Lagos Island celebrated the legacy of formerly enslaved Africans who migrated back to Nigeria from countries including Brazil and Cuba in the 1800s.

Many Afro-Brazilian returnees settled in Lagos, bringing new traditions to the city. The annual Fanti Carnival saw elaborate processions with participants dressed in vibrant costumes, musical and masquerade performances, and dancing stilt walkers.

“It is important that we preserve this,” one attendee told The Associated Press, stressing the need for future generations to understand the role played by Afro-Brazilians in the history of Lagos. Organizers of Monday’s festival described the event as “neither wholly Brazilian nor wholly Yoruba, but entirely its own.”