332. Mokpwe End of the Year Cultural and TraditionalFestivals.

332. Mokpwe End of the Year Cultural and TraditionalFestivals.

Source: Oral narrations.

Ngando = a socialpublic celebration; a festival/

e-Ngando =Christmas.

efonda Ngando = the Christmas season.

Muuli –a hurricane.

Muyuli mendene = The Bakweri name for the monthof November, the month of severe hurricanes

Muyuli me Sali = The Bakweri name for the month of December, the month of mildhurricanes.

e-Ngando ya lisuku la Mwa. = the end of the year festival

e-Ngando ya ve-woteli ve Mwa Mofenya =the feast at the commencement ofa New Year.

Many years ago before the advent of the Whiteman, e-Mokpwe marked the end of a year andthe start of a New Year with Thanks Giving celebrations. It was a time for families to eat together Nguma Ngowa (young pigs), domesticchickens,, mefasu (big dry fish), ekpwa-koko and ngonya mosaka.

Dates for each feast were arranged every year at theprincipal markets of Muea, Misellele,Ewonji, Tiko, Gbwinga, Vatoke. End of year feast (e-Ngando ya lisuku la Mwa) was celebrated in themonth of December (Muyuli Sali) after the disappearance of thelunar month of November (Muyuli me Ndene). Then the start of a New Year feast was held soon after theappearance of the lunar month of January (Mbanje)

On the day of a feast youths of about 5-15 years in severalfamilies cooked their food under shelters in the open air within theircompounds. Boys erected the shelters and supplied wood and water while girlsprepared the food. The roofs of theshelters were covered with palm leaves.

Adults carried out their cooking at their homes.

In the afternoonElongi marched round the village singing:

“Eat and drink, but do not forget our Lord, the Creator” (“elee, e-nyo ee, esi keka lifonga Tata Iwonde”)

“A New Year withnew fashions” (“Mwa nofenya na veya fenya ee, Mwa mofenya)”. Yoo, veeva, yoo veeya, yoo veeva; meendidi o-see, meendidi o-see”)

Today the MokpweCultural and Traditional feasts of the End of the Year and the start of a New Yearare merged with Christmas and New Year seasons celebrations.

Oma nanu. Mbua Ndoko.

Mola Mbua Ndoko
P.o Box 38 Buea, South West Province
Cameroon, West/Africa
Tel/Fax: 33-32-25-35
Mobile/Cell:79-73-47-14
Website: http://www.mbuandoko.net

Comments

[Esuka Endeley]

Mola Daddy,

That's the picture of the year right there. These pots remind me of the days in the village where if you didn't beg for salt or kerosine from your neighbors within a two week period, you could be accused of witchcraft.

Mola Esuka

[Gervase Mbella Ndoko]

Hi Dad.

I sure do remember my kid days when you used to take us to Muea mo mbenge and to Wonyaweyo (south of Wolifamba) to join family and friends in celebrating these great festivals. I remember seeing the women cooking porage coco (poto poto coco) with "mololo" fish. WOW gone are those days. Do we still have the mololo fish and bonga fish anyone?

Attached is a picture of the kind of pots that were often seen used by the ladies at such festivals.

mbella ndoko

e mwana wa ma Mbua Ndoko.

esi keka lifonga Tata Iwonde

[Emil Mondoa, MD]

Mola Gervase:

Those are cast iron pots, which had the benefit of iron dissolving in the food in a form that the body could use nutritionally to treat iron deficiency. You may or may not recall that these kinds of heavy potbellly pots used to be manufactured in a foundry in Tiko, which later on became the plant for Tiko Soap. You can buy cast iron cookware in the US too, if you go to Target or Walmart, usually for grilling and frying under the trade name of "Lodge" and there is a high end enamel-lined variety of cast iron cookware called Le Creuset. Those heavy things are superior in many respects to the modern aluminium and stainless steel cookware.

Emil

Emil Mondoa, MD

PO Box 12263

Wilmington, DE 19850

[email protected]

[nanyongo]

oh Bakwerians where are we heading too?.
where are our past virtues and culture?
we better do somethg fast so as to leave a legacy for our children