Kebenkendong Cultural Festival 2025: Kedjom Keku Fon preaches peace, unity, hope….

The grandiose event took place recently. It was under the theme: “Celebrating our roots, engaging with our future.”

The Kebenkendong is Kedjom Keku’s annual cultural festival designed to reunite families, promote peace, reconciliation and the transmission of ancestral values in community healing from years of social unrest in the North West.

The cultural festival was taking place for the first time in over a decade. The last Kebenkendong was held in 2014. This, it was revealed, was due to the ongoing Anglophone crisis.

But after a long wait, the crowd-pulling cultural festival was revived powerfully this year by His Royal Majesty Vutsiboung Benjamin Vubangsi, confronting security concerns and breaking a long-standing pause. Hundreds of sons and daughters of the fondom attended the festival to celebrate.

Before the public celebration, the Fon took steps many consider fundamental to the festival’s success. Days ahead of the event, traditional rites were conducted by the Fon, the Kwifon, and other traditional institutions.

The aim of this exercise, it was said, was to cleanse the land and restore spiritual balance. These rituals, performed away from public view, are believed to remove negative forces and open pathways for peace, protection, and harmony.

For elders, these rites were a clear signal that the return of Kebenkendong was not symbolic alone, but intentional, an act meant to spiritually and socially prepare the community for renewal.

On December 28, 2025, that preparation bore fruit. Flutes pierced the air once more, drums echoed across the hills, and sons and daughters of Kedjom Keku returned home in large numbers.

Wrapped in traditional attire, villagers lined the roads, while children moved freely through the crowd, scenes unseen for years. For the Fon, the timing of the festival carried deep significance.

“This is actually the best time for the festival because our people have been longing for it,” he said during the celebrations.

“Through this festival, we see peace, unity, and solidarity returning to the village at this critical moment,” the Fon added.

Village authorities say the decision answered a long-standing call from the population.

“I want to first of all thank the Fon for his courage to organize this festival at this moment, despite the situation in the country,” said Mr. Nkeh Christian T., Chairman of the Kedjom Keku Village Council.

“The population had been longing for this festival for years, and he listened,” he added.

Tradition reasserts itself

Early in the day, Sukwe masquerades, identified by their leaf-like costumes, moved swiftly through the village, enforcing discipline and reminding the community that tradition still commands respect.

Later, the Nkuh appeared with its runners, drawing large crowds as it performed ritual displays and paid symbolic visits to selected elites, moments watched in silence and reverence.

The festival unfolded in two phases, with the second dance scheduled for Tuesday, January 6, 2026, extending the season of reunion and reflection. 

As the drums faded into the evening, one message stood out clearly: Kebenkendong had restored more than a festival, it had restored confidence and collective hope.

Organizers believe that Kebenkendong 2025 stands as proof that even after years of disruption, leadership anchored in tradition can cleanse a land, reunite a people, and reopen the path to the future.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3679 of Tuesday January 20, 2026