Lepm Zaar (Zaar Traditional Festival of Harvest): An Ancient Zaar Cultural heritage that Need Preservation.

 Lepm Zaar (Zaar Traditional Festival of Harvest): An Ancient Zaar Cultural heritage that Need Preservation.

✍🏾 Madalla Kadiri, Zaar Activist 

As we all know Lepm Zaar  Festival is one of the oldest surviving ancient traditional festival of harvest of the Zaar Community of  Tafawa Balewa, Bogoro LGA of Bauchi State.

The festival is the  biggest surviving  ancient traditional festival of harvest in Zaarland which date back to centuries. The   festival is one of the biggest surviving ancient traditional festival in  the  North East  Nigeria. Zaar Sons,  Daughters, friends of Zaar,  tourist  globally each year  gather at the heart of Tafawa Balewa the  ancestral headquarter of Zaar to celebrate the festival.

According to tradition the  celebration,  performing the  rites  of the festival of harvest  mark the beginning of  harvest season,  consumption of  new crops.

The festival usually takes place in the month of "November"  each year at Tafawa Balewa LGA of Bauchi State.

There is serious paradigm shift in the celebration of Lemp Zaar,  our   forefathers in the olden days celebrated Lepm Zaar festival acknowledging the gods, deities and their ancestors, but the present day celebration of Lepm Zaar is in reverence to Almighty God. In the ancient times, there were certain things and rituals that were always carried out by our forefathers during the Lepm Zaar festival, but with the emergence of Christianity, idolatry was done away with in the celebration. 

Nowadays, Zaar  all over the world each year  gather at the heart of Tafawa Balewa to celebrate the Lepm Zaar festival as brothers and sisters and also  as Christians whose intent is to thank the Almighty God for the gift of life, health, bumper harvest and opportunity for stepping into  another harvest season.

There are many benefits of the festival  celebration  among the   Zaar community of  Tafawa Balewa, Bogoro LGA, the major   benefits are as follows; 

I. The festival has helped immensely in bringing the people of Zaar  together in Unity and peace.

II. It has create a good platform for the sustenance of Zaar cultural heritage and makes it easier for it to be passed on to the younger generation. 

How to Preserve Lepm Zaar and Other Cultural Heritage in Zaarland in Accordance with International Standard. 

The Article 4 of UNESCO act is the unified  international standard, criteria for preservation, protection of  cultural heritage to be inscribed in the UNESCO world heritage list.

According to UNESCO website , For a site to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, it must first be nominated by the country where it is located. The nomination is examined by international experts who decide whether the inclusion is justified. Finally, the World Heritage Committee, a body of 21 UNESCO elected Member States, takes a vote.

Lepm Zaar  and other ancient cultural heritage of Zaar need to be preserve, protected for future generations by Zaar society, Government in accordance with the article 4 of UNESCO to qualify for  enlistment in the UNESCO world heritage list through;

- maintenance and restoration of heritage sites such traditional buildings, hills,  places where the rituals of acknowledging the gods, deities, ancestors were done.

- the provision of material, tools use for celebrating Lepm Zaar In the olden days etc and other conditions for the realisation of the cultural 

function of heritage, irrespective of its purpose; 

- the provision of public access to the cultural heritage, and the facilitation of the examination 

of and research into the heritage; 

- the prevention of encroachments on the heritage which would alter the properties, 

content, form and therefore the value of heritage; 

- responsibility for the introduction and development of a heritage protection 

system.