How is Egungun festival celebrated in Yoruba land?
The Egungun is a secret society among the Yoruba people of Ede, Oyo State, Nigeria. The major Egungun festival takes place in June, when members of the society come to the market place and perform masked dances. The masks they wear represent ancestral spirits and may cover the whole body or just the face.
What is the purpose of Egungun ceremonies?
Egungun Masquerade Dance Costume: Ekuu Egungun. Egungun is a visible manifestation of the spirits of departed ancestors who periodically revisit the human community for remembrance, celebration, and blessings.
Where is the Egungun festival celebrated?
Nigeria’s annual Egungun festival is a centuries old Yoruba tradition, and one of the most colourful cultural celebrations in West and Central Africa. Image caption, The streets of the town of Iwo in south-west Nigeria are flooded with crowds in late August, towards the end of the rainy season.
What is Egungun in Yoruba?
Egungun, meaning “powers concealed” or “dry bones (of ancestors),” is a Yoruba (South Western Nigeria) masquerade that provides an important connection between the worlds of the living and the dead.
When did Egungun festival start?
On September 2, 1853, the death of Oba Akitoye of Lagos ushered in the very first performance of the famous “Eyo Festival”, at the time, it was called the “Adamu Orisha Play” a theatrical performance as funeral rites for every Oba of Lagos and any important person in the State.
How does the Egungun ceremony honor the ancestors?
Elaborate performances serve to commemorate the dead through the remembrance of their past life while simultaneously reinforcing the relationship between the living and the recently deceased ancestor.
What is an Egungun mask?
The word egungun means masquerade, and these masks are used in Odun Egungun festivals, which are performed for ancestors throughout the Yoruba region. This mask’s elaborately grooved horns and central conical coiffure, which is painted blue, rise dramatically from the mask’s two faces.
What are Egungun masks made of?
A very different kind of mask, which is made out of layers of colorful strips of cloth rather than a wooden mask and costume, belongs to the Yoruba of Nigeria. It is called egungun. The egungun dancer whirls the costume in circles so that the bits of cloth decorated with ribbons, mirrors, and metal fly through the air.
When was Egungun created?
The Egungun masquerade originated within the Yoruba kingdom of Oyo, perhaps as early as the 17th century, and spread to other corners of the Yoruba region over time.
Is Egungun a religion?
Egungun festival is one of the most widely celebrated traditional religious festivals among the Yoruba of SouthWest Nigeria.
When was egungun created?
How does the egungun ceremony honor the ancestors?