Discover Guinea : Agenda (Event / Folklore / Holidays)

The 72 hours of the book

Month of April. Organized every year since 2009 on the occasion of the international book festival, this event is an opportunity to meet, discover and read authors, especially Guinean. After being held the first years in the framework of the Franco-Guinean Cultural Center, it now takes place on the esplanade of the Palais du Peuple in Conakry. Each year, a country (Rwanda in 2020, Morocco in 2022) and a city are honored, and a central theme chosen, around which are organized debates, symposiums and workshops. Sansy Kaba Diakité, director of the publisher L'Harmattan de Guinée, is currently the curator of this Guinean book fair which, year after year, has become a major cultural event.

Pond Festivals

Month of May (the exact date is determined by the moon). In Malinké, the waterhole festival is called dahlamon, which literally means "kneading the lake. It is a traditional festival organized in various villages in Upper Guinea at the end of the dry season. The one in Baro is the most famous today, but other villages such as Koumana and Balato also have their own water festival. Officially, it lasts one night and one day and is inaugurated by a ceremony accompanied by dances, notably the "doundoumba", a parade of hunters in traditional costumes, and punctuated by the beating of the djembéfola (djembe players) and doumfolas (doundoun players). At the end, the participants gathered around the sacred pond and equipped with nets and traps wait for the signal of the guardian of the place before rushing into the water with the hope of catching even a small fish. Few are the lucky ones. But that is not the main thing. The festival is above all the occasion for the nationals of the region but also the external visitors to commune in the same mystical and festive fervor. If you have the opportunity to visit the region at this time, this festival will certainly leave you with an unforgettable and authentic memory.

The great Mamaya of Kankan

After the feast of Tabaski. During this festival, groups of men and women, by age group, give an incredible show in the city of Kankan. Several hundred dancers wearing scarves for the women and caps for the men (the first day in blue, the second in white and the third dressed loosely) gather, especially in the square of the great mosque, to perform great ballets to the slow rhythm of traditional music played by groups of artists, holders of the tradition. Originally imported from neighboring Mali, the Mamaya of Kankan has become the cultural event of the region and attracts hundreds of nationals and visitors each year. It was declared national cultural heritage of Guinea by the authorities in 2018.

The pilgrimage of Boffa

First week of May. The Boffa pilgrimage takes place over a week each year since 1963. It is an opportunity for several thousand Catholic faithful from the dioceses of Guinea to follow in the footsteps of the first Catholic missionaries and the first parishioners. Boffa is indeed the cradle of Christianity in Guinea and the place where the first Catholic church, the parish of Saint Joseph, was founded by Father Jean Idelfonse Muler in 1877. Several stages mark this pilgrimage: the century-old church of Saint Joseph of Boffa, the Marian grotto, the cemeteries of the missionaries and the faithful. Finally, all the pilgrims gather on the first Sunday in May to celebrate a high mass in the Marian shrine, which can accommodate more than 20,000 faithful since it was completed in 2022.

Tourism and craft fairs

Month of May. The first edition of the International Exhibition of Culture, Tourism and Crafts (SICTA) took place in May 2022 in Conakry. It brought together many national actors (groups, institutions, tour operators, artisans ...) but also delegations from friendly countries: Burkina Faso, which was the guest of honor, Iran, DRC ... This first edition has allowed the sector and visitors to meet for a week to exchange, share and highlight the wealth and potential of Guinea. A first edition, like a trial balloon, which calls for others. Note that some cities in the interior as Dalaba or Labé have already organized for some years craft fairs to present and highlight the wealth and local productions. The dates are variable; you will have to inquire on the spot.

Seven Days of Art Festival

December month. With a first edition in 2018 followed by three others since, this film festival is slowly but surely settling into the landscape of Guinean cultural events. For a week, through the screening of Guinean and foreign films, the festival offers the public a rich and demanding program, with for each edition a main theme (migration, violence against women, citizenship). This event is an opportunity to share and debate with the public, animated by the directors. It also creates a space for professional meetings and exchanges aimed at energizing the Guinean seventh art and giving a boost to the emergence of new projects. A great opportunity to discover a cinema in the making.

Festival L'univers des mots

Month of February. Organized every two years, this festival has established itself edition after edition as an essential meeting place for live performances in French-speaking Africa. It welcomes in residence several dozens of Guinean and foreign artists in the popular districts of Conakry. If the Kirah studios are the real HQ, the animations also take place on different sites of the capital: at the Franco-Guinean Cultural Center, at the farm of Kaporo... During one week, the festival, which wants to be a space of development of the French-speaking writings, proposes around a principal topic of the spectacles, the workshops, the talks and the plays. It is also an opportunity to recall the importance of culture in the life of a society. As Bilia Bah, the initiator of the event, says, "the day we recognize the value of culture in Guinea, the country will be better off.