Muslim cultural displays, where government exercises cultural tolerance in a crisis situation
Muslim cultural displays, where
government exercises cultural tolerance in a crisis situation
By Sah Terence Animbom
Ever since the crises rocking
the two English speaking regions of Cameroon showed its ugly head in 2016,
several aspects of the peoples’ culture have been eroded. Cultural displays
which used to be a rallying force bringing communities together have been showed
the door out by what is now known as the Anglophone crises. This is because;
village communities which used to host these cultural jamborees have been
severely hit by the socio political crises.
For close to three years now,
the population of Bamenda and the North Rest Region as a whole has been
deprived of several aspects of culture like traditional gun firing, traditional
dances, traditional songs and you name the rest.
That long period of deprivation
was taken care of last Wednesday June 5th 2019 during the Muslim
feast of Ramadan that was celebrated with a lot of cultural displays. From the
Muslim prayer ground near GBHS downtown Bamenda passing through Sonac Street to
commercial Avenue and back to Old Town Bamenda, the population of Bamenda was
given a taste of what is in the Muslim culture by the Muslim faithful.
Muslim faithful from all
walks of life, the old, the young, both boys and girls accompanied their Sariki
, in a rich cultural manifestation that pulled a mammoth crowd who turned out
to feed their eyes while taking pictures.
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| Muslim boys from old town with mystical charms |
Usman buba is a muslim
faithful, who says “The cultural display known in Haussa as Yihou is a very
important aspect in our culture. As Haussas, we have a culture, not our religion
which is Islam. Our culture is being visited on this day, it’s a day that we
show our mystical prowess, we show our military might, what we have, what we can
do, when it comes to mysticism and self protection.
The Muslim community is always happy on this day to display part
of our culture through dancing, the display of spears and swords .In using the
cutlass or knives and spears on our bodies without causing any harm is still
part of our culture, you know Muslims and Haussas are people who are trained to fight with the sword and love
fighting with the sword and the stick.
it is a moment for us to revive this culture
so that our junior ones can learn them so that in order to preserve our culture.
”With the massive turn out of both the old and the young, the fear of
discontinuity has been taken care of. Continuity is sure as the young ones are there
to ensure that, the rich Yihou cultural display which is one of the most
cherished part of the Muslim feast of Ramadan is sure to continue. The active
participation of the young ones as young as five-years-old tells you that this
culture will go nowhere anytime soon.
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| Old Town Boys in ecstatic displays along Bamenda Commercial avenue on Ramadan (photo credit SAHTERA) |
A
human rights analyst however analyzed that the government in the case of the
Muslims is exercising cultural tolerance, reasons why it cannot arrest the
mysterious Muslim boys. He also said the Muslims are a minority community and
taking any drastic action towards them will be infringing on minority rights.
Worthy
of not is the fact that, cultural festivals like the LELA for the Bali people,
The Ngon Nso for the Nso people, and many others have gone mute because of the
Anglophone crises. People who were well known to be rooted in mystical cultural
activities now live in fear as it is alleged that such people feed the
separatist fighters with charms that make them untouchable.
The Yihou cultural display thus remains the only
cultural display that makes use of weapons
of warfare like swords, spears, daggers and machetes still allowed in
the Anglophone regions of Cameroon at the moment. 
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