Steem4Nigeria Weekly Contest - My Town and Civilization || by @chilaw || 20th July, 2022

Hello friends, it's been a while since I used my blog but I am glad to engage us once again here. This time I will be participating in the ongoing contest in our noble community @steem4nigeria on the topic "My Town and Civilization". I will be making my submission using the contest hints for specificity.

What are some of the histories of your town before civilization?

I am from a village somewhere in Abia state which happens to be a state in Nigeria, located in the South Eastern part of the country. My home town is made of a local government in Isuikwuato with a population index of over 5,000 persons resident in it on or off-peak periods. There are so many historic practices inherent in my home town which makes it unique and acceptable to date.

The use of masquerades during the yuletide seasons has been one of the remarkable things which have thrived before and after the civilization era. It is observed to add colorful intrigues during the ceremonies. A situation whereby participants throw leaves on masquerades and are been chased. Anyone caught up in the masquerade by a touch of a knife (metal or wooden) pays with a live goat to the organizers of this festival.

In a real live exhibition, the masquerades are used on the 25th of December, and any other market day is assigned for the last event before the year rolls over. But more interestingly, in addition to a neighboring town's masquerade exhibition, this is usually done every second week of November of the year. New masquerades are created, and immediately after a 3-day exhibition and fan fair, another group is exhibited but at this time they come with charms. These local charms are used relatively as a challenge to each other whereby a given masquerade can cause numbness and walk-stability (lack of motion) of another masquerade.

Do the people of your town still keep some of the old practices.

Most of these festivals with masquerades are gradually fading away. This is due to the civilization and advent of strong religious activities in most areas that vis-a-vis preach against indulging in masquerade activities that run contrary to beliefs and faith inherent in those localities.

These activities are still in place, but the drive and fun it creates ordinarily before now are almost lost. People no longer find it alluring. For instance, during this period, come of the churches around this area send out their youths on religious camping where they are housed, fed, and worshiped in a town outside these localities.

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From history or as a witness, what are the things you miss about the old practices before civilization?

The fun and crowd this event pulls are one of the drivers and unity it creates in the mind of many within this period. Natives of this town come back to mark this festival with a masquerade display but this is no more as compared today. In recent times, due to the advent of civilization and religious awareness, people no longer find masquerade activities appealing.

Just as earlier mentioned, the use of local charms during the second phase of events has also been scrapped for fears of being abused. Most people see this as unappealing as these magical displays were some of the key highlights of this festival.

Also, the use of goats as a means of repayment to those who were caught by the masquerade during the masquerade chase games has been removed due to economic issues. People no longer afford the purchase of these goats and if enforced, reduces the participation of natives in the event.

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Do you prefer the changes civilization has brought to your town or vice versa?

Indecisive!!! I am part and parcel of both eras and had a feeling of both. Pre-civilization distortion of this festival was fun to attend where we have large gatherings of people in attendance, masquerade chases, and participants race to avoid being fined with goats as repayment. There was a whole lot of oneness seen amongst everyone.

Post civilization era brought about less crowd, less drive, and overall entertainment of events. Though the reasons for this post-civilization effect are genuinely based on the economic impacts, and security or abuse of events.

I think the pre-civilization is quite better than what is obtainable given a condition that most of the fears of civilization effects are handled.

Thank you my people for reading through my submission.