User:Terobali

HISTORY OF BULL FESTIVAL (MARAI).

The origin of the bull festival ‘’MaraI’’ According to the Mafa spoken language, “Marai” can be defined as a bull but in another context, it is a traditional feast during which a bull is being sacrificed after a period of claustration of one or two years. This feast is not only celebrated by the Mafa people but also by the Monts Mandara people (Mofou, Mada, Mineo people…). The origins of this feast are not well known, they are rather based on myths transmitted orally and on which we can only framed hypotheses. By the way, this will not prevent us to talk about these myths. The first myth which is the most known in the Mafa community is related both in the Mafa and Mofou communities. According to this myth, long times ago a man owned a bull that he was feeding for years costing him to make a lot of sacrifices. One day, he decided to take his bull for a walk through the savanna in order to exhibit him in front of villagers. Unfortunately for him while crossing a marsh, the beast started to sink into the mud at the point of being totally swallowed. Disappointed and unhappy the man went back home. To commemorate the loss of his bull, he always returned after two years to the place where his bull died so as to remind the day of the accident. This is where the expression “nkudiy maray” which means “weep the bull” comes from. The origin of the celebration of the bull feast “Marai” is also religious. According to this hypothesis, the bull feast “Marai” comes from the will of men to pay allegiance to God as a sign of their gratitude to this supreme instance that has given them all they wanted. That is why men decided to offer God sacrifices by given him all they have. After moving apart the idea of human sacrifices, men decided to offer God each two or three years a bull, a sacred and rare animal in the Mafa community.