festivals
INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
The
Zanzibar International film festival (ZIFF) is probably
east Africa’s largest cultural event. Each
year in July Ziff presents an exciting and varied
programmed of international films and videos, music,
dance, drama, art exhibitions, children and youth
panoramas, women events, village panoramas and workshops
in various aspects of media production.The event
normally commence with a Festival parade, which consists
of a mixed crowd of local people, tourists, acrobats,
drummers and musicians, all changing through the narrow
streets of Stone town.
Ziff is a
unique initiative for the integrated and sustained
preservation and development of the region’s rich
cultural heritage and the work of contemporary artists.
It provides a platform for the empowerment and economic
well being of the people of Zanzibar and it has
strengthened and defined activities, which respond to
issues of gender development, democracy, peace and
marginalization. Zanzibar fires the imagination with
exotic intrigue, oriental promise and romantic imagery.
The aims
and ideas of Ziff reflect this fasnating island in the
spirit of humanism and sharing, by showcasing the best
artistic talent from the region and its global diaspora.
EID EL FITR
Eid –el-Fitr
is the festival making the end of the holy month of
ramadhan, the Islamic month of fasting and praying to
Allah. Eid –el-fitr is the biggest most respected of all
festival in Zanzibar, marked with praying, family feast
and gift giving.
The
Zanzibar people commit themselves to the principals of
Ramadhani and refrain from various activities. Drinking,
dancing, smoking and eating are prohibited among Muslims
during this period, which lasts a whole cycle of the
moon. There fore Eid-el-Fitr Is looked forward to by one
and all. The Festival is observed with great enthusiasm
and pomp in the island. The Islanders are in a merry –
making mood and this is a time for visiting relatives
and friends, wearing bright new dresses and preparing
traditional Muslim food. Eid-el-fitr celebration last
for four days and visitors can attend Eid festivities at
Mnazi mmoja grounds across from the National Museum or
at the Kariakoo fair grounds, out by the main post
office.
MWAKA KOGWA
Mwaka kogwa
is a four –day celebration to mark the begigining of the
persian new year, and is most actively celebrated at
Makunduchi, in the south of Zanzibar . The origins of
this holiday are Zoroastrian (a persian religion older
than Islam).
The day has a distinctive fair ground feel to it, with
hundreds of people clothed in semblance of fancy dress
or their “Sunday best”, all out for a day’s
fun and celebration. Some of the events include the
burning of a mock - up house and the purifying or
cleaning of small temples, which house the effigies of
good and evil.
There is also the purging of ill - will from both people
and the land, to make ready for the new year.
This is imported by furious running battles between
group of males, who beat each other with banana stems
(in place of the wooden sticks and staves that were
traditionally used)
In this fighting, every one gets a chance to clear his
griences and so clear the air as the new year rolls in.
As the men fight, the women parade though fields singing
songs about life and love. They are dressed in their
best clothes and are taunted by the men after the fight
is over.