Nkporo had one of the richest cultures in Abia State. Suffice it to say that its culture is gradually being decimated as a result of foreign religious interference in the cultural life of the people. Many of the cultural events that we knew as children visiting the village are no longer being practiced. Because the young Nkporo people have been discouraged from embracing Nkporo cultural traditions, what we have left are inadequate efforts by young people to hold on to cultural practices that their elders have abdicated and have not passed on to them.

 

This is why you see the young people dressed in Nkporo masquerade outfits without a clear knowledge of the philosophical reasons behind the masquerade as well as the underlying canons. They beg for money in exchange for nothing whereas in the past the children offered the masquerades peanuts to allow the child to swipe or ruffle the masquerades skirt made of palm fronds. The Masquerades were meticulous in their appearance and smelled of freshly wrapped pam fronds. Only the clown masquerades could dress in raggedy costumes made of sacks.

 

We need to give our children our wonderful childhood back so they can have the opportunity to experience what we did as children. It is their divine inheritance. 

 

Below are some of Nkporo Masquerades as they used to be.