Nigeria's Sharo Cultural Festival

Sharo Cultural  Festival. Photo Credit : www.nigeriaworld.info

 The Sharo cultural festival is a very unique festival observed by the fulani tribes of northern Nigeria. Majority of the Fulani living in Nigeria are cattle rearers who usually migrate from the north to the southern part  of the country in search of greener pasture during the dry season for their animals. However, in celebration of one of their important culture “The Sharo Festival” they all return home during the raining season to prepare for it. This festival is normally allowed to coincide with any of the Muslim’s celebration days such as the Id-El-Kibir Or Id-el-Fitir as most fulanis are Muslim. Any young Fulani old enough to get marry certainly looks forward to this annual festival. Different and beautiful attires worn to match usually add color to this important celebration. To commence the festival, the young males form a very big circle and then the bride will walk out graciously to the centre to display her beauty. If the
bride has plenty of suitors that wishes to marry her, then the whole suitors will have to engage in a wrestling match to determine the strongest of all the suitors. The winner takes the bride. However, to confirm that the groom is really strong enough to take care of his wife, he faces another huddle of been beaten. If the groom endures the harsh strokes of wipe without crying, he finally becomes the authentic owner of the bride and goes home with her! What a crazy festival. Payment of dowry and gift of cow are also collect from the groom by the bride’s parents. The festival proceeds with a lot of sound emanating from the ganga drum. Dancing and merriment is usually accompanied with family re union of members. The Sharo festival can also be preformed to usher a new king into the kingdom. The significant of this festival are as follows: the lashing of the groom is to determine the willingness to undergo hard ship for his wife, it also teaches the man of how to endure nasty women behavior. His is supposed to take care and love of his wife unconditionally. The festival takes place all across the Fulani kingdoms. Fulanis are commonly found in states like Borno, Sokoto, Taraba, Gombe, Bauchi, Adamawa and Kebbi all in northern port of Nigeria.