred in 1999, when a communal clash erupted between the Yoruba and Hausa communities in Sagamu, Ogun State. The conflict was ignited when a Hausa woman ventured out during the festival, leading to a brawl that claimed the lives of over 50 people. The government and people of Nigeria will never forget how innocent lives were sent to early graves as the Yorubas, adherents of the Night Masquerade, claimed that the Hausa residents had disrespected their cultural traditions by failing to stay indoors during the festival. Conversely, the Hausa people argued that the Yorubas had indiscriminately attacked them.
Commenting on the clash, the late Dr. Frederick Faseun, leader of the Yoruba Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), said,
“You know that the traditional Oro festival was going on when a woman, a guest among the Yoruba, violated the tenets of the festival. When the festival is on, no woman of any nationality should behold the Oro, be it an Italian, English, American, South African, or Yoruba; no woman should behold the Oro with naked eyes. The penalty for such violation is death, no matter who the woman is.”
Durbar Festival
The Kano Durbar Festival, often described as Nigeria’s Most Spectacular Horse parade, is cultural and religious and celebrated as a core part of Hausa culture. The procession is done strictly by men dressed in magnificent robes and turbans, many with one ‘ear’ or two sticking out, denoting their royal lineage. Yinka, a tourist who attended the festival, reports, “Everything impressed me; it was my first Durbar experience—the diversity in their display and the boldness in Northern design and fashion. I was disappointed by the lack of participation of women at the festival. All the showpeople in the community display I saw were men.”
New Yam Festival
Another festival that exhibits substantial restrictions against women is the New Yam festival in Esan land, done in September when the year is considered a small year, and in October when the year is considered a big year. It lasts for a full day.
On the day of this ceremony that heralds the new yam festival, some rituals are done in a room where the paraphernalia/insignia of the ancestors are kept. The room (which is in the Edionwele’s house) is only accessible to the chief priest and a few men who enter with him. Women are never admitted into the room, in or out of season. Therefore, no woman ever knows what is in the room; they can only imagine.
It is believed that any woman who enters the room knowingly dies during childbirth, and if she enters accidentally, she must appease the gods/ancestors with a she-goat, kola nuts, cowries, and gin. After the sacrifice of the goat is done in that room, young girls who have not started flowering (menstruation) are invited by the chief priest to join the men to cook the food for the gods, but women are not allowed to eat from the food. The women of the community cook separately and celebrate the ceremony themselves.
Masquerade Festivals
The Igbo Masquerade Festivals are another cultural practice that strongly distinguishes between genders. The masquerade cults themselves are an exclusively masculine subculture within the community that guards the identity of men and masquerades. However, many women in the Igbo culture played certain roles during the festivals with limitations; during celebrations or festivals, women’s roles were restricted to female deities. Women are in charge of only the female and small divinities (owned personally by them), while males have always been in charge of male and bigger divinities (owned collectively by the community).
Zangbeto Festival
Zangbetos are the traditional voodoo guardians of the night in the Yoruba religion of Benin and Togo, known as the “Nightwatchmen.” They are highly revered and act as an unofficial police force patrolling the streets, especially at night, watching over people and their properties and tracking down criminals. Once they are on the streets, women are not allowed to be out either.
Sharing her personal experience, Iyamar, a tourist from Nigeria in Port Novo, Benin, told us,
“My friends and I didn’t exactly attend the festival; we just passed by at night, and we got aggressively stopped by one of the members who told us that women weren’t allowed to see them as they were all naked. I was asked to cover my eyes, which I did, and they also asked for some coins (CFA), which they gave their leader to appease them before they finally let us leave. I haven’t attended the event since that happened.”
With so many restrictions, where do women stand?
Determined to find at least one festival where women were central, I made one final attempt at an in-depth search and found the Ariginya Festival, but it wasn’t long before I realised this wasn’t a celebration of women but of society’s expectation of what women ought to be.
The Ariginya Festival is commonly celebrated in one of the Ondo State towns called Ikare Akoko. This festival is said to be one of the foremost traditional festivals celebrated in this town since its inception. The festival is one of many festivals that is set to celebrate virginity and chastity among female genders, as the greatest virtue of a woman is her virginity.
A virtuous woman is known for her worth and the high value of decency and purity. The festival is said to help improve the mindset of dignity and purity and the value of a woman staying “pure” and “reserved” until the wedding and only to her husband.
Certainly, this was not a festival that truly represented and celebrated women.
How do women challenge the norm of cultural festivals?
A good place to start would be to ascertain if a change is possible. Can we truly challenge cultural norms that hold no regard for women? Can the cultural custodians who have shown readiness to adopt very extreme measures—including murder—to preserve their beliefs be challenged without ramifications?
Government intervention may prove ineffective in addressing the issue as traditional rulers, though lacking formal constitutional authority, wield significant influence over tradition and culture within their domains.
Over time, they have evolved into the primary custodians of tradition and culture, wielding greater influence than the government within their communities. For instance, the emir of Kano is generally regarded as second only to the Sultan of Sokoto among Muslim traditional rulers in Nigeria. Many people in Kano (Nigeria’s second-largest city) accord him greater respect than they do secular institutions of government. As with other traditional rulers, many Nigerians prefer to use the emir for dispute resolution rather than the civil courts.
Women undoubtedly possess the agency and capability to voice their opinions and advocate for change in a society marked by gender bias, especially concerning cultural festivals. It is within the power of women to address these issues and push for a more inclusive and equitable environment. Men, too, can play a crucial role in supporting women’s participation and advocating for their fair treatment at cultural events. The shift towards creating space for women in roles traditionally dominated by men is not only possible but essential for fostering a more balanced and just society.
