Sonny Oko Braide

Celebrating the Dead in Kalabari Land Sonny Oko Braide

Celebrating the Dead is intended not only to bring to the world's attention the way the Kalabari people honor their dead, but also to unearth the origin of the Kalabari nation, which is lost to nearly all of the citizens - old and young - who are ignorant of their origin. The foundation of this great people, like many other African tribes, is lacking in written form, and so, almost all sons and daughters of their community do not know their ancestral history. In Kalabari land, here and there in songs, expressions, and folk-tales, one hears of some strange names, whose identities are hidden away in very few written forms in university archives; or mere expressions from elderly people and names of living persons. Celebrating The Dead is intended to share this information with the new generation of the Kalabari people, many of whom will love to understand the true meaning of the names of their fore-fathers, and where they came from.