Culture is the shared values, beliefs, customs, behaviours and artifacts of a particular group or society. It is the collective expression of human creativity, societal norms and traditions that shape individual and community identity.
For a better understanding of the concept of culture, let me take you on a tour of the Lordswill Academy Cultural Day Celebration, which took place recently. On this day, the sounds of drumming and other local musical instruments echoed across the school courtyard accompanied by electric human excitements among the students and staff as well as the entire Lordswill Family.
It was a day that students from all cultural backgrounds adorned themselves in different cultural attires. The routine of very colourful clothes, high-spirited cultural displays and the joy that made every face glow. The event kick-started with a cultural parade that saw all cultural groups ranging from the Igbo, Ibibio, Yoruba, Gbagyi, Hausa/Fulani, Urhobo, Tiv, to mention but a few.
I will not be far from the truth if I describe the entire scenario as a carnival. There were beautiful displays of classy dance steps from the various cultural troupes. The view was completely breath-taking. As if that was not enough, the display of various local delicacies ranging from Afang soup with Semo, Gbegiri and Ewedu soup with Amala, Abacha, Black soup and Starch, Fisherman soup, Moi-moi, Roast Yam, Tuwon Shinkafa, Masa, among others.
The entire celebration was a competition that saw the Urhobo carrying the day with their beautiful and energetic performance. I then realised that cultural day was not just celebrating our differences but finding our connections within these differences. I also realised as I walked home later that day, that every individual carried a world within them.
