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Who are the Bakweri?
The Bakweri people have lived in the villages scattered
around the slopes of Mount Cameroon for over 4000 years.
Historically the Bakweri are territorial people and fierce
fighters who have always defended their rights, land and culture
against the successive colonising powers of Germany and Britain.
Although the Bakweri are now completely modernised, some
have even converted to Christianity, they are still attached
to their ancestral traditions and have retained their ancient
tribal organisation. Each Bakweri village is headed by a chief
and his tribal council who are central to all cultural events.
The Bakweri take pride in celebrating their cultural heritage
during events such as the Race of Hope, when they perform
secret rituals to bless the mountain.
Bakweri Traditional Wrestling Events
One special sporting event, the Bakweri Traditional Wrestling,
encompasses all the qualities the Bakweri have inherited from
their ancestors: physical endurance, agility, fierce fighting
techniques, and a great sense of competition.
Wrestling is known as wesuwa and it's taken very seriously
by all the members of the community. In the past wrestling
used to be an important way of determining leadership in the
villages; it even resulted in a war between two villages in
1891, when people from Ghango burnt down the village
of Molonde in revenge for the death of their best wrestlers.
Fortunately, this behaviour now a thing of the past. Today,
wrestling is a friendly competition drawing a huge crowd from
all over the region. Every Sunday for eight weeks in February
and March every village gathers their best wrestlers in a
major contest to see who has the best fighters with athletes
showing off their fighting prowess. Each village is the host
of the wrestling for one day.
How to Fight - Bakweri Style
Although Bakweri wrestling is a traditional form of fighting,
it has similarities with WWF wrestling. A match between
two villages starts with all the contestants, who wear skimpy
sarongs, meeting in the middle of the large expanse of grass
which forms the wrestling pitch. The wrestlers tease each
others by making gestures of threat and then challenge each
others into a nail-biting fight. A contestant wins a bout
by throwing his opponent on his back or by taking him down
and then either rolling him on his back or forcing him flat
on this stomach. To set the atmosphere, drummers on an elevated
stage beat intricate rhythms on large log drums throughout
the match while the crowds roar and shout encouragement to
the wrestlers. The setting is magnificent; the villages are
surrounded by dense and lush vegetation with Mount Cameroon
towering in the background over the wrestling field and glimpses
of the ocean can be seen on the horizon.
The contest culminates with the announcement of the year's
champion wrestler who is then carried among the spectators
to loud acclaim accompanied by tradition songs and dances
performed by the cheerleaders - the elder tribeswomen.
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