One of the Ede people’s traditional customs is the Welcome K’pan Ceremony. The ceremony is perfomed as followed: Chosen village strong boys will go deep into the forest but forward the West, when they find a big and good looking tree, they ask God’s permission and use a lance to dash into the tree and then go home.
Ater three days, they come back and find if the lance is still stuck on the tree this means God accepted them to chop the tree, ortherwise, if a wind or an animal passed by and dropped the lance, means God did not accept them to do so, and they got to move on and find another one. When they have the expected tree, they use an axe in turns to chop the tree down then use an elephant to take the trunk home. As the trunk is home, they make a ceremony for welcoming the trunk then ask good workers to make a K’pan bench. The weathier and bigger family or village is, the longer and bigger K’pan bench is. And this bench is used for good guests and artisans to sit on to play Gongs for transmitting the villagers’ wishes and wantings to God,… This is one of the communal cultural activities having active meaning in the spirit life of Ede ethnic group.
Welcome K’pan Cerymony is taken place in the solemn atmosphere. The ritual will be presided by the sorcerer with offerings like pork, chicken and a most important pot with dilute animal blood. The sorcerer pray God and ask him to read the vows for having wealth and happiness to the host and villagers. After the ceremony, they welcome the K’pan bench home then everybody gather together to enjoy foods and drink, dance in the atmosphere with echoes of bustling Central Highlands Gongs Festival – a non-material cultural heritage of humanity.
