Traditions of Ouagadougou
The capital of Burkina Faso, home of the world's biggest African film festival and the Moro Naba ceremony.
Ouagadougou is the capital of Burkina Faso, a country of more than sixty ethnic groups. The Mossi people, the largest, still keep a royal court under the Moro Naba. Each Friday morning, the ceremony of the Moro Naba is carried out in his palace, and the city also hosts FESPACO, the largest African film festival.
The Moro Naba and FESPACO
At the weekly Friday ceremony, the king, dressed in red, receives his ministers on a horse, and drums and flutes play at dawn. The film festival FESPACO, held every two years, brings filmmakers and crowds in the thousands. Traditional masks of the Bwa and Bobo peoples are shown in dances.
At the table
Tô, a thick millet or sorghum paste, is eaten with a sauce of okra or baobab leaf, and riz gras is a rice dish with meat. Dolo, a millet beer, is drunk in clay calabashes. Bissap, hibiscus juice, and zomkom, millet drink, are everywhere.
Signature traditions of Ouagadougou
Also part of it, and being written: FESPACO (The film festival.), Mossi Kingdoms (The Mossi court.), Tô (The millet paste.), Millet beer (Millet beer.).
A trail idea for Ouagadougou
- Moro Naba ceremony Attend on a Friday morning.
- Village Artisanal de Ouagadougou Buy bronze and leather.
- Laongo A site of granite sculptures.
Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Opening hours, markets and festival dates change; check locally before travelling. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.