Overview
Nguon refers to a series of rituals between the Mfon, or monarch, and his people. Aimed at promoting dialogue, harmony and peace, the rituals are observed over a period of three days by the Bamoun community of Cameroon’s West Region. Every two years in early December, ritual chiefs consult the members of the community on the state of the kingdom. Carrying the collected opinions, they enter the palace at night and in secret, on the agreed Friday, to talk with the Mfon. The following day, the monarch attends a public ‘trial’ on his governance, with ritual chiefs reading out indictments based on the community’s feedback. The Mfon may receive fines or even be removed from office. If granted a new mandate, he delivers an acceptance speech and receives the renewal of allegiance. Popular celebrations follow, culminating on Sunday with a parade and the monarch’s triumphant return to the...
This record is imported from the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage public dataset as discovery metadata. ARED has not independently verified community authority, access protocols or local naming beyond the source record.
Community and Authority
- Communities
- Cameroon
- Languages
- Not specified in UNESCO dataset
- Cultural territories
- Cameroon
- Countries
- Cameroon
How the System Works
Nguon refers to a series of rituals between the Mfon, or monarch, and his people. Aimed at promoting dialogue, harmony and peace, the rituals are observed over a period of three days by the Bamoun community of Cameroon’s West Region. Every two years in early December, ritual chiefs consult the members of the community on the state of...
Sources and Evidence
Imported from UNESCO DataHub dataset ich001. Field-level provenance is retained in the record metadata.
Field-Level Provenance
- title
- UNESCO DataHub field title_en
- preferredTitle
- UNESCO DataHub field title_fr
- summary
- UNESCO DataHub field description_en
- type
- UNESCO DataHub fields type_of_element_en and type_acronym
- countries
- UNESCO DataHub field countries, ISO codes resolved with ISO-3166 regional metadata
- categories
- ARED category inference from UNESCO concepts_primary_names, concepts_secondary_names and title
- relationships
- UNESCO concepts_primary_names, concepts_secondary_names, type fields and World Heritage links
- sourceUrl
- UNESCO DataHub field http_url_en
- rights
- UNESCO DataHub dataset metadata license and license_url
Original Source Metadata
Why This Record Is Credible
This public record is connected to 1 source and has been labelled Source Supported. ARED separates evidence sources from cultural authority so users can see both provenance and review limits.
Cultural Access
Use this as public discovery metadata only. It does not replace community authority or local access protocols.
Relationships
Review and Corrections
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