Overview
Figure 1: Egungun Masker
The Egungun of the Yoruba people is a hybrid and diverse mode of ritual performance dedicated to ancestor worship. Egungun is said to date back to the 14th century B.C.E. when Sango, alafin (king) of the Oyo Empire, introduced a form of ancestor worship known as baba (father) which later came to be known as egungun, meaning masquerade (Adedeji 255). The term Egungun, meaning "powers concealed" or "masquerade" (Drewal and Pemberton 1989: 177) is strictly related to ancestor worship rituals found among the Oyo Yoruba (Olajubu & Ojo 253), though over the course of their long history these ritual practices diffused through the other 25 subgroups that make up the Yoruba people (Cole 60, M. Drewal 1992: 12). While the Egungun is performed throughout Yorubaland (which spans parts of the modern states of Nigeria, Benin and Togo), it continues to maintain a certain amount of regional autonomy and divergence. Indeed, modes of performance throughout Yorubaland are richly varied, and Henry Drewal notes "The visual and verbal artistry for Egungun is so rich and varied that attempts at typological analysis prove to be difficult in the extreme" (Drewal and Pemberton 1989: 179). I will argue that such a typological, chronologic, and progressivist approach misses the point entirely and is not a useful methodology for exploring the Egungun.
In general, the Egungun is performed in specific public spaces set apart for such use. The ritual performance is a highly corporate event that engages all members of the community. As “total theatre” Egungun masquerade incorporates dance, singing, drumming, chanting, masking, costumes, and both set and improvised recitation. Accompanied by elaborate drumming and the singing and chanting of community members, the masqueraders are completely covered by elaborate costumes made of richly brocaded and highly symbolic tapestry-like fabrics. Cordwell describes these elaborate costumes as “mobile sculpture with visual and sound effects” (56). Many Egungun costumes utilize a mask as well, carved by experienced Yoruba artisans who themselves rely on a rich legacy to inform their work.
Egungun are considered to be heavenly beings, the embodied spirits of ancestors come to earth to restore balance, receive praise, and grant blessings. The performer “portraying” these ancestors experiences a double effacement in Egungun ritual. On one level their identities and bodies are literally effaced by the heavy, sculptural costumes. In another spiritual sense, the performers are effaced in that they become empty vessel for the spirit of the ancestors. Egungun performance, then, is characterized by possession and mediumship. The process of concealing the human body paradoxically reveals the presence of the ancestor's spirit.
While the performative ritual of Egungun has a long history it is certainly not a static art form. Rather it is a dynamic and intensely divergent socio-cultural practice always subject to the innovative, transformational forces of its skilled performers and active spectators.
In general, the Egungun is performed in specific public spaces set apart for such use. The ritual performance is a highly corporate event that engages all members of the community. As “total theatre” Egungun masquerade incorporates dance, singing, drumming, chanting, masking, costumes, and both set and improvised recitation. Accompanied by elaborate drumming and the singing and chanting of community members, the masqueraders are completely covered by elaborate costumes made of richly brocaded and highly symbolic tapestry-like fabrics. Cordwell describes these elaborate costumes as “mobile sculpture with visual and sound effects” (56). Many Egungun costumes utilize a mask as well, carved by experienced Yoruba artisans who themselves rely on a rich legacy to inform their work.
Egungun are considered to be heavenly beings, the embodied spirits of ancestors come to earth to restore balance, receive praise, and grant blessings. The performer “portraying” these ancestors experiences a double effacement in Egungun ritual. On one level their identities and bodies are literally effaced by the heavy, sculptural costumes. In another spiritual sense, the performers are effaced in that they become empty vessel for the spirit of the ancestors. Egungun performance, then, is characterized by possession and mediumship. The process of concealing the human body paradoxically reveals the presence of the ancestor's spirit.
While the performative ritual of Egungun has a long history it is certainly not a static art form. Rather it is a dynamic and intensely divergent socio-cultural practice always subject to the innovative, transformational forces of its skilled performers and active spectators.
Types of Egungun Performance
Figure 2: Alabebe Egungun
From "Some Aspects of Oyo Yoruba Masquerades" by Olajubu and Ojo (pp. 258-260):
Agba Egungun (senior or elder masquerade): "the most important of the ritual masquerades. In this class are the ancestral and community masquerades at whose approach headgear must be removed, and cyclists dismount, otherwise, [the whip holders] will flog the culprits...This class of masquerades perform all the rites of the cult: calling the dead, rites in times of social emergence like droughts and epidemics. In former times they executed witches"
Alabebe: "wear colorful costumes adorned with strips of brightly colored cloth, mirrors, and cotton wool. The top of the costume may be round or square, some have flaps which serve as a sun visor for the masker...They dance and sing, followed by larger retinues of women and children"
Paakara: (Literally 'roam about') parade the streets singly or in groups. They wear colorful two-piece costumes consisting of trousers with hose and stockings in one piece; and a big garment, ogugu, that covers the masker's head and reaches down to his knees..." There is a "violent sub-class" of paakara called janduku (hooligans): "There is no redress for being flogged by them during an Egungun festival, anyone who waits as they approach does so at his own risk"
Tombolo: "are small children in masquerade costume...They are followed by small children as they beg for money..."
Ajia or eru Egungun: "These maskers are young boys in attendance on the more senior masquerades. In some places, ajia perform the preliminary dances before the senior masquerades come out."
Alarinjo ('walk and dance'): entertainment masquerade that travels from place to place, entertaining crowds.
Onidan: Masqueraders who perform tricks.
Agbegijo ('take wood to dance): Maskers who use carved wood headpieces. "Agbegijo maskers use a two-piece costume, an inner costume that includes a doublet and hose, gloves, and head covering with two small holes for vision. Upon this is put an outer costume ago, a large sack terminating in a loose pair of doublet and hose. The rest of the costume, if it is big enough, is thrown over the masker's shoulder to form a train behind him...During the performance, the outer costume is cast off after the masker has 'changed' into an animal or a human social type. This action is called pidian (playing tricks), achieved with the aid of stage properties carried in a large bag...containing carvings, costumes and other stage properties with which the maskers 'metamorphose' into boa constrictors, crocodiles, monkeys, prostitutes, police men, nursing mothers, Europeans....and other social types"
Agba Egungun (senior or elder masquerade): "the most important of the ritual masquerades. In this class are the ancestral and community masquerades at whose approach headgear must be removed, and cyclists dismount, otherwise, [the whip holders] will flog the culprits...This class of masquerades perform all the rites of the cult: calling the dead, rites in times of social emergence like droughts and epidemics. In former times they executed witches"
Alabebe: "wear colorful costumes adorned with strips of brightly colored cloth, mirrors, and cotton wool. The top of the costume may be round or square, some have flaps which serve as a sun visor for the masker...They dance and sing, followed by larger retinues of women and children"
Paakara: (Literally 'roam about') parade the streets singly or in groups. They wear colorful two-piece costumes consisting of trousers with hose and stockings in one piece; and a big garment, ogugu, that covers the masker's head and reaches down to his knees..." There is a "violent sub-class" of paakara called janduku (hooligans): "There is no redress for being flogged by them during an Egungun festival, anyone who waits as they approach does so at his own risk"
Tombolo: "are small children in masquerade costume...They are followed by small children as they beg for money..."
Ajia or eru Egungun: "These maskers are young boys in attendance on the more senior masquerades. In some places, ajia perform the preliminary dances before the senior masquerades come out."
Alarinjo ('walk and dance'): entertainment masquerade that travels from place to place, entertaining crowds.
Onidan: Masqueraders who perform tricks.
Agbegijo ('take wood to dance): Maskers who use carved wood headpieces. "Agbegijo maskers use a two-piece costume, an inner costume that includes a doublet and hose, gloves, and head covering with two small holes for vision. Upon this is put an outer costume ago, a large sack terminating in a loose pair of doublet and hose. The rest of the costume, if it is big enough, is thrown over the masker's shoulder to form a train behind him...During the performance, the outer costume is cast off after the masker has 'changed' into an animal or a human social type. This action is called pidian (playing tricks), achieved with the aid of stage properties carried in a large bag...containing carvings, costumes and other stage properties with which the maskers 'metamorphose' into boa constrictors, crocodiles, monkeys, prostitutes, police men, nursing mothers, Europeans....and other social types"
History
The origins of Egungun performance are difficult to ascertain. Olajubu and Ojo observe, “when informants are pressed for such information [the origins of Egungun], some profess ignorance, other narrate ‘stories of origin’, others, especially cult members, refuse to divulge what they regard as cult secrets…Other informants say: ‘It is out fathers’ tradition, we inherited it, no one knows how it began’” (255). In his essay "The Origin and Form of the Yoruba Masque Theatre" Joel Adedeji begins with a short summary of Egungun's origins, which elaborates on Olajubu and Ojo's comments above. This is cited from page 225 of Adedeji's article:
From this history we can gather that the origin of Egungun ritual was partly political, and tied to a desire by Yoruba leaders to deify past leaders, and in so doing solidify histories of power that would help legitimize kingly authority. The origins of Egungun are also spiritual, occuring as they did in sacred spaces, and evolving into "a permanent feature of Yoruba funeral ceremony" (255). The remainder of Adedeji's article is an interesting and in-depth look at the rise and fall of another important Yoruba performing tradition: masque theatre. You can read the rest of the article here.
A final thought on trying to discover the origins of the Egungun:
Our desire as western researchers to seek out the origin of Egungun masquerades betrays a general progressivist desire to chart the development of a cultural artifact from “simplicity” to “complexity,” from “chaos” to “order.” As Drewal has pointed out, however, Yoruba ritual in general, and Egungun performance in particular, is generative and interactive, and draws its power from moment-to-moment enactment by knowledgeable agents. Yes, Egungun performance is based on the past, but it finds its meaning in the repetition of this past within present moments of performance. Egungun performance is fluid, decentered, and hybrid – qualities that often resist categorization along a progressivist chronology.
A final thought on trying to discover the origins of the Egungun:
Our desire as western researchers to seek out the origin of Egungun masquerades betrays a general progressivist desire to chart the development of a cultural artifact from “simplicity” to “complexity,” from “chaos” to “order.” As Drewal has pointed out, however, Yoruba ritual in general, and Egungun performance in particular, is generative and interactive, and draws its power from moment-to-moment enactment by knowledgeable agents. Yes, Egungun performance is based on the past, but it finds its meaning in the repetition of this past within present moments of performance. Egungun performance is fluid, decentered, and hybrid – qualities that often resist categorization along a progressivist chronology.
Fesitvals
For a concise summary of the process of the egungun festivals of the Oyo Yoruba see pages 263-268 of Olajubu and Ojo's article "Some Aspects of Oyo Yoruba Masquerades," attached here.
The structure and frequency of Egungun festivals is highly divergent, and depends upon region. Some festivals are annual, some occur every other year. Some regions hold their festivals as early as March, while other regions conduct their festivals in July or September. The date for these festivals is often arrived at through divination. Once a date has been set, the information is passed to the members of the town hosting the festival and the people of neighboring communities.
Ritual preparations for the Egungun festival also differ from region to region, town to town. These preparatory rituals often involve a vigil to welcome the ancestral spirits, conducted within the egungun grove (Olajubu and Ojo 264). This vigil lasts all night and includes feasting, drinking, and sacrifice. Generally, the Egungun festival begins with masked performance in the sacred grove for important political and cult leaders. The egungun maskers then venture into town, followed by a large group made up of drummers, chanting women, relatives of the various departed ancestors, children, cult leaders, and political dignitaries. Egungun festivals can last up to three months, with a whole cadre of varying performances in spaces throughout the village and sacred grove.
Egungun masquerades not only vary from region to region in terms of structure and frequency, but also in content. One source of this diversity is the subject of the spectacle itself, since Egungun ritual honors specific family ancestors. Drewal writes that "Egungun masked performances transform and re-resent myth through the fragmentation of its narrative structure..." (Drewal 90). She goes on to say, "The performances are paratactical--made up of equal, but thematically and stylistically disconnected, segments strung together temporarily" (Drewal 91). Thus, the content of Egungun masked performance is highly dependent on the repertoire of myths and performative segments the performer is able to conjure up through gesture, song, dance, and speech in the improvisational moment of performance. Indeed, Drewal writes, "In Yoruba ritual, materials received from the past can be repeated--either elaborated, condensed, extended and expanded--or deleted entirely, all at the performers' whims" (Drewal 102).
The structure and frequency of Egungun festivals is highly divergent, and depends upon region. Some festivals are annual, some occur every other year. Some regions hold their festivals as early as March, while other regions conduct their festivals in July or September. The date for these festivals is often arrived at through divination. Once a date has been set, the information is passed to the members of the town hosting the festival and the people of neighboring communities.
Ritual preparations for the Egungun festival also differ from region to region, town to town. These preparatory rituals often involve a vigil to welcome the ancestral spirits, conducted within the egungun grove (Olajubu and Ojo 264). This vigil lasts all night and includes feasting, drinking, and sacrifice. Generally, the Egungun festival begins with masked performance in the sacred grove for important political and cult leaders. The egungun maskers then venture into town, followed by a large group made up of drummers, chanting women, relatives of the various departed ancestors, children, cult leaders, and political dignitaries. Egungun festivals can last up to three months, with a whole cadre of varying performances in spaces throughout the village and sacred grove.
Egungun masquerades not only vary from region to region in terms of structure and frequency, but also in content. One source of this diversity is the subject of the spectacle itself, since Egungun ritual honors specific family ancestors. Drewal writes that "Egungun masked performances transform and re-resent myth through the fragmentation of its narrative structure..." (Drewal 90). She goes on to say, "The performances are paratactical--made up of equal, but thematically and stylistically disconnected, segments strung together temporarily" (Drewal 91). Thus, the content of Egungun masked performance is highly dependent on the repertoire of myths and performative segments the performer is able to conjure up through gesture, song, dance, and speech in the improvisational moment of performance. Indeed, Drewal writes, "In Yoruba ritual, materials received from the past can be repeated--either elaborated, condensed, extended and expanded--or deleted entirely, all at the performers' whims" (Drewal 102).
performers: As agent
Performers are always male members of the Egungun cult. "Slaves, the uninitiated and, ill-mannered people are forbidden" observe Olajubu and Ojo (261). Women do not dance the Egungun, but their chanted and sung involvement is essential to the success of the festival. Understanding these actors as agents capable to changing the course of ritual through improvisation is key to understanding the source of the diversity of Egungun performance. Speaking generally about knowledgeable ritual practitioners, Margaret Drewal writes, "Most performers--maskers, dancers, diviners, singers, and drummers alike--have been trained from childhood in particular techniques enabling them to play spontaneously with learned, in-body formulas" (Drewal 7). Through improvisation--"spontaneous play with learned, in-body formulas"--Ritual performers have agency over the structure and meaning of ritual like the Egungun.
"Ritual specialists bring that which is normally inaccessible, unseen, or imagined into the phenomenal world where it can be observed and contemplated" (Drewal 1992: 90). Drewal argues that ritual is not static, but rather fluid and constantly in flux, and it is the improvisational choices of individual performers that make it so. When performing the maskers utilize both their "learned, in-body formulas" and the information they are receiving from the "speech" of the drummed accompaniment (more about the drums later). The improvisations of Egungun maskers can take many forms, as Drewal lists in her book: "ruses, parodies, transpositions, recontextualizations, elaborations, condensations, interruptions, interventions, and more" (20).
"Ritual specialists bring that which is normally inaccessible, unseen, or imagined into the phenomenal world where it can be observed and contemplated" (Drewal 1992: 90). Drewal argues that ritual is not static, but rather fluid and constantly in flux, and it is the improvisational choices of individual performers that make it so. When performing the maskers utilize both their "learned, in-body formulas" and the information they are receiving from the "speech" of the drummed accompaniment (more about the drums later). The improvisations of Egungun maskers can take many forms, as Drewal lists in her book: "ruses, parodies, transpositions, recontextualizations, elaborations, condensations, interruptions, interventions, and more" (20).
ase
Ase, which I previously discussed in the section on the Yoruba cosmos, is the Yoruba concept of power. Ase is devoid of good or bad connotations; rather it is a generative life force, the power of transformation. Yoruba ritual practitioners and performers are thought to posses ase. As Drewal writes, “The concept of ase presupposes the instrumentality of actors as agents in structuring, in processing, in contextualizing, in playing tropes off one another, at once performing operations on structure, process, and context and improvising on, in, with, and around them” (27). The work of the professional ritual performer is ase, “the power to bring things into existence, to make things happen” (Drewal 27). Yoruba actors in ritual, then, have the power to bring spectacle into existence. Furthermore, they have the agency, in Drewal’s terms, to alter the ritual format, to enact repetition with revision, and in so doing help “construct multiple configurations and identities that are always in discourse with each other” (Drewal 27).
Indeed, the efficaciousness of Yoruba rituals is dependent upon the performer's ability to meld, in his performance, the past and the present:"rituals are efficacious only when they are performed regularly according to tenets from the past and creatively re-presented to suit the present" (Drewal and Pemberton 1989: 14). Thus, an Egungun performance takes traditional gestures, movements, songs, and speeches and plays with them, re-presenting them as a novel performance that speaks directly to the temporal moment. Margaret Drewal phrases it this way:"Egungun performers refer to precedents from the past by making analogies to myth and then add them to new material...and new insights..." (Drewal 102). Later she writes: "The ritual performer is more an up-to-the-minute interpreter in the face of [the] presumed past" (Drewal 103)
Indeed, the efficaciousness of Yoruba rituals is dependent upon the performer's ability to meld, in his performance, the past and the present:"rituals are efficacious only when they are performed regularly according to tenets from the past and creatively re-presented to suit the present" (Drewal and Pemberton 1989: 14). Thus, an Egungun performance takes traditional gestures, movements, songs, and speeches and plays with them, re-presenting them as a novel performance that speaks directly to the temporal moment. Margaret Drewal phrases it this way:"Egungun performers refer to precedents from the past by making analogies to myth and then add them to new material...and new insights..." (Drewal 102). Later she writes: "The ritual performer is more an up-to-the-minute interpreter in the face of [the] presumed past" (Drewal 103)
Performers: as vessel
Oyin Ogunba in his chapter "Staging in Yoruba Drama" (included in the anthology African Theatre in Performance, ed. Dele Layiwola) writes the following about ritual drama in Africa: "Ritual drama is a drama of music, masking and dance. It relies heavily on mime and symbolism, and the high point of performance is often the attainment of possession in dance, a state of ecstasy in which the dancer is transfigured and is in perfect unity with the god, goddess, spirit or ancestor being celebrated" (54). It is this "state of ecstacy" that the Egungun masker enters into when he is performing.
In one sense, then, Egungun performers are not only active agents in the re-creation of ritual, but they are also vessels for otherworldy agents as well - ancestors from orun who make their own mark on earthly lives. The large costumes worn by Egungun maskers efface their bodies, conceal their identities, and in so doing, make them vessels for the ancestral spirit. In this sense Egungun performers navigate between two simultaneous and interpenetrating realms during the ritual: that of the earthly context in which their body is firmly rooted and that of the heavenly, otherworldly context in which their consciousness is rooted. Performance theorists debate over how this split works, and whether it is possible, during ritual trance and spirit possession, for the performer to both be fully subsumed by the spirit and conscious of their own performance. I do not know where I stand on this issue, but I do appreciate Bode Omojola's explication of the division experienced by Egungun performers. The following section is from Omojola's essay "Rhythms of the Gods: Music and Spirituality in Yoruba Culture" printed in the March 2010 edition of The Journal of Pan African Studies (pp. 29):
In one sense, then, Egungun performers are not only active agents in the re-creation of ritual, but they are also vessels for otherworldy agents as well - ancestors from orun who make their own mark on earthly lives. The large costumes worn by Egungun maskers efface their bodies, conceal their identities, and in so doing, make them vessels for the ancestral spirit. In this sense Egungun performers navigate between two simultaneous and interpenetrating realms during the ritual: that of the earthly context in which their body is firmly rooted and that of the heavenly, otherworldly context in which their consciousness is rooted. Performance theorists debate over how this split works, and whether it is possible, during ritual trance and spirit possession, for the performer to both be fully subsumed by the spirit and conscious of their own performance. I do not know where I stand on this issue, but I do appreciate Bode Omojola's explication of the division experienced by Egungun performers. The following section is from Omojola's essay "Rhythms of the Gods: Music and Spirituality in Yoruba Culture" printed in the March 2010 edition of The Journal of Pan African Studies (pp. 29):
Omojola suggests a third way of viewing the Egungun performer. The performer can be categorized as a knowledgeable agent of ritual change or the emblem that makes seen what is unseeable, or, taking a broader approach, we can understand his role as, ultimately, a liminal one. The Egungun performer is poised on the borderland between two worlds, and his "betwixt and between" position gives him a certain responsibility to balance the "spiritual and social needs of his community" (Omojola 46).
anonymity in egungun performance
Below is a section from Olojubu and Ojo commenting on the necessity of anonymity in the Egungun masquerade:
Anonymity of the performer is of the upmost importance in the Egungun. Once he dons the costume the performer ceases to be himself and he becomes the ancestor, incarnated on earth through bodily gesture and commemorative cloth. The costumes, however, are not the only aspect of Egungun performance that assures anonymity. Olajubu and Ojo contend that "to ensure perfect anonymity, the masker must have no physical deformity or extraordinary characteristics such a limping by which he can be identified" (261). It is also the performer's body that must be able to shed itself of any recognizable characteristics in order to become a blank slate onto which the movements and gestures of the ancestor are inscribed and enacted. The spectators fully accept this transformation as real. They are able to see the performer, then, as both human and spirit. However, to ensure that "the secret will [not] leak" spectators are expected to say nothing of the performer's mortal nature.
In a way, then, Egungun rituals require a corporate suspension of disbelief. Though that characterization does belie a certain Western enlightenment epistemology. Indeed, To a westerner with a desire for observable facts and quantifiable data the non-compartmentalized nature of Egungun performance is difficult to fully comprehend. How can these women and other spectators not see that the "spirit" before them is is just a man in a costume? What are the mechanisms through which this man transforms into a mysterious and terrifying other-being? The possibilities for further research and cross-cultural understanding regarding this aspect of Egungun practice are exciting.
In a way, then, Egungun rituals require a corporate suspension of disbelief. Though that characterization does belie a certain Western enlightenment epistemology. Indeed, To a westerner with a desire for observable facts and quantifiable data the non-compartmentalized nature of Egungun performance is difficult to fully comprehend. How can these women and other spectators not see that the "spirit" before them is is just a man in a costume? What are the mechanisms through which this man transforms into a mysterious and terrifying other-being? The possibilities for further research and cross-cultural understanding regarding this aspect of Egungun practice are exciting.
Spectators: as co-performers
Figure 3: Egungun performing in a village square
Describing the nature of improvisation in Egungun Apidan performance, Margaret Drewal writes that "the relationship between the maskers, the musicians, the spectators, and other participants [are] multiple, reciprocal, and continually shifting" (101). Earlier in her book Drewal writes that "the relationships between the spectators and spectacle are unstable, one always collapsing into the other" (15). There is no unequal power relationship in Egungun performance between the gazer and the object of the gaze, "rather, the participatory nature of Yoruba spectacle itself means the subject and object positions are continually in flux during performance"(Drewal 15). This mode of spectatorship as decentered and constantly in flux differs remarkably from western notions of the fixed gaze of the audience and the objective position of the performance onstage. Western understandings of mimesis deny the spectator or the performer the possibility of crossing over to a different phenomenological viewpoint, and instead stratify the performance into a power relationship between the seers and the seen. Contrastingly, Egungun performance,through its improvisational praxis, makes space for continual crossings of the subject/object borderline. Thus, spectators are free to intervene and participate in the Egungun performance themselves, becoming part of the ritual through their own improvisations. The gathered spectators are both audience and performers, "standing within and without" the performance itself (M. Drewal 1992: 15).
Performance Space
In his chapter on staging in ritual Yoruba drama in African Theatre In Performance, Oyin Ogunba mentions the popular Yoruba saying: "Ile l'oju (literally, The Earth has eyes, or the Earth has a face)" (54). Ogunba goes on to write that the Yoruba people conceive of the earth as a human (woman's) body, filled with sensitivity and spirituality. Specific parts of the earth correspond to specific parts of this global body. "In such a set up, it is the 'eyes' of the earth, or that portion of a given piece of land which constitutes the face which is important in ritual drama" (Ogunba 54).
In general, Yoruba ritual is staged in open spaces where large groups of people--maybe a whole village--can gather at once and witness sacred performance. Places for such performance must be able to accommodate large crowds while at the same time being ritually significant. Groves--"traditional reservation areas for gods and ancestors" (Ogunba 55)--are often used as ritual performance spaces for Egungun masquerades. These groves are often the first places the parading Egungun stop before venturing into the township. In recent years these sacred spaces have been "swallowed up in urban development" write Olajubu and Ojo (263). Ogunba seconds their account when he writes, "In recent times expansion has overtaken them [the sacred groves], and the majesty, the supernatural awe of these sacred places has all but disappeared" (55-56). This is one more example of the ways in which modern technologies and socio-political trends have shaped modern-day egungun performance.
Egungun performance is often staged in-the-round. Ogunba writes: "The stage-in-the-round accommodates different degrees of audience-participation, depending on the type of festival or the particular act or episode being performed within a festival" (58). Staging in-the-round creates ample space for the large, physical performance of the Egungun masquerades, and since there is no set demarcation between audience and stage, spectators are able to both watch and participate in the performance at hand. However, Ogunba notes that, "In some festivals, for example Egungun, whips are carried by younger Egungun or plain-clothed men. This practice which now appears to be an essential part of Egungun ritual must have started as a device to create acting space" (65). While spectators of Egungun masquerades do intervene in the performance, the presence of these whip carriers suggests that audience participation may be a more fraught enterprise than originally thought.
In general, Yoruba ritual is staged in open spaces where large groups of people--maybe a whole village--can gather at once and witness sacred performance. Places for such performance must be able to accommodate large crowds while at the same time being ritually significant. Groves--"traditional reservation areas for gods and ancestors" (Ogunba 55)--are often used as ritual performance spaces for Egungun masquerades. These groves are often the first places the parading Egungun stop before venturing into the township. In recent years these sacred spaces have been "swallowed up in urban development" write Olajubu and Ojo (263). Ogunba seconds their account when he writes, "In recent times expansion has overtaken them [the sacred groves], and the majesty, the supernatural awe of these sacred places has all but disappeared" (55-56). This is one more example of the ways in which modern technologies and socio-political trends have shaped modern-day egungun performance.
Egungun performance is often staged in-the-round. Ogunba writes: "The stage-in-the-round accommodates different degrees of audience-participation, depending on the type of festival or the particular act or episode being performed within a festival" (58). Staging in-the-round creates ample space for the large, physical performance of the Egungun masquerades, and since there is no set demarcation between audience and stage, spectators are able to both watch and participate in the performance at hand. However, Ogunba notes that, "In some festivals, for example Egungun, whips are carried by younger Egungun or plain-clothed men. This practice which now appears to be an essential part of Egungun ritual must have started as a device to create acting space" (65). While spectators of Egungun masquerades do intervene in the performance, the presence of these whip carriers suggests that audience participation may be a more fraught enterprise than originally thought.
Egungun Costume and Mask
Summary of the egungun costume from Olajubu and Ojo's article "Some Aspects of Oyo Yoruba Masquerades" (page 258):
The costume worn by Egungun performers performs a double function: through concealment of the human body the ancestral spirit is revealed. No part of the performer's body is to be shown. The costumes, with their numerous layers of vividly colored cloth, embroidery, leather, animal skin, shells, and beads, and their architectural headpieces and masks completely obliterate the human form. While the Egungun costume is a beautiful work of art in its own right, it reaches its full potential when activated by human performance. The costume literally comes to life once it is inhabited by a human performer. The meaning of Egungun costume is wildly diverse, and differs from family to family, region to region, costume to costume. It is an impossible task to catalogue each of the varying meanings of Egungun costume. What follows is an attempt to summarize the broad, important aspects of Egungun costume. To try to reduce such a rich tradition to a "comprehensive" list assumes that this ritual can be mastered, can be fully understood by an outside observer. The Egungun, as a total theatre that comes alive in the moment of performance, must be studied in a participatory way, not in a way that assumes mastery and thus denies the tradition its mystery and power.
Beckwith and Fisher offer an interesting summary of the importance of cloth in Yoruba society and culture: "As a visual metaphor, cloth plays an extremely important role in Yoruba culture: the exotic weaves, patterns, and textures signify both social power and prestige. Nakedness, in other words a lack of cloth, is associated with infancy, insanity, or, worst of all, a failure of social responsibility." (Backwith and Fischer 325).
"In ritual performances honoring the ancestors," they continue, "exquisite fabrics are the major medium for the masker's transformation into the agent of the spirit, providing an immediate visual expression of spectral and sacred majesty. Considerable sums are spent by Egungun society members for both locally made and imported fabrics. By enclosing the spirit messenger...in a cage of cloth, the unknowable is simultaneously concealed and revealed within the world of the living" (Beckwith and Fischer 325). There is a economic element, then, to the Egungun. Whoever is able to spend more money on procuring the most lavish and exquisite costume for their ancestor achieves some modicum of power within the township, while at the same time ensuring greater blessings from their pleased ancestor. Indeed, the work of appeasing the ancestors through Egungun is considered socially efficacious in Yoruba society. Aremu writes, “The Yoruba people believe that these costumed figures can solve their problems, if appropriate submissions and rituals are observed. Problems such as persistent sickness, poverty, barrenness in women, poor harvest, and general backwardness of entire towns and villages are taken care of when these figures are properly pleased” (9). The costumes worn by Egungun have also been described as moving shrines, and as such “are regarded as the sole emblems of departed ancestors” (Aremu 10).
The costumes are an essential feature of the masquerades, they make the masquerade (Aremu 9). Aremu argues that the Yoruba people see Egungun costumes as “commemorative clothes for the ancestral spirits” (9). As sacred commemorative clothes, the costumes are constructed in such a way as to flatter and honor important and influential ancestors. The use of color is one way that an ancestor is honored through the costume of the Egungun. The vibrant colors of individual Egungun costumes correspond to the specific preferences of the deities and ancestors they honor. Aremu quotes Sangodare Alimi of Taraa in Ogbomoso as saying “These clothes stand as the magnetic forces that draw us near to them” (7). Color serves as one strategy for "drawing" ancestors from the other world to this world. The mythic history of Egungun practice explains how certain deities came to be associated with their various colors: Orunmila and white, Sango and red, Orisanla and white, etc. (Aremu 9).
Additionally, as commemorative clothes, Egungun costumes are preserved and stored in sacred places, away from the public eye, and more importantly, safe from “all external negative tendencies” (Aremu 10). Blood plays an important role in sanctifying and preserving Egungun costume. Below, Aremu elaborates:
"In ritual performances honoring the ancestors," they continue, "exquisite fabrics are the major medium for the masker's transformation into the agent of the spirit, providing an immediate visual expression of spectral and sacred majesty. Considerable sums are spent by Egungun society members for both locally made and imported fabrics. By enclosing the spirit messenger...in a cage of cloth, the unknowable is simultaneously concealed and revealed within the world of the living" (Beckwith and Fischer 325). There is a economic element, then, to the Egungun. Whoever is able to spend more money on procuring the most lavish and exquisite costume for their ancestor achieves some modicum of power within the township, while at the same time ensuring greater blessings from their pleased ancestor. Indeed, the work of appeasing the ancestors through Egungun is considered socially efficacious in Yoruba society. Aremu writes, “The Yoruba people believe that these costumed figures can solve their problems, if appropriate submissions and rituals are observed. Problems such as persistent sickness, poverty, barrenness in women, poor harvest, and general backwardness of entire towns and villages are taken care of when these figures are properly pleased” (9). The costumes worn by Egungun have also been described as moving shrines, and as such “are regarded as the sole emblems of departed ancestors” (Aremu 10).
The costumes are an essential feature of the masquerades, they make the masquerade (Aremu 9). Aremu argues that the Yoruba people see Egungun costumes as “commemorative clothes for the ancestral spirits” (9). As sacred commemorative clothes, the costumes are constructed in such a way as to flatter and honor important and influential ancestors. The use of color is one way that an ancestor is honored through the costume of the Egungun. The vibrant colors of individual Egungun costumes correspond to the specific preferences of the deities and ancestors they honor. Aremu quotes Sangodare Alimi of Taraa in Ogbomoso as saying “These clothes stand as the magnetic forces that draw us near to them” (7). Color serves as one strategy for "drawing" ancestors from the other world to this world. The mythic history of Egungun practice explains how certain deities came to be associated with their various colors: Orunmila and white, Sango and red, Orisanla and white, etc. (Aremu 9).
Additionally, as commemorative clothes, Egungun costumes are preserved and stored in sacred places, away from the public eye, and more importantly, safe from “all external negative tendencies” (Aremu 10). Blood plays an important role in sanctifying and preserving Egungun costume. Below, Aremu elaborates:
Blood is also important in the mythical understandings of Egungun origins, as Aremu explicates here:
Masks worn with the costumes have a long, mythical history as well, and are themselves considered efficacious due to the spiritual blessings they receive from sacred predecessors. The style and content of these masks vary from region to region, and are highly dependent on the familial context of individual Egungun performance.
In general, the costumes of the Egungun serve several functions within the context of both ritual performance and Yoruba society:
In general, the costumes of the Egungun serve several functions within the context of both ritual performance and Yoruba society:
- The costumes conceal the body of the human performer in order to reveal the presence of the ancestral spirit. In this way they reveal a reality that is not otherwise observable.
- The costumes, through their aesthetic structure, serve to honor and please deified ancestors, and in so doing bring about blessings and good fortune.
- The costumes display the wealth and piety of individual families.
- The costumes are the creation and reflections of social and familial relationships.
- The costumes, through their improvisational activation in live performance, become open sites of possibility where economic, political, and spiritual discourses are constituted and contested.
Music: Drumming and singing
In “Drumming for the Egungun: The Poet-Musician in Yoruba Masquerade Theater,” included in The Yoruba Artist: New Theoretical Perspectives on African Arts, author Akin Euba writes that “Yoruba traditional music—vocal and instrumental—is synonymous with musical-theater. It is seldom realized as a distinctive art form, for it is performed and heard in the context of other artistic and ritual performances that entail poetry, dance, mime, costume, and sculpted forms…their ultimate function lies in their integration with religion and other aspects of Yoruba life-style “(161).
The Yoruba ritual drummer is not a specialist, but rather is trained to be able to play at any ceremony, festival, or performance where drumming in a main component of the action. Some important families and Egungun use specific “personal drummers,” a practice that displays the wealth, prestige, and piousness of the family. The art of drumming is an essential component of the complex tapestry that is Egungun performance. Much like the masker's costume its self, drumming makes the Egungun. There are two types of drumming ensembles that play the Egungun: dundun and bata.
The Yoruba ritual drummer is not a specialist, but rather is trained to be able to play at any ceremony, festival, or performance where drumming in a main component of the action. Some important families and Egungun use specific “personal drummers,” a practice that displays the wealth, prestige, and piousness of the family. The art of drumming is an essential component of the complex tapestry that is Egungun performance. Much like the masker's costume its self, drumming makes the Egungun. There are two types of drumming ensembles that play the Egungun: dundun and bata.
bata
Figure 7: A Bata ensemble plays for Idan Egungun
“The Bata ensemble consists of conically shaped, double-headed, fixed-pitch membrane drums, the largest of which is also called iyaalu and performs in the speech mode” (Euba 164). The Bata ensemble is most frequently used in entertainment masques and in the performance of idan (‘miracles’ or ‘magic’) (Euba 164)
Dundun
Figure 8: Dundun drum
“The Dundun ensemble consists of tension drums of various sizes together with a small kettle drum…The lead tension drum, iyaalu, is used for talking” (Euba 162-164). The ‘talking drum’ is so named because “the patterns played by the lead drum…are a blend of music and poetry, for the patterns are analogous to a text spoken by the human voice” (Euba 161). The Dundun ensemble is used most regularly by the ancestral masquerades
Egungun music is not limited to these two drumming ensembles. Most notably, women from the Egungun compounds chant poetry in praise of the masquerades as they make their way into the township. Within the Egungun, Euba identifies three basic forms of drumming:
1.) Oriki (praise drumming)
2.) Processional drumming
3.) Dance drumming
Master drummers are essential to the success of the masquerade. Since their drums produce music that is a mix of song and speech, Egungun drummers are experts in both poetic and drumming rhythm forms. Indeed, the drummer of the Egungun could be considered a dramatist, for he uses his drum to say things he alone could not say with his own voice. The rhythms and poems that the drummer performs communicate not only with the Egungun masker, who is trained to pick up on the slight variations and changes in rhythm, but also with the spectators gathered to watch the performance.
Euba encapsulates the most important function of the Egungun drummer when he writes: “The function of the Egungun drummer is to provide inspiration, encouragement, and assistance to the egungun by playing the egungun’s oriki. For nothing inspires an egungun more than hearing the oriki of his lineage ancestry being played on the talking drum (Euba 1990: 85). It is through the drumming that the egungun “becomes” the ancestral presence” (Euba 166). Thus, drumming is absolutely essential to the enterprise of Egungun performance. The drummer is always in conversation with the Egungun, warning him, guiding him, at times commanding him. Oftentimes the drummer will taunt or provoke the Egungun (Euba 166). Through the poetry and rhythm of the talking drum the drummer can inspire great performances or instigate fights and competitions between Egungun. The relationship between the drummer and the Egungun is most obvious during dance breaks that occur during the festival procession. Euba writes: “Here again, the masquerade must rely on his drummers to supply appropriate music. During the dance interludes, the iyaalu drummer moves away from the other drummers and directly faces the dancer. He and the egungun together create the choreography.” (166). This moment is, above all, competitive: “Drummer and dance try to outdo each other so that each might win greater applause from the audience” (Euba 166).
In summary, drumming is an essential aspect of Egungun performance. The drummer, in playing the Egungun’s oriki, “is an image-maker for the Egungun” (Euba 169). He is a co-performer, another individual agent whose knowledge and improvisation can change ritual in very real and profound ways.
1.) Oriki (praise drumming)
2.) Processional drumming
3.) Dance drumming
Master drummers are essential to the success of the masquerade. Since their drums produce music that is a mix of song and speech, Egungun drummers are experts in both poetic and drumming rhythm forms. Indeed, the drummer of the Egungun could be considered a dramatist, for he uses his drum to say things he alone could not say with his own voice. The rhythms and poems that the drummer performs communicate not only with the Egungun masker, who is trained to pick up on the slight variations and changes in rhythm, but also with the spectators gathered to watch the performance.
Euba encapsulates the most important function of the Egungun drummer when he writes: “The function of the Egungun drummer is to provide inspiration, encouragement, and assistance to the egungun by playing the egungun’s oriki. For nothing inspires an egungun more than hearing the oriki of his lineage ancestry being played on the talking drum (Euba 1990: 85). It is through the drumming that the egungun “becomes” the ancestral presence” (Euba 166). Thus, drumming is absolutely essential to the enterprise of Egungun performance. The drummer is always in conversation with the Egungun, warning him, guiding him, at times commanding him. Oftentimes the drummer will taunt or provoke the Egungun (Euba 166). Through the poetry and rhythm of the talking drum the drummer can inspire great performances or instigate fights and competitions between Egungun. The relationship between the drummer and the Egungun is most obvious during dance breaks that occur during the festival procession. Euba writes: “Here again, the masquerade must rely on his drummers to supply appropriate music. During the dance interludes, the iyaalu drummer moves away from the other drummers and directly faces the dancer. He and the egungun together create the choreography.” (166). This moment is, above all, competitive: “Drummer and dance try to outdo each other so that each might win greater applause from the audience” (Euba 166).
In summary, drumming is an essential aspect of Egungun performance. The drummer, in playing the Egungun’s oriki, “is an image-maker for the Egungun” (Euba 169). He is a co-performer, another individual agent whose knowledge and improvisation can change ritual in very real and profound ways.
further visual resources
This is a lengthy and informative film of an Egungun festival. The video shows the entire scope of the festival, and does a particularly good job of communicating the energy and dynamism of Egungun performance. Additionally, there are good examples of a variety of Egungun masks, as well as several moments of intense interactions between maskers and spectators. The video also displays the soundscape of Egungun performance, made up of drumming and the shouts of both the performers and the audience members.
This photographer also has a series of wonderful photographs depicting an Egungun masquerade in Benin.
Picture Sources
Header Image:http://www.universeafrica.com/exhibitions.html
Figure 1: Onidan Egungun by L. R. Agbodjelou. (www.jackbellgallery.com)
Figure 2: "Egungun Masquerade Body Cover" (http://www.imamuseum.org)Figure 3: http://www.parallelozero.com/visual_rep.php?cod=112
Figure 3: http://peacinout.wordpress.com
Figure 4: http://www.kam.illinois.edu/exhibitions/current/Egungun.html
Figure 5: Photograph by Anthony Pappone (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ronnyreportage/7560340464/)
Figure 6: http://www.brighton-hove-rpml.org.uk/HistoryAndCollections/aboutcollections/worldart/Pages/home.aspx
Figure 7: http://www.earthcdc.com/africa/west/nigeria/egungun.shtml
Figure 8: http://www.lagbaja.com/drums/dundun.php
Figure 1: Onidan Egungun by L. R. Agbodjelou. (www.jackbellgallery.com)
Figure 2: "Egungun Masquerade Body Cover" (http://www.imamuseum.org)Figure 3: http://www.parallelozero.com/visual_rep.php?cod=112
Figure 3: http://peacinout.wordpress.com
Figure 4: http://www.kam.illinois.edu/exhibitions/current/Egungun.html
Figure 5: Photograph by Anthony Pappone (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ronnyreportage/7560340464/)
Figure 6: http://www.brighton-hove-rpml.org.uk/HistoryAndCollections/aboutcollections/worldart/Pages/home.aspx
Figure 7: http://www.earthcdc.com/africa/west/nigeria/egungun.shtml
Figure 8: http://www.lagbaja.com/drums/dundun.php