The traditional Evala 2022 edition struggles in Kabyè country, started on July 9, 2022, ended last Saturday with the finals in the cantons of Tcharè, Soumdina and Lassa. The day before, the final confrontations had been recorded in four cantons namely: Kouméa, Landa, Lama and Djamdè.
The Head of State, Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé was represented in some localities by the Minister of State, Minister of Territorial Administration, Payadowa Boukpessi and in others by the President of the High Authority for Audiovisual and Communication (HAAC), Telou Pitalounani. Everywhere, the mobilization was up to the desire to fill the nostalgia of the two years of suspension because of the global coronavirus pandemic and the atmosphere on an air of popular jubilation.
Official box at the Lassa final with the representatives of the Telou Head of State and Boukpessi (2nd and 3rd in the 1st plan, from the left)
The 2022 edition of traditional Evala wrestling in Kabyè country has definitely gone down in history. After the series of finals in the cantons of Kouméa, Landa, Lama and Djamdè on Friday, the loop is closed on Saturday by the outcomes in Tcharè, Soumdina and Lassa. In Kouméa, Lama, Tcharè and Lassa, the President of the Republic was represented by the Minister of Territorial Administration, Decentralization and Territorial Development, Payadowa Boukpessi. In Landa, Djamdè and Soumdina, the struggles took place, in the presence of the president of the HAAC, Télou Pitalounani, envoy of the head of state. On all the grounds, there was also the presence of members of the government and other authorities, as well as native executives from each milieu.
The atmosphere around the arenas was maintained by supporters and supervisors who sang and danced, to praise and encourage the wrestlers, but also to show their gratitude to the Head of State for his policy of promoting habits and customs.
Many tourists who were deprived of this spectacle for two years did not want to be told about the event. Witnesses to the demonstrations in all the arenas, they did not at all shun their pleasure, as the tussles were of an admirable technicality and delivered the following verdicts in the last confrontations.
On Saturday, at EPP Ahodo, the low Lassa wrestlers won the game with 19 wins against 11 for high Lassa. The cadets of Lassa bas followed in the footsteps of their elders by winning by 12 points against 5 for Lassa haut. Before Lassa, the final of the canton of Soumdina which took place on the ground of the official school of Sétidè turned to the advantage of the Evala of Soumdina low who struck down 19 times against 16 for the high men at the Evala. The same winning dynamic is maintained by the little brothers where Soumdina bas dominated the top by 14 victories against 5. Earlier in the morning, on the ground of the USP of Tcharè, the blacksmiths of Wyamdè won the cantonal duel, in winning by 17 victories against 15 the potters of Tcharè, at the Evala. On the Ahoza side, the reds of Tcharè will reverse the trend by winning by 12 points against 10 for the whites of Wyamdè.
Four equally enticing finals the day before
Grip and knockdown more by technique than physical strength
The day before, on the ground of the Lycée de Kouméa, the Kèwèyè coalition comprising Karè, Sondè, Lohou, Mandela and Sèdina dominated that of Piyou composed of Laouda, Fèouda, Piyo, Houdè, Kpatayou, Tchoïda and Namdina by 24 victories against 13 for the Evala and by 10 against 9 on the Ahoza side. In Landa, on the ground of the Women’s Craft Center, the Kassi-Déwa-Landa coalition won that of Kadja-Houloung-Kpagalo with a narrow victory of 21 points against 20 for the Evala. On the other hand, she bit the dust on the Ahoza side by 21 defeats against 15. On the ground of the Lycée de Lama, Lama haut was powerless in front of Lama bas who won the final by 33 victories against 22. The confrontation between Djamdè haut and Djamdè bas took place on the grounds of the local CEG. According to bitter explanations, it is Djamdè haut who knew how to pull out of the game, by overthrowing 9 wrestlers from Djamdè bas against 6 defeats at the Evala level. Among the young Ahoza, the victory changed sides and the cadets of Djamdè bas were better against their counterparts from the top beaten by 22 victories against 15.
Everywhere, the wrestlers were able to demonstrate their physical, technical and moral potential to the public, by defending themselves with bravery and recklessness, but above all with great courage and fair play. Because far from being a simple sport, the traditional fights represent for the young Kabyè a school of initiation in the social scale.
The fraternal intergenerational fight
Initiatory celebration and real intergenerational link, Evala is a superb school for the young Kabyè, where identity, physical and moral values are instilled in him to develop his transcendental scheme, before his integration into the adult class. Annual celebration of physical strength, cunning and endurance, traditional struggles in Kabyè country constitute one of the greatest spectacular and striking initiatory manifestations of young boys in Togo.
This year again, in strict compliance with the barrier gestures against Covid-19 enacted by the government, hundreds of young men gathered in dedicated public places to test their strength, their agility and their techniques. Far from being a war, it is rather a fraternal psychological fight. Insofar as, it is through these demonstrations that the young initiates of the same generation discover themselves, measure their physical capacity of future defenders of the city in the event of aggression. This initiation of the young Kabyè boy at the age of 18 opens the way to the hierarchical stairs of Kabyè society. It is this entry that gives him the name of “new man” which means “Evalou”, singular of “Evala” and gives him the right, among other things, to consult to seek the causes of a misfortune in the family, to to give water viaticum to a deceased, to take up arms to defend the community in danger, to marry to found a home.
Faustin LAGBAI