Carnival Calabar

          On Wednesday, December 26 we carried our chairs and walked two miles down to where the children’s carnival parade was going to be.  We were told it started at 9 am.  At about 3 pm a Cross River State carnival cultural parade went past and then finally the children’s parade came by at 5 pm.  We had to leave at 5:45 to start walking home to make sure we didn’t walk in the dark.  We were down near the part of town we were told to avoid.  Most of the day we were in the shade but we still got really warm waiting for it to start.

                                       These men are holding the cow tail whips which represent strength and power.                      Around their ankles were shells that rattled.

This is one of the groups we paid a tip to.  We have a video of their presentation.

           We were able to see many different tribes represented.  Some of the drums looked so heavy to carry.  We did see one group with brass instruments.  I took a picture of the tuba for my dad.  In Nigeria, it is common to see woman wearing fabric in bright patterns wrapped around them for a skirt with a matching head scarf.  The men also wear the fabric skirt but only for special cultural occasions.  The men usually also use canes when they wear the skirt.

Carnival Culture Parade

Carnival Culture Parade

          Some individuals or groups perform for you and expect a tip.  While Clint was rounding up some lunch for us at the sidewalk cuisine, I had an unwelcome performer.  First, he proceeded to burn his arm with a flaming poker, and then he licked the flame and finally lifted his shirt and burned his chest several times.  I could see the burn marks on his skin he got so close.  Just before this man came up to me one of our drivers spotted me and had come over to say hi.  I was so glad because he was able to tell the man to leave me alone.  I had taken a couple pictures of him before he approached me.  The driver asked me if I was taking a video and I said no.  I was watching him and ready to get out of my chair if he got any closer.  I did not pay him. When Clint was back and a group came by we did pay them for their performance.  They were really good and respectful to us.

Carnival Children's Parade

Carnival Children's Parade

Carnival Children's Parade

Carnival Children's Parade

          Today was the main event, the big Carnival Calabar parade.  We left a little later this time and only had to walk a mile to where this parade was scheduled to go by.  This one came through our safer neighborhood.  We took our chairs again so we had a place to sit.  We did ask how much it cost to sit on the metal bleachers but it was 10,000 Naira which is about $70.  They were shaded but it still didn’t sound like a good use of our money.  We parked ourselves in a transit booth so we had shade.  As the afternoon came so did the local spectators.  We ended up sharing our booth with people standing behind us.  About 5 pm crowds of people were starting to stand in front of us and we politely reminded them where the police had said the barrier was.

I looked pretty bad in my casual tourist collection after sitting for 7+ hours waiting for the parade to start.

Main Event - Carnival Calabar Parade

Main Event - Carnival Calabar Parade

Main Event - Carnival Calabar Parade

          Finally, as it was getting dark around 6 pm the parade came down our street.  We finally got up and moved onto the road so we could see and told the people we had sat there all day to get good seats to see their carnival and planned to see it and take lots of pictures.  Some of the people were really nice about it.  One guy started cussing at everyone else to move out of our way.  The police helped move people back for awhile but when they left the crowd became ridiculous.  I stood on my chair and still couldn’t see.  We decided just to leave at 6:30.  We only saw a small fraction of the parade but the people were starting to act out of control and now it was totally dark.  When we got back to our compound the gate was open and the guard wasn’t around.  I locked the gate when we came in.  I was really glad to be home.  We both decided we had enough of the whole Christmas Festival and Carnival activities unless we are escorted.

          One kind of funny thing happened.  A man came up to us and asked if he could take our picture with some of his friends.  I said sure why not we are taking pictures of all of you.  The funny thing was about five girls one at a time posed between Clint and I and one of them had the nerve to sit on his lap.  I didn't notice it or I would have said Clint needs a tip for that one.  Poor Clint he was a good sport.  Parades are not his thing and then we sat for hours in the heat with nothing to do.  The arm on his chair broke yesterday so he couldn't lean back and relax after that.  Then to top off his day he broke off one of his front teeth.  I am surprised he wanted to smile at all today.