By Marie-Therese Nanlong

Jos—Despite the crises plaguing Plateau State for almost two decades now, the State is still not only the home of peace and tourism but also that of culture and traditions as nature has so blessed the State. 

Each of the 54 tribes in the State has unique cultural practices as well as tourists sites but regrettably, the potential revenue earners are left dormant and untapped as most of the major cultural celebrations, which are tourists delight are still being celebrated with no input especially from the State Ministry of Tourism and Culture.

Not minding the obvious neglect, many communities who do not want their cultural festivals to go into oblivion, continue to organize these festivals by self help to teach the young ones to take pride in them and carry on with the legacy when the elderly ones are gone.

Among the cultural celebrations in the State is the Pang Mat Long (Mountain of King’s Wife) festival celebrated by the Pan people of Qua’an Pan local government area in the Southern zone the State.

History has it that the founder of the land, Dajan (whose traditional stool still exists as Long Jan) was one of the twins of Daffiar of Kopfiar kingdom, the ancestor of the Kopfiar/Pan people who, at the demise of his wife, buried her at the said mountain.

The people believed that the King due to his love for his wife adored the mountain till his demise hence; the people continue to accord the respect to the wife of their ancestor many centuries after his death.

As part of the tradition, the installation of every king from the two areas of Jepjan (Namu community) and Doemak (Dajin) founded by the twins Dajan and Dajin of Daffiar kingdom is not complete until the candidate for the stool goes up to the mountain and stay there for seven days and fulfil the traditional rites which qualifies the candidate as a true king according to the tradition.

Also, there is a traditional belief that climbing the mountain especially during the festival which takes place every 1st  of October engenders fruitfulness in barren women and cures for the sick even those sicknesses which defy medical treatment.

Tiwa Savage, Yemi Alade share stage at Born In Africa Festival

Giving an insight into the annual festival, the Chairman of Pan people in Jepjan Namu community) Miskagam Jacob Dakyap said whoever climbs the mountain does not do so just for fun but there is an intention which the person wants the ancestor to grant and there are testimonies to confirm petitions are being granted during the festival.

According to him, “For you to climb this mountain you must have something that you want our ancestor to do for you. This is a day that the entire Pan natives cherish very well. If you are not a Pan person you can climb it at anytime and on the day of the festival you can follow the train but there is a place where other people often stopped while those in charge of performing the traditional rites will go up to do the needful before coming down.

“Whenever people are suffering from some ailments, and even after visiting various hospitals and all efforts made to cure the ailments proved abortive, they resort to going to the mountain especially on this day of the festival and after climbing the mountain they would get their healing.

“When barren women climb the mountain they live to tell their testimony of conceiving after partaking in the festival. The mystery in this festival is that, if you are a Pan person and you climb the mountain you will see honey on the mountain and many other things. You can even drink the honey without using fire to chase the bees before fetching the honey and the bees will not sting you.

“This is something that our forefathers have been doing and it is historic for us, the Pan people; we all originated from one ancestor Daffiar whom one of his twin sons Dajan the elder brother to Dajin founded this land call Jepjan (Namu). It was here that Dajan buried his wife, so women are now allowed to be part of the festival due to the presence of the wife of Dajan who is being adored and asked to pour her blessings of fruit of the womb to women who are looking for children.”

The National President of Pan Youths Association in Nigeria, Nathaniel Doekoos added, that “Ka Pang Mat Long is a festival that has been inherited from our ancestors and we are trying as much as possible to pass it unto the younger generation so that our culture does not die.

8 best sports festival squash players will join national team — Federation

“It is a celebration that also ushers in harvest season, so I call on all sons and daughters of Pan land wherever they are to give the necessary attention to the promotion of our rich cultural heritage as a people to be an international festival in this part of the country.”

Another participant, Edmond Dajan who is the Chapter Chairman of Pan Youth Association Jepjan (Namu) stated, “This is a big celebration that we do have once in a year, this is a celebration of unity, love, peace and thanks to God and our ancestors for taking us all through the year up to the harvest time.

“This is a rite that has been on ground since time immemorial, in those days only few people often went to the mountain to perform the rite but we are now expanding it having seen the importance of this festival and its effect on us as a people and on the land over the years because some of these rites and festival have been abandoned. So we took it upon ourselves never to let it go down again after witnessing some horrific situations some years back.”

The Chief Priest of Kopfiar, Nda Dakwat Dapia further explained that the “Ka Pang Mat Long Festival is what my father was doing with a small number of people, he did gather them whenever he came down to see the well-being of the land and with the people, he would go to the mountain to perform the same rite which I am doing today, I did not go beyond what my father was doing.

“What I did was to allow women to come with us because it is very important. They carried cow tails singing and cheering the peaceful procession following those on procession with locust beans tree leaves in their mouth. If you put that leaf in your mouth from the starting point you are not allowed to speak to anybody or to one another until we finish from the mountain before the men can join in the songs by women who in the procession coming back to the town where the procession started.

“Before going for this festival, I had earlier appeased the gods even before this day. So while preparing to climb the mountain I had to perform this rite of appeasing the gods with the pouring of mous (local brew). As we finish the festival, women are going to conceive and give birth to male children in abundance, food crops will be harvested bountifully and there will be total peace in this land. This festival has nothing to do with any crisis or problem in the land but it is about our peaceful coexistence.

Culture: Obi of Onitsha inaugurates ‘Golibe festival’

“It is only a fool that will say culture is bad, without culture we would not exist, culture gave us the opportunity to use herbs extracted from a tree to heal a sick person. But today, it is all about killing people with the modern knowledge and that is why I said I don’t want it (the modern knowledge).”