Egúngún regalia (paka Egúngún)

The Yoruba hold annual or biennial celebrations called Odun Egungun to honor the ancestors. The Egungun costume form varies, but most cover the performer with layers of brightly colored fabric panels, as can be seen in this example.

WHERE WAS IT MADE?
This was made in the southwest of Nigeria, where the Yoruba people live.

HOW WAS IT MADE?
Most likely the creator of this costume was a man, as men are the tailors and dressmakers in Yoruba society. They belong to organizations of professional artists who are entrusted with creating the religious objects used in Yoruba societies. To speak of only one artist, however, would be inaccurate, as the Egungun costume is added to each year by the family who owns it and may endure beyond the lifetime of its original maker.

The Egungun costume is made up of cloth lappets that are attached to an under-sack, all of which is held up by large, wooden beams. The provenance of the fabrics used in the Egungun costumes range across continents, including imports from Europe. However the under-sack, called the aso oke, is locally woven by Yoruba men. It is important that this cloth is the only cloth that touches the body of the performer. Because of the contact with the body, the cloth absorbs the sweat of the wearer, elevating its symbolic value. This locally produced cloth is the most spiritually relevant.

HOW WAS IT USED?
This costume is worn during the Egungun ceremony. The “children of the egungun” masquerader pays tribute to the ancestors, who the Yoruba consider to be active members of society. The Egungun ceremony is a time to honor the ancestors so that they will continue to function as kindly liaisons to the gods.

The masquerader dances through the streets to the beating of drummers, swirling to create a dazzling display of color, artistic prowess, and wealth for the ancestors to witness.

It is important that the masker be completely covered, so generally a knotted cloth dyed with stripes of indigo covers the face of the masker. A headdress or cap mask is often worn of the top of the masquerader’s head. To see an example of an Egungun cap mask in the Johnson Museum’s collection, search for object number 2000.138.003 in the keyword search box.

WHY DOES IT LOOK LIKE THIS?
Red fabric figures prominently in traditional Egungun masquerades. In this context, red represents the goddess Oya, the patron of Egungun. The brilliant color is believed to ward off disease, terrorize witches, and even revive the dead as Egungun.

Fabric panels do not represent power, but embody spiritual power; “Egungun” means power concealed. When panels contain sawtooth borders, they convey salvation. The Egungun masquerader twirls in space, maximizing and minimizing his height, lifting and flapping the panels in a multicolored whirlwind.

Madeleine Barenholtz ‘09 contributed to this entry.