Conscious or Arbitrary: Colour and Symbolism in Carnival Calabar

Abstract

Within about twelve years Nigeria’s Cross River State has become a hub of tourism activities. The most visible and community involving component of the tourism activities in the state is the annual Christmas Festival, during which Carnival Calabar is staged on the 26^th and 27^th each December. At this carnival, the aesthetics of colour use is both personal and corporate, incorporating traditional African colour symbolisms as well as individuals’ perceptions about what is global. On the basis that scholars have suggested that perceptions of colour are cross-culturally similar and that there are pan-human cognitive universals, this paper uses observation and interviews with key social actors in the carnival to explore the inherent symbolism of colours used by bands in Carnival Calabar. In particular, the paper seeks to identify the consciousness or arbitrariness of the symbolisms of colours used by the bands during Carnival Calabar.

Key Words: Cross River State, Carnival Carlabar, Colour, Pan-human, African, Symbolism