Afan Festival

The hills and the name

In the Gworok language the word ǎfan means hill or mountain, and the tall range above Kagoro is known as Ǎfan Ǎgworok. It rises roughly 1,246 metres above sea level, with large trees standing on rocky ground. These heights shape the local weather, which is close to what the Jos and Mambila plateaus receive, with heavy rain in spring. in the past the Agworok lived in caves and on top of the range, and the high ground kept raiders away. The article adds that the hills hold sacred bee colonies, and that anyone climbing them without leave, particularly while wearing perfume, is driven off by stings.

Origins and history

No one can fix the exact year the festival started. One account, credited to Achi in a 2019 study, links it to a hunting ceremony of the Atyap people living north of the Agworok, and places the first Afan around 1500, when the Ankwai clan was still on the Jos-Bauchi Plateau. The Ankwai are the older of the two main clans. The Kpashang, formed later from migrant groups, hold the chieftaincy. Among the Ankwai, particular subclans once carried duties such as deciding war matters, opening the farmland when the rains began, and brewing the first beer for the festival.

Old rites on the hills

As the festival opened in earlier times, the Chief Priest, the Ǎgwam Ǎbvwoi, went up the hills to ask Ǎgwaza, also called Uza, the God of heaven and earth, to keep the people safe. He called out, O Afan, O Afan, and those below answered in the same words, having been warned to keep away from the heights. The priest then blessed the hills. At first light the next morning the hunt set off, and when the hunters returned the whole village raised the same cry. A pot of beer, ǎkan, brewed in every home, waited for each of them.

Change over time

Christianity and Western ways altered much of the festival. Practices judged pagan were set aside, and in 1946 the first Christian Chief of Kagoro, Agwam Gwamna Awan, moved the date to 1 January, so the event now opens the new year. In 1982 the chief rode through the town on horseback with more than a thousand people and many dancing groups, reaching the palace before noon to give his Afan address and thank God for a fine harvest in a year of poor rain. The 2016 edition was kept low-key and included the crowning of Miss Kagoro.

How Afan Festival is kept

The Chief of Kagoro is the patron, and the Kagoro Development Association organises the day. Crowds gather at the Chief's Palace Square and on the open field near the Kagoro Multi-purpose Hall. Hunters perform a hunting charade, dance and singing groups from Kagoro and elsewhere give displays, and there are march pasts and awards. Special prayers are said for the land. Traditional, religious and political leaders attend. The festival is described as open to the world, and guests travel in from nearby towns and from other parts of Nigeria.

When and where

The festival falls on 1 January, New Year's Day, so it closes one farming year and opens the next. It used to be kept on the second Saturday of April. The date changed in 1946 under Chief Gwamna Awan. It is held once a year, and the 2016 and 2024 editions are noted in the sources.

It belongs to the Oegworok, or Kagoro, people of southern Kaduna State, in Nigeria's Middle Belt. The main site is the Chief of Kagoro's palace at Ucyio, in Kagoro, and a large field opposite the palace is also used for the gathering. Participants and visitors come from neighbouring places and from across the country.

What Afan Festival means

To the Oegworok the hills are not only scenery. They gave the community shelter in the past, and they are treated as sacred ground where the priest asks heaven for protection. The cry of Afan binds the people to that landscape and to one another. The festival also carries the old meaning of harvest: thanks for the crops gathered, and the start of hunting once the farming year ends. Since 1946 it has held a newer meaning too, as a Christian community's New Year gathering.

Questions people ask about Afan Festival

See also

New Yam FestivalA yearly harvest thanksgiving across Nigeria, when the first new yams may be eatenIgbo New Yam FestivalA harvest thanksgiving and feast marking the first yam crop among the Igbo of NigeriaDiwaliA five-day festival of lights celebrated across India and its diaspora to mark the victory of light over darkness.HanukkahAn eight-day Jewish festival marking the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem and the miracle of a single day'

Good reading and sources

• Afan festival on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.