German Carnival And Nigerian Lagos Carnival

Every year before the easter celebrations is the carnival in Germany. The carnival usually starts with the 'fastnachtskampagne'. It is usually done indoor officially with the committee of the carnival, and they have some politician in attendant who also dress up in costumes. This usually takes place between November 11  at 11:11 AM (11th month, day, hour, and minute). And it runs till 'Ash Wednesday' which makes it 46  days before Easter Sunday. In some part of Germany the street carnival comes up on Rose Monday (Rosenmontag),here in Grünstadt the carnival is celebrated on Tuesday "Faschingdienstag". The Street Carnival is always colourful, as the young and older people dresses up in carnival costumes to participate in the carnival as all the participants walk across the main street in colourful costumes. Some of them go 
in a carnival wagon or trucks with music, food, and other gift items such as; candy, popcorn and so on. They throw these items at the people standing along the street to cheer them up. 

Grünstadt Street Carnival takes place today, as all the carnival clubs members parades in beautiful costumes. Starting from the Grünstadt City Hall. Although the weather was not so nice, raining and very cold but this couldn't stop the carnival, and the people still have their fun. The groups parades start at 2:20pm. 

This is also the first time for me to take part in the celebrations of carnival here in 
Germany. Most times I just watched the people as they paraded in their beautiful costumes but today I took pride in using few carnival costumes to honour the occassion. I also learned that Carnival is a christian festivity that takes place in many Roman Catholic countries in the last days and hours before the Lenten period. 

Lagos Carnival Nigeria. 

In Nigeria some christians do not really celebrate carnival because they believe carnival is a pagan festival. However, there are people who still celebrate carnival in Nigeria even though they don't really know the origin of the festival, in Africa (Nigeria and Rwanda). For example, in Nigeria, there are different kind of carnivals across the country. The two famous carnivals, is the Calabar carnival and the Lagos carnival. These two carnivals are well known internationally. But I will like to talk more about the Lagos carnival because I was born and raised in Lagos Nigeria as a child. So, Lagos carnival also known as the "Fanti Carnival" of Lagos Island it usually folks festival which holds annually in Lagos, the carnival celebrations is totally different from what we see here in Germany. 

According to Mr Oladokun James, a Lagosian and a civil servants, he explained the origin of the Lagos carnival. The  carnival is said to have been dates back to the Lagos colonial period when the Brazilian former slave returnees came back to reside in Lagos in the 19th Century.The event is usually centred on Lagos Island, filled with carnival trucks displays of beautiful costumes and various forms of entertainment including music and dancing. The carnival portrays a taste from a broad and diverse range of source mixture of Nigerian and Brazilian heritage.

Fanti carnival was brought to Lagos Island by the Brazilians who settled down around Campos area of Lagos Island here in Lagos state Nigeria. The names of the families behind the carnival is the Da souza family and Kanaku family. There are two well known carnival groups on the Lagos Island which are the Lafiaji carnival with a red and white costume and the Campos (Brazilians)  carnival with a gold and green costume , although, there are some other carnival groups,and they are as follow;  Epetedo carnival with a blue and white costume, Olowogbowo carnival with a yellow
and white costume, Okoo-faji carnival with a red,green and white costume, Obalende 
carnival with blue and yellow costume and Isale-Eko woro carnival with green and white costume.The carnival is just to catch fun all around the local community and it gives a chance of meeting new friends and loved ones  within and outside Nigeria, because people travel down to have fun too from abroad and it even serves as a tourist attraction to Lagos state, beacuse the carnival comes up just three times in a year; The christmas day, New year celebration and the Easter celebration.

The only flaws attached to it was the battle of supremacy amongst the two major carnival groups which so many times turned to serious violence,injury to the party, and lost of properties most of the times: and that led to the government intervention and was later hijacked by the state government during the Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola administration and was later rebranded to "Lagos carnival", However, there are carnival in other local government areas of Lagos state; for instance, the Ojo Local Government Area Street Carnival usually comes up during the Easter period. 
This is unlike the Lagos carnival where people put on beautiful costumes, in Ojo carnival only the Carnival Queen dresses up in a gorgeous and beautiful costume, every other person only wear customize T-shirts to celebrate the occasion. And also, everyone of the organizers of the carnival are expected to pay some amount of money for the carnival celebrations. Moreso, the carnival organizers will close some 
part of the streets and collect money from car and bus drivers who use the road on this day for a good will project.  

Festivals are one of the oldest traditions of mankind, There are other festivals that is similar to carnival that is been celebrated in some African countries. Most of the African peoples were brought to the Caribbean as slaves from countries in West and Central Africa; and this include Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Ivory Coast and so on. And today some people in Nigeria take part in this Caribbean festival and other rituals. This Caribbean tradition is practice among the Yoruba people in Nigeria, as they see it as strong civilisation and socialisation. 

Another example of such festivals is the "Kwita Izina" Event in Rwanda. Speaking with Solange Buch from Sausenheim, a native of Rwanda who immigrated to Germany by marriage some years ago, and a Kindergarten teacher. She said there are no carnival celebration in Rwanda, that the first time she witnessed a carnival was in Germany. During one of the Grünstadt Street Carnival and in this time she has no Knowledge about carnivals since she has not seen such in her country. Although the Rwandan celebrate other traditional festivals such as; FESPAD, Umuganura, and Kwita Izina. 

 

As for me, I have never partook in any carnival in Nigeria because my father always advised us his children to stay at home during such festival because it could lead to violence. Carnivals are meant to be fun but in the case of Nigerian carnival, this could lead to violence and lost properties and serious injury without any compensation from the Government to the affected victims. I have never be a fan of carnival, until my childhood love for social events like carnivals and other festivals was rekindled through my participation in the German's carnival. How sweet! To see the people on the carnival floor singing and laughing. 

"Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days"- (Colossians 2:16). 

Let us preserve our heritage because our cultural heritage is the mirror to the world. No matter where we go, our culture goes with us because culture never die. Culture is the identity of a person or a nation. Not even the rain or the cold weather could stop the street carnival from taking place today, how cool! To see the people who know the importance of culture or carnival. I also noticed that the event is like a social meeting where people could use the opportunity to advertise their products and shows. 

Halau! Helau! Helau! Is the greetings on carnival days in Germany!