ERITREAN FESTIVAL IN THE UK 2008

By Senait Tekle

Festivals otherwise known as Nigdet have been celebrated in Eritrea for many centuries and were usually celebrated in both rural and urban areas. Some of these festivals were attended by people from several villages and towns. Today, Nigdet is named as festival that involves people of all nationalities and ages at a national level.

Why have festivals been celebrated for so many years and why are they so important to the Eritrean people? Because festival is a way of maintaining our identity and culture and if carried out effectively, it is a key motivator and a medium of transmitting our cultural heritage and other traditional virtues. The fact that festivals are now celebrated by all Eritreans in Eritrea and in the Diaspora proves that our forefathers and our government have effectively maintained and transmitted the true essence of this festive season.

The Eritrean Festival in the UK was first celebrated in 2000 at the Alexandra Palace as a result of the coordinated and well structured process of nation building and celebrating life that was initiated in Asmara and spread worldwide with the aim of transferring our traditional and cultural heritage to our children and the youth .

As parents, we are all responsible for educating and enlightening our children, our languages, traditional and cultural heritage as well as a sense of belonging and identity at their tender age. In fact, it would not be an exaggeration to state that this is part of their basic human right. Every child has a right to belong to a nation or origin and have pride in ones identity and traditional heritage.

This being the fundamental philosophy and cornerstone driving the festivals, the UK Festival have in the past and with the help of dedicated parents and other volunteers made special arrangements to fulfil the festival needs of our children by trying to transfer the Eritrean cultural heritage, traditional virtues and patriotism.

This process of transferring cultural and traditional heritage from parents to children is paramount to the very existence and continuity of our communities in the Diaspora.

Furthermore, these festivals taking place all over the world are part and parcel of the nation building process. The process of educating nationals of all ages in and out of the country is a pivotal part of the nation building campaign. The so called second generation Eritreans are the citizens and leaders of tomorrow and it is imperative that they acquire the traditional, cultural and identity richness of being an Eritrean in addition to the scientific and technological know-how so that we can continue to exist as people, as Eritreans both within Eritrea and in the Diaspora.

This year, the UK Festival has made vast improvements in the initial preparation, venue, resources and involvement of the children themselves in the process, content and quality of the programme planned especially with regards to that of the children. The co-ordinators and volunteers have spent several days preparing, planning and obtaining resources that will make this festival a special occasion for our children.

Festivals in the UK have until 2007 been celebrated indoors and although the efforts made in these venues is much appreciated, it did not reflect the true essence of what a festival should be. The main criteria for classifying a celebration as festival or not, are whether it has national features, historical depth, participation of children of all ages and their families, the involvement of both genders and all religions.

The indoor venues were in the past able to cater for the national features, involved people of both genders and all religions but were restricted by the space to cater for children and hence lacked the active participation of our children and the subsequent transferring process of our traditional and cultural heritage as well as historical depth.

However, this year we are proud to be holding the UK Festival in the beautiful grounds of Lee Valley Leisure Complex Centre in Edmonton North London, where everyone will have the opportunity to participate. There is such a buzz in the air and much anticipation among the children and their families.

Our children are doing whatever it takes to take part on the day and are constantly coming up with creative ideas and ways of learning and transmitting our traditional virtues and cultural heritage. We had two days of orientation and training sessions at Hyde Park in the heart of London on the Saturday 16th and Sunday 24th of August 2008 and in the first day about 20 children and their parents turned out but on the second day their numbers nearly doubled.

The children and their parents participated fully in rehearsals and I was actually blown away by the fact that these children had learnt in depth about the nine Eritrean nationalities and were briefed the history of our armed struggle and the significance of Nakfa during the armed struggle by some of our heroic Tegadelti residing in London . At the present moment, the children are coming up with creative and unique ways of transmitting the knowledge they have acquired from our heroic Tegadelti. Some of the families who had only come to accompany their children to play and socialise with other children in the park but had no intention of going to the actual festival ended up buying the festival entry tickets for themselves and their friends as well as volunteering to assist during the festival and pass the word on to others.

The highlight of the day for me, however, was the fact that some of these children that came to the orientation and training sessions had never met before and were at first quite shy and reluctant to participate. As the first day progressed however, they were all plying and eager to work together and were soon inseparable. The second day was even better and we only left the park as it just got dark at around 08:30 pm .

In seeing this I said ‘'mission accomplished''

The preparation for the festival including the orientation and training sessions is creating a bonding process between our children and their families and as a result enhancing our unity in diversity. In deed, it is our unity in diversity that played a vital role in achieving our victory and freedom during the armed struggle for independence and in unity we will continue to defend Eritrea 's sovereignty and overcome the current and the future social, political and economic challenges we face.

Victory to the masses

Glory to our Martyrs

Senait Tekle