The Tula is an ethnic group found in Gombe state of northeastern Nigeria. They live in a temperate region near mountainous rock formations, including the famous Tula Cave that formed a defensive rampart against invaders for several centuries.

Among the Tula, when a girl is about to be given out in marriage, she is accompanied by a troupe of dancers to perform the bridal dance.  For a community that was heavily agrarian, the bridal dance was also a fertility dance. The dancers, both men and women, holding up piercing agricultural instruments, danced to phallic rhythms. Making humping movements, accentuated by leaves and rattle tied to the waist, the dancers escort the maiden to meet her suitors.

Advertisement