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JUDEAto Africa

Annual initiative

The ÉKANG Heritage Festival — a four-part blueprint

Seeking the true origins, celebrating them, transmitting them, and binding a covenant that carries the Sacred Breath forward. Held every last week of November, opening with the 8 November 2026 publication of “From Judea to Africa”.

The festival is not a concert with a history panel attached. It is a working assembly of a people: ten million Ékang (Fang, Beti, Bulu, Ntumu, Mvele, Eton, Ewondo and their kin) inside a Bantu family of nearly one billion, gathering once a year to establish what is proven, honour what was survived, teach what must not be lost, and finance the structure that keeps all three alive.

Anchored in the book

Every part of the blueprint is anchored in the seventeen documented stages traced in “From Judea to Africa / From YEHUDIM to ÉKANG”: the expulsion from Jerusalem after Hadrian's edict of 135 A.D., Egypt and the Nubian kingdoms of Meroë and Napata, Kordofan, Darfur, Wadaï, Bornou, Kano, Borgou, the kingdom of Juda in Upper Guinea and its fall between 1619 and 1650, the flight inland as BEVUNDI — those who carry the Sacred Breath forward — then BENDZO in Sokoto, and finally the crossing of the Ossué Nnanga (Sanaga) around 1810–1815 as ÉKANG, reaching the equatorial forest by 1842. The festival re-walks that route symbolically each year.

The four parts

Each part has an owner, a measurable outcome and a place in the week. Nothing is ceremonial only.

I

Origins — the seeking

Continue the investigation with method, in public, and publish what is found.

  • Open call for papers to historians, linguists, archaeologists and archivists, closing 30 June each year.
  • A juried research day where each claim is graded proven, probable or open — the same discipline the book applies.
  • Recorded oral-history sessions with elders in Ébolowa, Sangmélima, Oyem, Bata and the diaspora, deposited in a shared digital archive.
  • An annual proceedings volume published by United Tribes Press™, free to schools.

II

Celebration — the gathering

Make the memory beautiful enough that the young want to inherit it.

  • Mvett epic nights: master performers and apprentices on the same stage, with subtitled projection.
  • ÉKANG MBÔLÔ sung as the opening and closing anthem of every festival day.
  • Craft and textile market with heritage colours, cuisine of the forest and the savannah, wrestling and dance.
  • A film and photography programme on migration, exile and return.

III

Transmission — the teaching

Move knowledge from the elders and the archive into classrooms and phones.

  • Teacher workshops producing a free four-language schools pack (EN / FR / ES / PT).
  • Youth academy: language, genealogy, drum and mvett, plus digital archiving skills.
  • A junior storytellers' contest with the winning pieces published on the site.
  • Every session recorded and released openly within thirty days.

IV

Unification and dialogue — the covenant

Bind the clans, the churches, the diaspora and their allies in one public pledge.

  • Council of clans and lineages: one delegate per lineage, one shared communiqué.
  • Interfaith and intercultural dialogue with Jewish, Christian, Muslim and traditional custodians — listening before claiming.
  • Diaspora bridges: simultaneous online assemblies in Paris, Brussels, Madrid, Lisbon, London, Montréal, New York and Johannesburg.
  • Public reading of the Covenant Pledge, signed by delegates and by any registrant who chooses to sign.

The week, step by step

Seven working days, last week of November. Times are indicative; each day opens at 09:00 and closes with the anthem.

  1. Day 1 — Monday

    Opening and remembrance

    • 09:00 Procession and libation for the ancestors of Judea, Nubia and Upper Guinea.
    • 11:00 Opening address by the author and the organising committee.
    • 15:00 Exhibition opens: the seventeen stages of the migration, mapped.
    • 19:00 ÉKANG MBÔLÔ — first public singing of the anthem.

  2. Day 2 — Tuesday

    Research day

    • 09:00 Juried presentations: documentary, linguistic and archaeological evidence.
    • 14:00 Oral-history recording booths with elders.
    • 17:00 Verdict session: what is proven, probable, still open.

  3. Day 3 — Wednesday

    Transmission day

    • 09:00 Teacher workshops; drafting of the four-language schools pack.
    • 13:00 Youth academy: language, genealogy, mvett and archiving.
    • 18:00 Junior storytellers' contest final.

  4. Day 4 — Thursday

    Council of clans

    • 09:00 Delegates seated by lineage; grievances and reconciliations heard.
    • 14:00 Drafting of the annual communiqué.
    • 18:00 Elders' banquet.

  5. Day 5 — Friday

    Dialogue and diaspora

    • 09:00 Interfaith and intercultural dialogue panels.
    • 14:00 Simultaneous diaspora assemblies online.
    • 19:00 Concert: mvett, gospel, hip-hop and traditional ensembles.

  6. Day 6 — Saturday

    Covenant day

    • 10:00 Symbolic re-walk of the route, ending at the river crossing.
    • 15:00 Public reading and signing of the Covenant Pledge.
    • 20:00 Grand celebration night.

  7. Day 7 — Sunday

    Accounts and the year ahead

    • 10:00 Public financial report: every franc received and spent.
    • 12:00 Announcement of next year's research theme and host city.
    • 16:00 Closing anthem and dispersal blessing.

The Covenant Pledge

Signed each year on Day 6, and available to every registrant who wishes to sign it from wherever they are.

  • We remember Judea, and we do not curse those whose empires exiled us.
  • We carry the Sacred Breath forward, as the BEVUNDI carried it through the forest.
  • We tell our history with evidence, and we say plainly what we do not yet know.
  • We teach our children the tongue, the names and the route.
  • We keep the door open to allies, and we close it to no clan.
  • We account publicly for what is given to us.

The economy that sustains it

A festival without an economic backbone becomes a favour asked once a year. This one is built to fund itself.

Endowment and giving

Individual gifts, recurring monthly patrons and institutional sponsorship, held in a dedicated festival account with an annual published statement.

Publishing revenue

A share of every book, eBook, audiobook and ÉKANG MBÔLÔ sale is assigned to the festival fund.

Heritage marketplace

Artisans, textile makers, cooks and musicians sell directly at the festival and online, keeping their margin; the platform takes a small fee for logistics.

Cultural cooperative

A registered cooperative employs a small year-round team — archivist, educator, producer, treasurer — accountable to the council of clans.

Register for the festival

Open to every Ékang family, every clan, and every ally or supporter worldwide — in person in Cameroon or online from your city.

Support the festival

Donations and sponsorships fund the research day, the youth academy, the archive and the travel of elders and artists.