Sunday was the 90th annual Nonvitcha (pronounced No-Veetcha) festival, which celebrates the partnership between two people groups in southern Bénin: the Xwla et Xwéda. Started in 1921, it focuses on their unified historic and artistic values, and embraces economic, social, and cultural development. From what I could tell, they work together throughout the year, and once a year they have their official ceremonies and a giant party, but the other volunteers and I just caught the party end of it. There were thousands of people on the main road and on the beach, street vendors selling food and souvenirs, loud music everywhere, a few concerts going on, and dancing, dancing, and more dancing, because where there is music, there will be dancing. At one point it began raining, and in our mad dash to get out of the rain we, and about 30 other people, accidentally crashed a private party that was inside a gazebo, but we just joined in with their dancing, and they didn't seem to mind us being there.
Any time there's some type of event like this, material is made especially for the occasion, and the majority of the people at the event will be wearing clothes made out of it. This was the design for this year's Nonvitcha:
There was a fun mix of modern and traditional music:
Adding to the atmosphere of excitement was a man painted in the colors of the Béninois flag:
Happy Nonvitcha!
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