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| Horse man in a Durba festival |
The Dubar festival is an annual festival celebrated in several cities of Nigeria.
This festival marks the end of Ramadan and is also shared with eid el
Kabir and eid el Fitri, Muslim holidays. It begins with prayers,
followed by a parade of the Emir and his entourage on horses,
accompanied by musicians, and ending at the Emir's palace. Durbar
festivals are organised in cities such as Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, Zaria and Bida, and are considered tourist attractions.
History
The Durbar festival was introduced to Nigeria by colonial administrators with political objectives in mind. The word Durbar is of Persian
origin and it was first linked to ceremonial assemblies marking the
proclamation of Queen Victoria as the Empress of colonial India in 1877.
In Nigeria, the events then were ceremonial in nature, the first Durbar
was held in 1911, subsequent ceremonies were held in 1924, 1925, 1948,
1960 and 1972. The ceremonies linked together pre-colonial aspects of
martial display, colonist created assemblies and celebrations of
important events in Northern Nigeria.
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| celebration of the Dubar festival in Kaduna |
Tags
Nigerian Heritage