Culture & heritage
The Lela Festival
Lela is the annual festival of the Bali Nyonga people, held at the palace and observed over several days of procession, dance and the rites reserved for the Fon and the traditional councils. BCA-USA supports the festival each year and organises members travelling home for it.
For members in the diaspora, the cultural night at the national convention carries the same function: regalia is worn, the xylophones are played, and the younger generation sees it done properly.
Elders in procession, Bali Nyonga
Dress and regalia
Rank, title and occasion are all legible in what a person wears. The embroidery is not decoration.
Black cloth worked in crimson and gold, the geometry carrying meaning specific to the Grassfields kingdoms.
Strings of beads and the embroidered fez mark title and standing within the traditional council.
The wooden xylophone and hand drum set the pace of the procession and the dance that follows it.
Mungaka
Mungaka is spoken at chapter reunions and taught, unevenly, at home. A growing phrasebook lives here for the second generation, with audio recorded by members.
Welcome
The kingdom and its people
The traditional ruler
The annual festival
