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Bamoun Sultans palace
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
This place is the palace of the "Bamoun" sultan at Fumban in the North-West province.
Last week-end, a major event called "Nguon festival" took place like every two years, gathering the "Bamoun" people around the palace for two days of ceremonies.
This is a major cultural and political event since the Sultan still has a great influence in the political life of the Province. During the "Nguon", the Mfon (sultan) has to listen to spokemen from the Bamoun people (praises like criticisms) who try to judge the past two years. He has to answer to fundamental questions raised at the moment by the spokemen. In a certain way, this is a piece of democracy in a frozen political system in which the new Mfon must be a son of the former one. He has to face for few hours the spokemen and answer their remarks in front of the people gathered around him.
The major Sultan of the Bamoun people (Njoya 1876-1933) created a Bamoun alphabet. He's considered as the greatest Sultan of a long dynasty which started in 1394. The Bamoun people grew in importance all along the centuries and is now considered as one of the biggest ethnies in the Western Cameroon.
This place is the palace of the Mfon built by Njoya in 1917. It is the place where the actual Mfon is living, surrounded by the houses of his wives. Njoya is well-known for he got married with 681 wives. The Bamoun people used to be strong warriors and the sunday morning during the Nguon is dedicated to illustrate how Bamoun people came back from the battle fields holding the heads of their ennemies on their spears. Today, the palace is also a museum. |
Doraemon, martou, sebcz has marked this note useful
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- martou
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 292 W: 1 N: 166]](http://i1.trekearth.com/misc/g-n-g.gif)
(1400) - [2006-12-15 16:38]
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bonjour Steven,
nice perspective of this lovely architecture, I like the colors tones, great work,
bravo Martou
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 585 W: 287 N: 1498]](http://i1.trekearth.com/misc/g-g-g.gif){kind=small}