Awankere festival is a rich display of culture (Video)

Awankere is an annual festival held in Okere, a community is Warri, Delta State, Nigeria. This is a fertility festival during which the community is purified and sacrifices are made to appease and thank the deity for all the blessings of the preceding festival year before ceremonies for the current festival commence.

Such rites as ajafifa (purification of the community), ibiribi (the spiritual entering of the community), Ode’ gbigba (sweeping the arena) and Awerewere (cleansing ceremony), precede the main event. The Awankere festival, also called the Okere Juju festival, is a convivial communal rite with miming of sexual acts, phallic symbols and lewd songs replete with fertility images. Explicitly expressive dance movements evoke an erogenous empathy between spectators and performers. This is one of the most intriguing tourist attractions in Nigeria.

Watch video to see the 2023 edition of this exciting festival.