Yea, I know you'll be wondering "who as the gut to flog a whole king", I was once in the same shoes as you are right now, wondering why and how, until I experienced it myself, and if you stick around till the last dot of this article, you've have equipped yourself with enough knowledge about the EBI KILAJOLU FESTIVAL.
The EBI KILAJOLU FESTIVAL is a festival celebrated among the Epe people of Lagos state Nigeria, and presently as I write this article, the festival is been held in Epe since about two days ago.
Note: The kilajolu festival is significant for the fact that citizens willing lay down their back for thorough flogging, citizen's also engage in flogging Challenge with their pair group, to show how strong they are or how much they can withstand pain.
EBI KILAJOLU FESTIVAL
The festival always kickstart year with masquerade kilajolu visiting the palace of Oba Epe to pay homage to the king and as well complete the Spiritual rite, the king will come out to attend to the masquerade and other Spiritual leaders in the palace premises.
The king will then hold the hands of the masquerade and say some prayers and incantations, after which he'll present two cane to the masquerade, the masquerade will flog him and once that his done, the Epe people believe that once the king as been beaten, then no one is above their flogging or dare stand in their way.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FESTIVAL
- The main purpose of the festival yearly is for the cleansing and purification of the land and it people.
- It's believe that after the festival, miracle begins to happen, like people getting what they always longed for and the likes.
- It's believe that, as much a you willingly lay down your back for floging, is how your problems will be flogged out and gives room for blessings to go in.
- One unique thing above the festival is that it'll surely rain on the day the festival was been held, it doesn't matter if the weather forecast state otherwise, it'll rain, and it's said that the rain is a sign of an answered prayers and acceptance of sacrifice by for god's.
WHAT I LIKE ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
The kilajolu festival is source of blessings to the people of epe, and it environs,as the festival as ushers in;
- Tourist from different parts of the country and the world at large. Epe is unique for having many species of fishes that are filled with important nutrition and vitamins our body needs, so this also aid the reasons why tourist visit the festival.
- It's an avenue to have a reunion with your old Pals and friends, because almost all indigen of epe always come home to participate in the festival.
- Business opportunities is one of the blessings we enjoyed during the festival, during my undergraduate days, I use to follow caterers and work as a cook, waiter or ushers during the festival, that mean I get to have another means of income aside what I get from my parents during the festival.
THE DOWNSIDE OF THE FESTIVAL
In as much as people love the festival and tend to come home to celebrate the festival, it still has some down side that seems like a plague yearly, like;
Death and injuries of some people is usually recorded yearly, maybe due to so extremists who go beyond the line and flog people who ain't willing to participate in the flogging Challenge.
Some use the festival as an avenue to settle old score with their long time enemies.
It's worthy of note that I'm not a citizen of Epe, but I hadmy university education there, I've stayed and attended 7 different kilajolu festival in the space of seven years that I stayed there.
Thanks for staying with me till this point, I hope you've got value, and learn a few new stuff!
- What do you think about the Kilajolu festival?
- What festival is being celebrated in our place?
You can free share your opinions with me in the comments section, and you can also join the @hive-learners community and also join this week 2, 1st edition topic.
Thanks for checking out my blog post, if you want to know who @vickoly is😉, I'm a shoemaker, who is also into fashion designing and other related craft, to know more about me you can check out my Introduction post on hive, thanks once again, have a blessed and productive day ahead 🥰🥰.