The Afan National Festival is an annual event celebrated every 1 January by the Oegworok (Kagoro) people of southern Kaduna State, Middle Belt (central) Nigeria.
[2] The festival holds every January 1 in the palace of the Chief of Kagoro in the Kaura Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
To begin the Afan festival, the Chief Priest (A̠gwam A̠bvwoi) climbs up the hills to pray for protection from A̠gwaza or Uza, the God of heaven and earth.
[6] Much of the cultural and traditional practices of the people were however weakened with the advent of Christianity and Western Civilization which caused the dumping of the activities considered "pagan" in the Afan Festival especially with the coming of the first Christian Chief of Kagoro, HRH Agwam (Dr.) Gwamna Awan, JP in 1946 who shifted the date of the event to January 1 of every year, on New Year's Day.
[6] In the 1982 Afan Festival event, HRH the Agwam Agworok accompanied by over a thousand people and tens of groups of dancing troops was reported to have as early as 9 a.m. rode through the town on horseback, amidst salutations from his subjects, before finally arriving at the palace at 11.45 a.m., where he gave his Afan address, expressing his people's gratitude to God for a beautiful harvest even with the "shortfall in rain supply".
During the 2016 edition celebrated in a 'lowkey', the Kaduna State government promised a partnership with the Gworok community in development tourism in the area, in a bid to opening up avenues for income generation and employment creation.
The 2016 event also featured the crowing of the Miss Kagoro, won by Miss Joyce Samuel Amai; Cultural dances from within and outside Kagoro; and presence of traditional, religious and political leaders, such as Agwam Nuhu Bature (Agwam Bajju), Senator Danjuma Laah, Hon Gideon Gwani and others.