_{background image Edited via Pixelap}

Introduction

Hello there, Esteem Steemians, I salute y'all in this beautiful Community. I believe you are all doing great. I love this community so much because of the type of contest they organized which are all of my great interest, most especially the one for this week because I have a lot to share about my tradition because the contest is all about our country's culture. I bet you y'all will love my culture as I will share some great moments about our culture.

Without waisting time, let me get straight into the game

---

---

About two weeks ago, I shared a very brief history about where I come from which is kom and was intending to continue and share about how special we usually celebrate during cultural festivals. Thanks for this contest that I will be able to use this opportunity to share about my culture festival Celebration

History And Origin Of Kom Cultural Festival

All tribes in Cameroon most especially in the Northwest, West, and literally regions are well known for their rich culture and touristic endowments because of their style of celebration during festivals, be it death, marriage or birth celebration known as "born house"

_{The AFO AKOM}

Now coming to my tribe which is KOM, our most celebrated festival is the "AFO AKOM ANNUAL DANCE". This dance is usually celebrated at the fons palace at Ilaikom.

This AFO AKOM is an ancient calved wood that possesses a lot of powers. It was even stolen and sold to the Americans but due to it's mysterious nature and confusion it caused, the Americans later return it back in Cameroon because of the ancient powers it posseses. Due to this special powers this statue posseses, we have so much pride in it and this is the reason why we decided to be having annual festival every December so as to celebrate and give special praises to this statue.

_{The Legends Of Kom}

It is believe that this statue posseses thousands of spirits within it and the fon of Kom usual see this statue only once his life during his reign as a Kom Fon which is only during his coronation as fon. But once he is not a fon, he can see it many times if he has the opportunity, but this is only when he hasn't be made fon yet. Why he can't see it, is because it is always considered as his embodiment which lives within him and give him special powers

_{Fon Of Kom During His Coronation}

The AFO AKOM is the most respected and admirational arifacs here in the Northwest and probably the whole of Cameroon which is not just because of the dance that is name after it but because of the super powers it posseses.
The annual dance us always held towards mid December and it always last for 2 to 3 days

This Statue was produced by late Foin Yuh the 7th and he named it "AFO AKOM" which means "Something belonging the Kom only". This Statue symbolizes love, peace, solidarity, hospitality, generosity, continuity, diversity, unity, sovereignty, justice and stability. It's Calving represent a royal statue that is standing behind the throne holding a baton besides its chest which is connected by a baffalo heads.

We the natives of KOM have so much pride in our fon and we honor and protect him even with our life's. We also honor our traditional rites, juju's and our sacred shrines. We always give praises to the rhythm of our drums and dance to the beautiful melodies. We enjoy our regalia of different colours with pride

---

---

How We celebrated AFO AKOM Cultural Festival

Now coming to how it's celebrated, it was strictly celebrated just by following our ancestors because of the traditional rituals they usually perform during the festival. But that had long change because we are in the modern world now though traditional rituals are usually carried out, but this time it's not in the public.

What we celebrate in public, is the general awareness of our tradition to the whole world to show how beautiful our festival looks like. The ritual part is usually performed at the shrine In sacred.

_{During AFO AKOM festival}

The reason behind this festival is to re-unit the children of Kom who are living apart in different areas in the world. When this festival is about to whole, Kom people will travel all over the world to the land of KOM where they will then move up to Ilaikom which is the fon's palace. The festival always last for about 3 days with a lot of cultural activities such as sports cultural dance of different types and mass display of masquerades different types

This event is regarded as the biggest event in the KOM kingdom and during the event, son's and daughters of KOM show out their culture to their Fon and the entire world of how the cherish it, the Fon in return uses the opportunity to tell their son's and daughters to always show and promote their culture where ever they maybe so that people can see how rich and beautiful KOM culture is.

During this festivals, I always enjoy mostly the part of masquerades displays. So luckily I still have some of the videos because I'm a man of tradition who love his culture with pride. More than 25 different masquerades usually perform during this period

The major dance groups During this festivals are Juju dance groups, Njong- Kom, Njang Wain, Kom Royal Dance, Chong group, and NJANG Fubom . The main meal we always eat during this cultural festival is Abain Ni Mbass which is translated as Corn fufu and vegetables, then Khati-Khati is always there to serve as meat

Celebration Proper

As I said, we usually have several dance groups During this festivals. Below, I will elaborate on how we usually Carry out celebration by different dance groups

1) CHONG DANCE GROUPS

This various CHONG groups are owned by titled Men who are highly respected in the Kom land because they always go through several types of initiations before owning a CHONG. This Chong dance is made up of only Old men but when they are displaying, women and children can also join in the dance

2) NJONG- KOM DANCE GROUP

_{Njong kom}

Njong Kom is regarded as the Kwifoin which is like the military of the Kom land because it is always display by a group of Men who constantly fire guns into the air which is an indication to the Fon that they are much ready for war so as to protect their land from any enemy

3) NJANG-FUBOM DANCE GROUP

This dance is usually display both by men, women and children so as to show case their rich culture to the world

4) NJANGWAIN DANCE GROUP

This dance group is strictly only for Old women . The songs usually sang are symbolic and euphemistic. The Old women always display by surrounding the compound then singing memorial songs while clapping their hands. The main objective of this songs during the festival is to affirm that the oral tradition of KOM is so special. At times during the display in the compound, both Men and children can join in dancing this NJANGWAIN because it has a very special dance

5) THE ROYAL DANNCE OF KOM WOMEN

At first, only the princesses of the kom land always performed to dance during the festival but it had long been changed into general dance particular for young ladies who are aspiring to get married because it is believe that they might be lucky to seduce men so that they can admirer and eventually get married to them. Most men fines that wife's that day during the dance

6) JUJU DANCE (Masquerades display)

This is one of the best moments during this festival because more than 30 different Juju groups are being displayed in the palace. This JUJU groups are strictly for men and it is restricted for a woman to ever enter any Juju house because of the rituals they usually perform before masking them selfs in other to go out and perform or when un-masking them selfs after performance. Below are various videos of some of the juju dance groups in my land which I had the opportunity to capture some.

_{During festival}

_{During Celebration}

---

Below are few videos of Juju in my land displaying during cultural festival and death celebrations. Hope you will enjoying it