THIS WEEK IN SAMINAKA--Sept. 29 to Oct. 5

Thursday, Oct. 1. It's Nigerian Independence Day, and Saminaka is kicking off SL's first African Festival! The Cantaloupe Treasure Hunt with fabulous Nigerian plant-related prizes (clothes, jewelry, furniture, more!) will be underway, as will the Nigerian Plant Exhibit, the Nupe Culture Exhibit, the Horse in Africa Exhibit, and three Photo Contests! Not to mention the vendors' stalls....

Thursday, Oct. 1, 5 pm SLT We're kicking off the festival with a DJ'd dance party and loads of music! Also fireworks! And we hear some masquerades may show up....

Friday, Oct. 2, 5 pm slt Oliha Yiwama will be getting out his rl drums and giving an exciting talk and demonstration about African music! Don't miss it--he didn't have an Afro-Cuban dance band for years for nothing! Plus his training in Nigeria.....

Friday, Oct. 3, 6 pm We're inviting all SL equestrians--and even the horses themselves--to come out for a durbar, where horses and riders are decorated to the teeth and prance around to the wonderment of others. And afterwards? Why, a dance party with African music, of course!

Saturday, Oct. 3, 11 am slt Tamsin will trot out the slides and give a talk about African art and its rules--were they meant to be broken? If you've ever been a little puzzled about why African art looks the way it does, come and rev up your knowledge pronto!

Saturday, Oct. 3 noon slt Oh, today is the decorated canoe regatta! How many will there be? One? Two? Dozens? Get yourself down to Saminaka's infohub tent in advance and pick up a canoe box with free mod canoe, some pennants, and a link to a rl Nigerian regatta, and get to decorating! Tam will give you permission to rez your canoe if you arrive 10 mins or so in advance. And there's a prize....

Saturday, Oct. 3 5 pm slt Masqueraders, acrobats, stiltwalkers galore! Put on your costume and join us, or just gawk! And right after the regatta and masqueraders, it's time for another African dance party--pull out the stops!

Sunday, Oct. 4, 11 am-2pm (this will be off-sim, starting at the University of Delaware's SL Headquarters, but there will be a tp at Saminaka to get you there from the infohub tent). The launch of Ananse, academics interested in Africa and the Diaspora in Virtual Worlds, gets underway with a talk by two content persons AND techies: Britain's Khoisan Fisher introduces Bryan Mnemonic, who will discuss Virtual Harlem and the Virtual Age. Afterwards, guided tours of Virtual Africa, The Middle Passage in Africa and the US, and Virtual Harlem.

Sunday, Oct. 4, 5 pm slt Our very own Oliha Yiwama is a man of many caps and crowns--two involve African divination and spiritual traditions, focusing on Nigeria's Edo and Yoruba people. Listen to this priest and diviner talk about African Spiritual Traditions, his American background uniting with 12 years of Nigerian training!

Sunday, Oct. 4, 6 pm slt Masqueraders, acrobats, and stiltwalkers tripping the light fantastic again, as a prelude to you dancing to terrific DJ'ed African music under the stars. A final fireworks display will herald the announcement of the winners of the photo contests AND--will you be the best-dressed African man or woman? Because each of them will get a prize too! Dress up!

UPCOMING AFRICAN FESTIVAL--DURBAR!!!!

Don't forget to mark your calendar!!! Saminaka will host SL's first-ever African Festival, and we want to make it a memorable one! In addition to some new architecture, there will be lectures, contests, a decorated canoe regatta (see last week's issue), parties with African music, demonstrations, masqueraders, stiltwalkers and acrobats, a treasure hunt, several exhibitions, readings, and...a durbar!

What? You didn't all react with astonishment and joy? Did I sense some of you scratching your heads and mouthing, "What's a durbar?" What indeed? The durbar is one of those rare breeds--something introduced by colonialists that everybody enjoys! The British took the concept of Indian displays of horsemanship, the product of Mogul courts, whispered about it to the Hausa emirs, and presto! A new form of royal entertainment was born.

"Durbar" is actually a Persian word, used to mean either a state council meeting in India or, under the British, a ceremonial review. The first was a demonstration of loyalty to the Crown held in 1877 when Victoria was first called "Empress of India," but they were regular features of the British Raj.

While the purpose in Nigeria may have been similar in colonial days, durbars persist in numerous Northern Nigerian emirates, a way for rulers to dazzle their constituents and bask in the approval and admiration of their citizens. These celebrations consist of a parade on horseback by the king, his chiefs, and selected officials, accompanied by music. They are a considerable draw for tourists as well as the





















community, and are scheduled during sallah (religious celebration) periods, primarily at Eid-el-Fitr and Eid-el-Kabir.

While durbars are mostly Hausa festivals (held regularly at Kano, Zaria, Bauchi, and Katsina), the Nupe also hold them at Bida. They are most definitely events at which one sees and is seen, and they evoke the historical past when savannah armies on horseback crossed large territories, officers in splendid embroidered robes and turbans. The horses themselves are on show as well, wearing leather and metallic trappings like the finest of jewels.

Saminaka's durbar may include some citizens on horseback, but it will certainly include horse avatars enjoying the admiration of onlookers. In the week or so prior to the festival, Northern Nigerian leatherworkers will enter the sim to put their products in the market for the interested equine community. The festival itself will include a colorful slide display and examination of the horse's place in African history, as well as a book that includes the identical information. Come saddle up with us!