CULTURAL HERITAGE OF IVORY COAST

This post discusses the culture of Ivory Coast, their Inheritance practices, we further explained cultural heritage and list heritage sites in Ivory Coast.

CULTURE OF IVORY COAST

The culture of the Ivory Coast is layered and colorful thanks to the nation’s geographical location, collection of ethnic groups, and years under French occupation. They have an excess of 60 different indigenous tribes and even more sub-clusters, all with their own distinct identities and traditions.

The country’s culture is illustrated by the numerous ethnic groups, festivals, events, art, and music. Some of these cultural aspects will be discussed in brief below.

Read: REGIONS OF IVORY COAST

FOOD OF IVORY COAST

In Ivory Coast, tubers such as cassava and yams and grains such as rice, maize (corn), and millet make up the majority of meals. These staple foods are accompanied by legumes such as peanuts, beans, or peas, and smaller portions of spices, oils, vegetables, and proteins – especially meat or fish. The grains are prepared by the women who grind them in huge wooden bowls with long wooden pestles. Family meals are mostly prepared outside in metal or ceramic pots on stone hearths.

FASHION OF IVORY COAST

Just like any other developing country, the locals wear both traditional and western clothes. However, most women still put on the traditional brightly colored dresses referred to as pagnes with matching head scarves. These dresses are also worn with long pieces of cloth that the women tie around themselves as skirts. Men, on the other hand, put on shorts or wrap short pieces of cloth around their bodies. For ceremonial occasions, men put on long beautiful robes.

EVENTS AND FESTIVALS OF IVORY COAST

The Festival of Masks (Fêtes des Masques) is held every December in the Man region. This is one of Ivory Coast’s best-known and biggest festivals. Competitions between villages are organized so as to identify the best dancers, and to pay respect to the forest spirits personified in the masks. Bouaké is another important event. This is a week-long carnival and is normally held every March. Another festival is the Fête du Dipri which is carried out in Gomon, near Abidjan every April. The festival begins close to midnight when naked women and children sneak out of their huts and conduct nocturnal rites so as to cleanse the village of any evil spells. Before the sun rises, the village chief comes out, the drums pound, and all the villagers go into trances and this frenzy lasts until late afternoon the following day. There are religious festivals held in the country, for instance, Ramadan where people of the Islam faith fast from sunrise to sunset for a whole month, as per the pillars of Islam. This normally comes to an end with a feast referred to as Eid al-Fitr where people pray together, give presents, and visit friends.

ART OF IVORY COAST

Masks are a common form of art in the country. The complexity and variety of the masks created by the locals cannot be compared to any. The masks serve numerous purposes but they are mostly used for representative purposes; they can represent caricatures of animals, the souls of the dead and lesser deities.

The masks are believed to be very sacred and dangerous. As a result, it is only specific powerful persons and their families who are allowed to have them. Specially-trained people are the only ones allowed to put on the masks. The locals believe that it is dangerous for others to put on the masks because it is perceived that every mask has a life force or soul and that when an individual’s face comes into contact with the inside of the mask, he or she changes into the entity represented by the mask.The Senoufo, the Dan (or Yacouba) and the Baoulé are known for their wooden carvings.

MUSIC OF IVORY COAST

Music in the country is made up of music genres from numerous ethnic communities and is characterized by a sequence of melodies and rhythms that take place simultaneously, without one overshadowing the other. The local music is also characterized by the talking drums specifically among the Nzema community, the characteristic poly-rhythms found in Sub-Saharan Africa rhythm, and by the vocal polyphony particularly among the Baoulé. In Ivory Coast, music is used in numerous aspects of culture. The Dan community, for instance, celebrate weather, rice, birth, marriage, and death all with music.

Some of the musical instruments used in the country include cleavers, Akombe, Shekere (Youroo), Kpalogo, djembe, and the talking drum, and all are made from local instruments such as horns, animal skins, and gourds. The most common music genres from Ivory Coast are Coupé-Décalé, zouglou, and zoblazo.

INHERITANCE PRACTICES IN IVORY COAST

All the inheritance practices in the traditional communities are dominated by men. The people of Senufo and Baoule belong to their mother’s family. This means that land and power are passed down via a mother’s family line to her sister’s sons. In Nyula and Bete, inheritance is passed down through the father’s line to the sons. In most traditional communities in the country, women don’t have the right to inherit land; they only use that of their families or husbands.

CULTURAL HERITAGE

Cultural heritage can be defined as the legacy of physical artifacts (cultural property) and intangible attributes of a group or society inherited from the past.

HERITAGE SITES OF IVORY COAST

The sites are necessary protection areas for biodiversity and historical heritage of the country. The state of these sites has been declining due to overexploitation by humans, population pressure, and poor management practices, especially during the Ivorian civil wars. The civil wars have also has affected the tourist turnover, and visitors fear being caught up in case war breaks out because the government is unstable. The heritage sites:

COMOÉ NATIONAL PARK

Comoé national park is located in Ivory Coast’s Zanzan and Savanes districts. The biosphere reserve was inscribed as a n heritage site in 1983 and named as a world heritage site in danger in 2003 after the first Ivorian civil war. The second civil war further led to the deterioration of the park due to poor management, unregulated poaching, and overgrazing. The park is the largest in West Africa with an area of 11,500km² and houses many habitats with unique biodiversity including 135 mammal species, over 500 bird species, 71 reptile species, 35 amphibian species and more than 620 plant species.

GRAND BASSAM HISTORIC TOWN

The historic town of Grand Bassam was inscribed as a cultural heritage Site in 2002. The town is located east of Abidjan and served as the capital between 1893 and 1896 during the French colonial rule. Grand Bassam is unique for its late 18th and early 20th-century architecture and the indigenous way of life. The town holds an important place as a demonstration of complex social, economic and political relations between the colonial government and the local people. Though the town was a vibrant commercial and administrative center, its activity gradually declined up to the 1930s and was revived as a tourist and craft center in the 1970s. The site faces threats from abandonment, lack of maintenance and pressure from beach tourism and economic development.

MOUNT NIMBA STRICT NATURE RESERVE

The reserve is a natural Heritage Site in danger that was inscribed in 1981. The reserve is found in Guinea and Ivory Coast with the larger part of Guinea. The park was established 1943 in Ivory Coast and 1945 in Guinea and was merged in 1980. The park is under threat from bush meat poaching and civil wars which result in destruction and overexploitation of the species within the park. The park is home to thousands of diverse flora and fauna with a high rate of endemism. The park has remained on the danger list for a long time due to constant pressures from refugee movement into the surrounding areas and mining activities.

TAI NATIONAL PARK

Tai national park was designated as a Heritage Site in 1982 due to its rich flora and fauna. The park covers an area of 3300km² and is located between the cavally and Sassandra rivers. The park was established as a reserve in 1926 and designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1978. The park is located within two climatic zones and has the primary rainforest of West Africa within its boundaries. The species within the park have a high rate of endemism with some of the species being endangered.