One of the events that graced the 2023 Christmas Unplugged was the bringing together of all the Local Government Areas in Akwa Ibom State, starting from the first day the Ibom Christmas Park was formally opened to the last day of the festivities.
This provided a lineup of cultural events, culinary displays, exhibitions and performances for the Christmas Park. Since the events were expected to be majorly cultural, it was necessary to create a special arena that could accommodate and fit perfectly for such events and performances.
This birthed the idea of a Village Square within the Christmas Park, a replica of our village squares and moonlight playgrounds where members of the community meet to play moonlight games at night, hold family meetings and celebrations like traditional marriages, coronations, burials and other communal celebrations. Here they sing, dance, drum and enjoy cultural performances at their village festivals and special events.
To make this Village Square realistic, 31 huts were created for each of the Local Government Areas. The huts were to serve as a family house for each Local Government Area, a locale for their meetings and celebrations on their Local Government Days. This gave a sense of identity to every son and daughter of Akwa Ibom as their Local Government Areas were identified and accommodated in the village square. Ideally, you will look at the Village Square and find your home in one of the 31 huts within the village square.
Distinctively, each Local Government Area employed different local materials like red soil, clay chalk, mats, roofing mats, etc to beautify their Hut to give them an outstanding aesthetics. Aside from the name tags provided on each hut to help the people of each Local Government to recognize their hut easily, different LGAs took steps further to create Signages and flex banners to make their Local Government Hut more visible and pronounced at the Village Square.
It is worthy of note that aside from the Local Government Huts at the Village Square were huts for vendors who sold local delicacies, and drinks like local gin, palm wine, bush meat, etc. There was a special stand for crafts and raffia-made products and a sacred hut for our masquerades with two giant local drums. Also, at the Village Square was a heap of sand where “mbok”- local wrestling took place. that brought together diverse cultures and communities, making it a highlight of the holiday season in Akwa Ibom State.
