Steemit Engagement Challenge Week 2 || Share your Country's Culture

Greatings dear steemians, I'm here once again to take part in the steemit engagement challenge week2 and today I will be taking about; share your country culture.

In my country Nigeria there are three major ethnic groups which are the Yoruba's from the western part of nigera,the igbo's from the Eastern part and the hausa's from the northern part of nigera. I'm from the northern part of Nigeria Taraba State to be precise, in Taraba State there are 16 local government area and all the local governments have there own languages and culture.Today I will be sharing my own culture with you guys that is the mummuye culture.

According to the history of my culture,the mummuye were enslaved by the jukun empire as such there where pushed out from their current locale from the 17th century. However the gain there independent back after the war between the Fulani's and the jukun in the year 1893.Since then the mummuye remain independent from the jukuns and the Fulani's even though the Fulani's still lives among them.

The mummuye language has the largest tribals groups in Taraba State and they are found in some local government area of Taraba State which includes; zing, yorro,Bali, Lau, Jalingo.They are widely found in many parts of the neighboring states.They mummuye believe and follows the traditional religions (belief that non-living object have spirit) they believe in different types of gods and spirit, which the sun(La) is the supreme being. Each of the village on mummuye land has a (tsafi) house where they keep images of their god's and sacrifices are also done there.the skull of the ancestors are kept by the clan leaders,this elders are called worshipers also the men have verious cult dealing with the ancestry,unseen power and drinking. During ceremonies horus and masks are worn,and dances are performed at their cultics rituals.one of the believe of the mummuye people is that there is no life after death.

In mummuye land there are several festival like the yam festival, Belle festivals and more.all are being celebrated in a unique way, but my favorite festival is the Belle festivals which is normally organized by the traditional religions Leaders called the (shon lansi),The celebration do take place every first month of the year that is January,but normally they starts by burning of the hills by setting fire in the bush to burn the ceremonials hills between yorro and zing local government area by the (kpaapo people) then after some weeks,the zing subclans will set their own fire and this is usually done in January 14th at the end of corn and millet harvest.

The ceremony starts with burning of bush around the hill on the eve of the festival, which the fire will continue burning till the next day. On the day of the festival all the shrines are kept clean and very neat, all the skull are purified,and women prepare different types of food, drinks and share it with friends and family after that the men and the women will go up to the hill where all the ritual and the hunting will take place and the this hunting is performed by the men.

During the occasion men and women dress in the native dress and beautiful beads, the native clothes is called Lantan, the men dress in the traditional shrouds and some of them dress with the Lantan alongside with there quivers and bows to demonstrate how to hunt.

The occasion is being lead by the Chief priest,he prays and chants by calling the names of the ancestors who were before him, All the skulls of those Chief priest who died long time ago will be brought out for remembrance, the ritual rites are performed until it's done before everyone will go back to the festival ground and continue with the remaining activities which are traditional dancing competition from the twelve subclans, after the computation they all come in line dancing after each other that is the most sweetest part of the festival that I love the most

Another one is the shooting and racing competition where the young ladies run a race to see who is more stronger than the other, and the compete to shot at a target, after the competition the best shooter will be announced as the the winner and will be given an award as the best shooter of the year.

In conclusion,the mummuye culture has been one of the best culture in Taraba State, people from far and near do come purposely to witness the festival every year.also the land is very fertile when it comes to farming of different types of crop, indeed the mummuye land is blessed and I'm so lucky to be called mummuye.