Kwagh-Hir Festival




Kwagh-Hir Festival

Puppet festival is very peculiar to the Tiv people of Benue State. It is most popular during the dry season,October-April and in December. The Kwargh-Hir puppet festival is a dramatized folklore of the Tiv people with intense use of masquerades, puppets and marionettes. It is useful as a means of handing down information, opinions beliefs and customs through the oral / narrative and has offered visual metaphors for understanding and resolving social conflicts.

Its themes are woven around economic and social conflicts / problems of the people, traditional and historical issues in Tiv land and contemporary work in general. The stories seek to enlighten and cleanse the society. A typical Kwagh – hir performance comprises of a group of drummers, singers, dancers, and acrobats as well as various works of art.