Installation of a New Village Chief

The region of Western Cameroon in particular is rich with culture, specifically in the tradition of village chiefs. In October I had the honor of being invited to join a couple of my other volunteer friends to attend the installation of a new chief in the village of Badenkup in the West Region of Cameroon. I have now taken part in some incredible ceremonies and celebrations here in Cameroon, but the enthroning of a village chief has no comparison in terms of the magnitude and magnificence of the ceremony.
Every village chief from within the West region of Cameroon attended the ceremony along with dignitaries, government officials and the whole community of Badenkup. We arrived with the chief of the neighboring village, where my friend Kareen is a volunteer, we were sat close to the throne of the new chief and had prime space to view all that was about to take place. This was quite lucky as thousands of people were in attendance at this ceremony, kids had climbed up trees surrounding the field to get a view of the action.
To give a little background, the chief of a village is the traditional leader of a community and the title of chief is passed down within a family from generation to generation. Before a chief passes away he has already told his notables (chief’s advisory counsel) whom he has chosen of his sons to replace him as village chief. The very moment a chief passes away the notables search the chosen son and whisk him away to the secret house where in tradition the notables spend nine months teaching the replacement all the ways of the chiefdom. Also important during this time passed within the secret house the soon to be chief is with his new wife so they can conceive their first child around the time that he will become enthroned. However, for some reason that I didn’t understand the 9 months has now been changed to 9 weeks at least in the circumstance of the new chief of Badenkup.
Imagine, the son of the old chief has just lost his father and has immediately been given the most powerful position in all of the village, now imagine this for a 17 year old boy as in the case of the new chief of Badenkup. At the moment the young chief walked through the entrance leading to the palace grounds the crowd of thousands surrounding the open field erupted with shouts, cheers, song and dance. The young boy kept his face serious and raised his arms in gratitude for the great welcome, but I wondered what was really going through the head of this young boy who had suddenly become the most powerful man in his village while a few weeks before he was just another young boy in the local high school. Now the young boy was standing in the midst of thousands carrying the hopes of a whole village and facing the challenge of carrying the traditions into the modernized world.