In Lagos, colorful carnivals mark yuletide

Yuletide comes once a year as a special season of great festivity, hosting carnivals more than any other known festive period. In Lagos, the celebration of yuletide through colorful, fun filled public festivals, involving music and dancing in the streets from dusk till dawn, as well as colourful carnival parades is now the norm. Absolutely, street carnivals are the biggest social and cultural events on the calendar of Lagos metropolis every Christmas.

This increasingly popular fad has its roots in the colourful street carnival parades of Lagos Island, which dates back to the late 19th century, precisely 1888,  often described as the emancipation period, when Emancipados-Slaves returnee and their descendants from Brazil, Bahia, Salvador, Sierra Leone, Liberia and other countries were repatriated to Lagos. They settled in Campos area, otherwise called Popo Aguda and Brazilian Quarters, before spreading to Olowogbowo, Lafiaji and other localities within the precincts of Lagos.

As part of their strong cultural retention from Brazil, the returnees often held Caretta Parades (later known as Fanti) to commemorate important occasions. Over time, the colourful and entertaining street carnival parades became entrenched as part of the culture of Lagos Island indigenes; which is being replicated across the length and breadth of Lagos State by indigenes and non-indigenes alike, especially at Christmas.    

In Lagos, yuletide, every year, is marked by the migration of music, dance, and fun loving youths from all parts of the metropolis to Lagos Island, to the highly entertaining, colourful and exotic Fanti Carnivals which originated from the Brazilian quarters.  In 1997, the colorful and popular Fanti Carnival Parade was adopted by Oko Faaji and Epetedo settlements of Lagos Island, which encouraged its replication by other neighbourhoods within and outside Lagos State. Before then, for close to a hundred years, social street carnivals were exclusive to Campos, Lafiaji and Olowogbowo settlements of Lagos Island.

From Ikeja, Surulere, Festac Town, Somolu, Amuwo Odofin to Badagry, carnivals are now common place. The long list include, Ikeja Central Carnival (Ikeja), Love Garden Fiesta (Surulere), Abba Carnival (Amuwo Odofin), Somolu Central Carnival (Somolu), Zion Carnival (Ebute Ikorodu), Ikosi Carnival (Ikosi Agbowa-Epe), Rail Line Carnival (Mushin), and Alagomeji Carnival(Yaba), among others.

With carnivals brought near home into neighbourhoods, many assumed that the popular Fanti Carnivals of Lagos Island would be scanty in 2011. No, it remained a Mecca of sorts for yuletide revelers from nooks and crannies of Lagos metropolis hooked on its glamour and razzmatazz. A resident of the island and a fan of the Lafiaji Fanti Carnival, Olabisi Dosunmu said the 2010 edition was a success like prior editions because the carnival remained a uniting factor which brings people together from far and near.

“People come from everywhere, even from outside Lagos Island for the carnival and it’s fun, fun, fun all the way,” said Ms. Dosunmu, who added that she always looks forward to the Lafiaji Fanti Carnival at Christmas and during the Easter celebrations. “The one done during Christmas is always interesting, but the Easter one is always the best because more people come in from abroad, particularly our people coming in from abroad.”

Even Sunday Olayinka, who works on Lagos Island, has made a habit of attending its street carnivals. “I don’t miss it for anything,” he said. “Everyone is free, even the foreigners that come, and the good part is also that there is no disturbance and it is free of violence.”

Heralded by colourful balloons and tapes hung on streetlamps and electric poles, yuletide and its myriad carnivals across Lagos metropolis, demands a lot of hard from street carnival organisers. Preparations vary across settlements in the metropolis, but Campos and Lafiaji carnival groups have similar preparations. Fanti is heralded by series of singing and dancing practices, costume making and the dispatch of a motorcade to Surulere (New Lagos) and other parts of Lagos to keep sons and daughters of Lafiaji, Campos and Olowogbowo resident outside Lagos Island abreast of developments. Often, loose pamphlets detailing progress reports and other relevant carnival information are distributed.

Fanti Carnival enjoys sponsorship support from multinationals such as Coca-Cola, but organizers of most of the motley carnivals across the state cannot boast of the same. Funding is aggressively solicited from residents, even as rough and tough looking youths set up barricades on inner city streets to enable them extract compulsory donations from commuting non-residents. This sets the tone for the various violence-prone street carnivals which marred last Christmas celebration in some parts of Lagos State.

Though not entirely violence free, the centuries old Fanti Carnivals of Lagos Island remain the best organized and most attended of all yuletide carnivals. Strong on pedigree, the three original Fanti groups are identified by their conspicuous colours and logos, which depict their respective community. The Brazilian Campos Caretta Carnival colours are green and yellow with bull as their symbol and Great Campos as its motto. The symbol of Olowogbowo is tiger while its slogan as “Olowogbowo Ekun” and is referred to as Illustrious Olowogbowo Fancy Carnival Association. At the eastern axis of the city is Lafiaji Fanti Carnival which was formerly called Lafiaji Boys and Girls with red and white colour.

Others are Oko-Faji which uses white, blue and red colours and Epetedo district which uses white and blue were inducted into the carnival family about 15 years ago. The most recent inclusion to the carnival is the Isale-Eko Woro carnival group which uses white and green.

Unlike most of the new phony inner-city carnivals, the Fanti Carnivals of Lagos Island are deeply rooted in strong African-Brazilian cultural background of its early exponents. The districts (Lafiaji, Campos and Olowogbowo) work hard to outclass each other in terms of costume quality, entertainment content, choice of elected captain and queen, as well as the quality of carnival float deployed, every year.

Traditionally, each carnival trains consist of flag bearers, children in bright costumes, men and women in exotic attires similar to those adorned by participants of Rio, West Indies and the Nothing hill carnivals, as well as former captains on horses in full regalia. There are always two main floats, that of the carnival queen and the Captain (or Numero Uno).

For three consecutive years, the Lagos State Government through its annual Christmas beautification initiative has added colour to the ambience of Lagos, a city of bubbly street carnivals and fanti parades at yuletide.