ABSTRACT

This article explores masquerade celebrations among the youth in the Nsukka area. Over a two-year period, youth masquerade celebrations were studied in the towns of Nsukka, Obollo and Umundu, and it was concluded that there were no reservations around participation, despite Christianity maintaining that these are pagan and fetish practices. Many reasons emerged for participation: attachment to Igbo culture, the quest to belong to the community/the question of identity, the communitarian aspect of masquerade celebrations, the challenges of inculturation, cultural revivalism, and the commercialisation of masquerades. Contrary to early (Western) missionaries’ prediction that Christianity would erode the Igbo people’s ‘fetish’, masquerades are thriving in Nsukka, perpetuated by the Christian youth in a bid to keep their cultural practices alive. This indicates that Christianity, despite its longstanding presence, has not succeeded in curtailing this growing phenomenon.

摘要

本文探讨了Nsukka地区青少年中的化装舞会庆祝活动。在两年的时间里，在Nsukka，Obollo和Umundu的城镇研究了青少年化装舞会的庆祝活动，得出的结论是，尽管基督教徒坚持认为这是异教和拜物教习俗，但对参加活动并没有保留。参与的原因很多：对伊博文化的依恋，对社区的认同/身份问题，化装舞会庆祝的社区主义，文化挑战，文化复兴主义和化装舞会的商业化。与早期的（西方）传教士关于基督教会侵蚀伊博人的“恋物癖”的预测相反，化装舞会在Nsukka不断兴旺，基督徒青年人为了保护他们的文化习俗而长期存在。