The Government of Gabon on Monday revived its cultural heritage by celebrating the 15th edition of The Festival of Cultures, to bolster the country’s national identity.
This is contained in a statement issued on the Embassy of Gabon website, against the backdrop of celebration of the festival after eight years.
The festival with the theme: “Reappropriation of our cultural values” is aimed at fostering culture, tradition, languages and sports to boost the country’s cultural heritage across the nine provinces in Gabon.
The provinces include Estuaire, Haut-Ogooué, Moyen-Ogooué, Ngounié, Nyanga, Ogooué-Ivindo, Ogooué-Lolo, Ogooué-Maritime, and Woleu-Ntem.
The festival, according to the embassy, would help to preserve Gabon tradition that has been forgotten, advance national bond, showcase crafts, local musical performance, clothing and historical values.
According to the embassy, the event featured traditional display by Senegalese artisans with local attire derived from beautiful materials that includes forest seeds and palm woods.
The Festival of Culture was inaugurated in 1997 by Father Mba Abessolo, who was the Mayor of Libreville, before being instituted as a National Celebration by the late Omar Bongo Ondimna.
It was later suspended due to numerous organisational contingencies and currently set to be passed on to future generations.
