Abidji People Celebrate the Dipri Festival, Which Commemorates their Founding in Southern Ivory Coast.

The Abidji people in Yaobou, an Ivorian village in the southwest, celebrate the founding of their community once a year. The festival is called the Dipri Festival. In the local tongue, “Pri” denotes the taking off, and “di” implies water.

Leading the Dipri ritual is a family-passed responsibility.
This year’s selection was Koffi N’guessan.

“My father, who possesses his father’s authority, initiated me. This power is present when you bring a child into the world and continues to the grandchildren. He is no longer with us now, as we are the ones who started it. I’m the one here today since my older brother was the instigator and he passed away,” he declares.

After leaving Ghana to escape the Fantis’ succession conflict, the Abidjis ended up in front of the Comoé River. One of their own had to give up to allow the others to cross.

The festival honors this foundational occasion. Abidjis apply kaolin to their faces, a symbol of peace and humility, and wear white clothing, which stands for purity.

Representatives of initiated families challenge one another to demonstrate their mystical prowess during the Kpon. Other Abidjis merely participate in the event’s cultural component.

This is my village’s national holiday. Father Marius Hervé, a Christian Catholic priest, states that “everything that is African is not demonic or satanic.