The Abin-fo’o and The Mandele Dances in the Bafut Kingdom: Some vital Issues Presented in Cultural Festival Activities and its Evolution and benefits from their Onset to the Twenty First Century

Abstract

As objective, Bafut is a tribe that migrated as far back in the Seventieth Century from the Northern part of Cameroon via the Eastern Grassfields to Bamenda, found in the Western Grassfields today, North West Region of Cameroon. Actually, the Objective of this article seeks to show and explain some number of cultural dancing groups which among them is the Mbinfo’o known as the Fon dance that is always performed in an annual festival that comes up at the end of every year. More so, in the kingdom palace is found another dance called the Mandele dance usually performed and reserved just for the prince and princesses of the Village. Due to some changes these dances has experience evolutionary mutations thus giving their full flesh substances that has been admired internally and internationally hence bringing some advantages into the country and the society or tribe. As method, to better bring out this cultural heritage history, we concentrate very much on oral, and written sources that could best expound on these two mention dances. Also, it will be vital for us to say or give as result that, these dances have, as among, the several advantages, shown that the existed an interrelationship advantage as far as cultural festivals are concern in the Grassfields political, economic and socio-cultural domains and derived or has as importance to the entire country and the tribe itself. In this article it should be noted that some names of items and places has been spelled differently but all meaning the same.