Nigerians take to the streets for Calabar Carnival

December 29, 2024

in World

Reading Time: 8 mins read

Christmas revellers descended on Nigeria’s southern port metropolis of Calabar this weekend for its festive carnival dubbed “Africa’s greatest road social gathering”.

[Emmanuel Adegboye / EPA]

The glitzy parade had floats and dancers from lots of Nigeria’s totally different ethnic teams collaborating.

A woman in silver carnival skirt and waistcoat outfit helps a fellow participant in matching clothes lace up her gold boots - Calabar, Nigeria — [Olympia De Maismont / AFP]

A month of celebrations in December attracts many partygoers to Calabar, the capital of Cross River state and residential to many Christian communities. The organisers say as much as two million folks attend, the AFP information company stories.

[Olympia De Maismont / AFP]

A group of men taking part in the Calabar Carnival pose for a photo in black trousers, black braces and sunglasses. Their chests are bare and covered in gold glitter. Some are wearing black bow ties. — [Olympia De Maismont / AFP]

A minimum of 14 bands have reportedly taken half in performances and competitions this 12 months.

A group of men dressed in white outfits and black large brimmed hats blow trumpets as they parade down a street in Calabar, Nigeria — [Olympia De Maismont / AFP]

Many of the carnival goers danced to Afrobeats hits, blaring from big audio system.

Women in silver outfits and gold-brimmed straw hats with chains hanging from their smile as they pose for the camera in Calabar, Nigeria — [Olympia De Maismont / AFP]

The carnival is marking 20 years because it was began. “We’re seeing totally different designs, totally different costumes,” attendee Grace Job informed AFP. “The vitality is a lot.”

Four women in sequin outfits and purple feathered headdresses attached to manilla like horns at the Calabar carnival smile at the camera — [Emmanuel Adegboye / EPA]

The carnival attracts all kinds of individuals to the streets. The troupe pictured under is from the College of Calabar – with costumes printed with the establishment’s brand.

[Olympia De Maismont / AFP]

A number of the costumes referenced the town’s hyperlinks to the Atlantic slave commerce. The one under depicts manillas – the brass bracelets launched as a type of forex by Portuguese merchants and used from the sixteenth to the nineteenth Centuries.

A man in a gold sequin outfit with a giant manilla behind him holding up gold wings takes part in a carnival in Calabar, Nigeria — [Emmanuel Adegboye / EPA]

This girl’s outfit harks again to colonial instances and is dressed as a large British West Africa penny from the reign of UK monarch George VI. Nigeria gained its independence from Britain in 1960.

A woman dressed as a giant 1937 British West Africa penny parades down a street in Calabar, Nigeria — [Olympia De Maismont / AFP]

A woman in a large straw hat and off-the-shoulder outfit holds a pink electric fan as she takes part in the carnival in Calabar, Nigeria — [Olympia De Maismont / AFP]

“Everyone seems to be attempting to showcase the custom and the tradition,” 25-year-old dancer and civil engineering undergraduate Rejoice Elemi informed AFP

Parade onlookers look through the legs of performers in gold boots and pink and orange — [Emmanuel Adegboye / EPA]

At a stadium in Calabar on Friday evening Nigerian music stars Runtown and Iyanya carried out at a carnival live performance. Calas Vegas went on to received the coveted title of finest carnival band – for the second 12 months working.

A performer in a gold outfit with gold glove sleeves and large silver headdress does jazz hands during the Calabar Carnival — [Olympia De Maismont / AFP]

Cross River State state sees the carnival – now Nigeria’s greatest – as a manner to attract guests not simply from throughout Nigeria – but in addition these from the diaspora.