Blog Archives - Carisma - inspiring communities

Black History Month

31/10/2019

October is the month when we, in the United Kingdom, celebrate “Black” History. His stories about Our Story, which is not a Mystery but My Story.
As a Cultural Connector for the BME Network of Greater Manchester and as a proud Nigerian born in Britain, I have to first of all talk about Nigerian Independence. Nigeria got her independence in 1960 from the British colonizers – 59 years ago. We celebrate the Nigerian Independence on 1st of October.
Nigeria s officially designated as the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a country divinely located in the western part of Africa, bordering Niger in the north, Chad in the northeast, Cameroon in the east, and Benin in the west.
We have over 250 ethnic groupings with a variety of languages and customs, creating a country, rich in ethnic diversity and cultures. There are four main tribal ethnic groupings in Nigeria, which make up more than 70% of the population. These ethnic groupings are Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa and Fulani. Although we have numerous various languages our official language is English – due to the colonizers.
There are some amazing sights and places to visit and festivals to attend in every corner of Nigeria all year round. Some of these festivals are displayed and enacted here in Manchester by our Nigerian communities.
I attended New Yam Festivals in August. This is a cultural festival normally held in August after the rainy season and mainly celebrated by Igbos. I can only liken it to a ‘harvest festival’ when we sing and give thanks and praises for the new yam we have harvested.
We also celebrate the, Durbar Festival: A Durbar festival is an annual festival celebrated in several cities of Nigeria. This festival marks the end of Ramadan and is also shared with eid el Kabir and eid el Fitri, Muslim holidays. Probably at this point I should mention that as a country religiously, it is almost divided equally into Muslims and Christians, with a tiny minority of adherents of Traditional African religions and other religions.
Calabar Carnival: Calabar Carnival festival in Nigeria, also tagged " Africa's Biggest Street Party", was created as part of the vision of making the Cross River State, Nigeria, the number one tourist destination for Nigerians and tourists all over the world.
Eyo Festival: The Eyo Festival, otherwise known as the Adamu Orisha Play, is a Yoruba festival unique to Lagos, Nigeria. In modern times, it is presented by the people of Lagos as a tourist event and due to its history, is traditionally performed on Lagos Island.
There are many more festivals of Nigeria, however, above I have listed a few.
I was invited as a Guest Speaker to celebrate the Nigerian Independence with the Nigeria Community Association, Rochdale on 1st of October. I congratulated them on promoting the culture of Nigeria and for bringing so many different cultures together under one roof to bare witness.

Diverse Cultural Celebration as a tool for Peaceful Cohesion in our Community

31/10/2019

I was thankful to the organisers of the Manchester One Culture event which took place on 28th September, 2019 at the Audacious Church Hall. Thank you for the kind invitation to address them all at this cultural event.
This event by One Manchester Culture focussed on identity. There was a myriad of presentations and performances by different actors, dancers, singers and performers representing different countries within the world who are here in Manchester.
Identity is a fundamental for existence. Identity is what makes me who I am and who you are. Cultural identity is unique, however, cultural intelligence is what can set us apart or can bind us. Being free to express ones cultural identity including the food, music, clothing, languages and behaviors associated makes one proud of who and what they are. More importantly this free expression of ones cultural identity gives those around an understanding of what we, I or you are about. This type of cultural intelligence stems from what I call Social Intelligence.
In order to obtain a deeper understanding of "Social Intelligence" which lead to cultural intelligence, one has to dare to step outside of their comfort zone.
Approach someone today who is different from you, and ask them about their dress, language, ethnicity or food. It is only with communication and right reasoning do we get right knowledge, right wisdom and right 'over' standing, which is what I call 'Social Intelligence'. We are no longer under the barrier of knowledge but 'over' it. If we are to appreciate difference we need to be curious to ask questions and communicate.
To have social and cultural intelligence is a beautiful thing. If you would like a workshop on " Creating Social Intelligence" in an Urban Environment', then do get in touch - info@carisma.me.uk
So once again I say thank you to the organizers for bringing this opportunity to us to enjoy each other's culture.
I hope you enjoy this event and take on the social and cultural intelligence challenge - approach and converse with someone different from yourself. Dr Erinma Bell MBE DL