Ishilove:
Air Beetle ke?? Its more like Air Kabukabu.

GenBuhari: naptu2,
this is a very good thread but it is not getting enough views compared to what it deserves, why not change the thread title every so often until you get a title that will attract man more views.

Good idea. Thanks

Mmanwu Festival


It was usually billed as the biggest masquerade festival in Nigeria.

Igbabonelimi


One of my absolute favourites, I love the way they spin.

Egungun






Lagosians believe that when a man dies and is buried, his soul still lives and visits his relatives occasionally.

Egungun is then referred to as a visitor from heaven. The festival is held as a yearly event in order to offer sacrifice to the gods of the land for good harvest of food. Chief Ajayi King, the Atigbale of Lagos (keeper of the key to the Egungun shrine) says “ although Lagos is not an agricultural place, yet those who farm in other parts of the country will always bring the products from their farms to sell in Lagos”. He also says that the egungun festival was brought to Lagos from Oyo. It is a festival that is common in all the Yoruba areas of Nigeria. The egungun festival is also held for the eradication of epidemics like small pox, chicken pox, etc.

The egungun masquerade’s outfit is made from expensive velvet of different colours and it covers from head to toe. The face of the outfit is covered with a veil through which the carrier of the masquerade outfit (AGO) can see. The leader (ATOKUN) carries some charms in his left hand and a designed cane stick . The main egungun to offer the sacrifice is called “Baba-Alago”. He offers sacrifice to the gods of the land using kola, bitter kola, alligator pepper, hot drinks, water with many food items. The egungun wears a flowing robe with long cloth like a bridal gown. As it parades the streets of Lagos visiting important shrines, the long cloth is believed to be sweeping the land clean to clear away epidemics, food scarcity, etc. The egungun masquerade also visits relatives to pray for them and advise them on what to do to prosper.

The different families who migrated to Lagos from other Yoruba areas bringing this festival with them have their different egungun, but the overall head is called “Alagba” or “Bamgbose”. They are in classes according to their fetish powers. The period of ritual performance is seven days and beans and “akara” are used in the ritual performance.

At the end of the ceremony, the egun “Baba-Alago” is the egungun that closes the egungun festival. After parading the streets, he goes home after all other egungun masquerades have gone in. Before he enters his house a white ram is killed at the entrance to his house and the blood is spread on the ground. He walks on the blood into his house. The blood is believed to have washed away all the bad things the cloth has collected while parading the streets. The ram must be killed as sacrifice by another egungun called “Oya”.

When an important member of the egungun family dies, the egungun masquerades come out on the day of the burial. The egungun known as “Oya” must kill a ram to send off the dead man’s spirit. Without this ceremony, another member of the family cannot take over the egungun mask.

Interviews by naptu2's brother (edited by naptu2).

I should include my research on the origins of Egungun, Adamu Orisa (Eyo) and Igunnuko, but it's much too long. I don't think I can type all that.

Zangbeto

naptu2: Zangbeto

God, if person see dis one for dream no be to go deliverance?

naptu2: I should include my research on the origins of Egungun, Adamu Orisa (Eyo) and Igunnuko, but it's much too long. I don't think I can type all that.

And we all know Nigerians are resistant to reading

Ishilove:
God, if person see this one for dream no be to go deliverance?

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

naptu2:

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

naptu2: Zangbeto

Is it a human being inside? I ask because there is one I saw that could inhumanly shorten and elongate itself.

Ishilove:
Is it a human being inside? I ask because there is one I saw that could inhumanly shorten and elongate itself.

Ah! You stole my thunder (I'm going to post Igunnuko later).

But thank you...you've just confirmed that I wasn't dreaming and I'm not crazy. I once saw igunnuko shorten itself such that it was almost flat on the ground. I told my mum, but she didn't believe me. She said there were people with baskets inside and they elongate and shorten the masquerade by increasing and reducing the height of the baskets.

Igunnuko
[img]http://1.bp..com/_bDcpR_wJ7hk/Sjc8vePKEAI/AAAAAAAABAA/09yOk-oeWhA/s400/ig.jpg[/img]

Igunnuko cult is a Tapa cult from Pategi in Niger State of Nigeria. It was brought down to Lagos by Yaisa Ayani, the great grandfather of Aleje in 1805.

Yaisa Ayani's people saw what other tribes were doing with their own cults during a festival and this motivated them to put pressure on their man to go and bring their own cult which is used not only for festival performances, but also to appease the gods. A ritual performance is done when they sense that an outbreak of any disease or war is approaching.

In 1814 Yaisa Ayani went to his home town in Pategi, Niger State and brought the Igunnuko Cult to Lagos. It first settled at Odo-Oba (Oju-Oto), his residence. He bought some ingredients with which some rituals were performed, it was after these rituals that it started coming out.

Later when this place could not accommodate them again, Yaisa Ayani went to Chief I Oshodi Tapa, a Nupe man and an important war chief in Lagos, to appeal to him to give him a place to be used as (IBASOSHI) Igbo-Igunnu which Chief Oshodi Tapa joyfully gave to him and which is known as “IGBO-IGUNNU EPETEDO” till today. It was from this place that Igunnuko cult spread all over modern day Lagos State. This place is also known as the origin of Igunnuko in Lagos State.

Chief Abiodun Thomas, the Idaso of Igunnuko (head of the Igunnuko cult) in Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos, says that the festival is done between January and February each year and the festival lasts for fourteen days. When it is time for the festival or an occasion calls for its ritual performance, a ritual performance is first done for the pot drum before anyone beats it. To perform the festival or ritual ceremony, the following are required: - one native goat, duck, pigeon, snail, hen, cock, black turtle, cotton wool, calabash, kolanut, bitter kolanut, natoive wine, hot drink, three yards of white cloth and some other useful items.

The festival starts when all these are ready. The young and old men (alone) will go to uproot a living tree. This is called kuso and when they are returning from kuso, any place that trees are dragged or passed with means a lot.

When the festival is on, the igunnuko masquerades are seen. The igunnuko dresses in robes on stilts, it is a very tall figure and is also a secret cult used to hunt witches. It parades the streets and visits important people. On sighting an igunnuko one has to remove his hat and shoes. The tall, graceful shape of the masquerades, their ability to telescope into any height at all and their other amazing display of agility in spite of their height, make these masquerades and their performance a fascinating sight. A companion of the igunnuko is the Salumogi, a very short masquerade that holds a whip and clears the way for the Igunnuko.

Interviews by naptu2's brother (edited by naptu2).

Ishilove:
Ogun ise ya ma black asss. Bush state

naijababe:

I'm sorry love. That's how I feel about the state

One of the posts that makes been on nairaland so worth it.Nice one.

phineas: One of the posts that makes been on nairaland so worth it.Nice one.

Thank you very much.

I have included research into the origins of Igunnuko and Egungun above. You might like to scroll up and read it.

[size=14pt]Memories[/size]

The last day.

There would be a large number of youths with whips on the street on the last day of the egungun festival. Surprisingly, I wouldn't see any masquerades on the streets on this day (apart from that "final masquerade). There would be a massive whipping contest (youths whipping each other to see who can endure the most).

The signal for the youths to vacate the streets would come late in the afternoon (one year I saw boys riding on a beige volvo, going round to tell the youths that it is time). The streets would be deserted and everywhere would go quiet (around 4pm).

The great final procession would arrive about 30 minutes or an hour later.

Sometimes in December, the last day of the Egungun Festival, there would be a joint procession with the Fanti Carnival, to mark the last day of carnival. The Carnival Captain is elected every year and he would ride through the procession on horseback.

The youths with whips are usually at the head of the procession. They are accompanied by boys brigade/street bands. The carnival captain is usually at the tail end of the main procession. There's a small gap after the main procession, then comes the fiercesome "final masquerade" and his attendants. Some of the attendants are beating traditional drums.

I would be watching the procession from a vantage position high up and at a safe distance. My biggest fear is being caught up in the middle of that procession. They all knew me and I didn't want them to see me. Below is my only encounter with the carnival captain.


They were here again. They came every Christmas, New Year, Easter and September. I ran and bumped into my sister in the hallway. She was also looking for somewhere to hide. We decided to hide in the room.

I had only taken two steps when I remembered that the front door was open. I went back to lock it. I got to the doorway and got curious. I could hear the drums, but I couldn't see any masquerades in the garden. Then, a deep voice asked, "Where is your father?"

I slowly looked up and saw a man on a horse just by the hedge. He was bare-chested and had amulets tied to both arms. In one swift movement I turned round, slammed the door and bolted into the house (Ben Johnson on steroids wouldn't have caught me).

Does anybody know the name of the Lagos masquerade that wears a mat? I thought it was an egungun when I was a kid.

[size=14pt]UK and Commonwealth Remembrance Day[/size]

@ 11:11:11:12 we remember Dodan, Myohaung, The Kaladan Valley, An, The Arakan Peninsula, Garua, Douala, Mora Mountain, Cross River, Banyo, Ethiopia, Kenya and Mogadishu.

(A minute silence @ 11:11:11:12) Troops of the Nigeria Regiment, 3rd West African Brigade (Thunder), boarding a Dakota Transport plane (circa 1943). 




Colonial troops of the 1st Battalion, Nigerian Regiment, about to depart Kaduna for action in German Kamerun (1914).

[img][/img]
Adamu Orisa Play (Eyo Festival)

[img]http://2.bp..com/_bDcpR_wJ7hk/TVL63VPsdII/AAAAAAAAEWc/j9su47Bk5SA/s1600/Eyo%2BFestival.jpg[/img]
Eyo Festival 1910


There has never been any controversy that the Adamu Orisa Play is the highest and the richest cultural performance that Lagos can boast of and it is trite that none other has ever made any such claim. Chief Ajayi King (the Atigbale of Lagos) says that the Adamu Orisa Play was brought to Lagos from Iperu, which forms part of present day Ogun State in Nigeria. The staff of the Lagos State Council For Arts and Culture seem to disagree, for in a pamphlet produced by them, they state that “understandably, the origin as indeed the genesis of its public performances must be rooted in legend, but most sadly, these legends are completely lost to history. We are not able to find them although we have searched and better searched. Nor is there complete agreement upon the number of theories that tend to nail down somewhere the place or places of its ancestry. We know however that before authentic history took over, the Adamu Orisa play was being staged and played somewhere, sometime, but these known truisims consistently defy analysis or diagnosis. When Lagos proper started to know about the play, it was being staged by people who had come to Lagos to perform the play: as it was being staged only on the Agbadarigi (Badagry) market days, there has always been the suggestion that those who came to perform had also come to the market to do their trading as well. The point of performance was known as Oke-Ita (outside mount) and later students of geography have identified the spot to be lagoon end of Glover Road, Ikoyi. There the dramatis personae dried their nets and hung them before and after the performance”.

[img]http://4.bp..com/_bDcpR_wJ7hk/S-EBBCDEYWI/AAAAAAAAD28/rlsu0rWv_B0/s1600/eyo2.jpg[/img]
Eyo Festival 1912


Remi Olajumoke states that “before 20th February, 1854, when the Adamu Orisa play was first staged on Lagos Island, the people of Lagos including the Obas of Lagos traveled outside Lagos Island to watch the performance. The first performance of February 1854 was in memory of the late Oba Akitoye of Lagos and since then, and for the past one hundred and sixty years, the play had been performed on Lagos Island”.

The Adamu Orisa Play is a traditional play of Lagos only and it must be performed only on Lagos Island and not to be extended to the mainland or anywhere else. The play is staged in memory of, and as part of the funeral obsequies of a renowned, illustrious and respected person. Remi Olajumoke writes further that “the records of performances show that during the years before the independence of Nigeria, the British Government accorded to the play its pristine dignity and pride of place and indeed whenever the government felt that it had been a long time since a performance took place, the government would seek to involve a performance in a national event, such as Red Cross day (3rd November 1917), Win-The-War fund launching (28th May 1944), royal visit of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth to Nigeria (16th February 1956) etc”. Hence the day of staging of an Adamu Orisa play is significant both for the great occasion and for the relations and friends of the deceased person being honoured.

Officially there are five Orisha (fetish) groups involved in the Adamu Orisa play, the Adimu, the Laba, the Oniko (raffia), the Ologede (banana) and the Agere (stilts). Apart from these, there are several Eyo Iga belonging to the several chieftaincy families in Lagos.

[img]http://yeyeolade.files./2009/04/eyo-festival5.jpg?w=450[/img]

It is apposite to mention that the most senior and most revered of all the Orisas, Adimu, has as its custodians the descendants of Ologun Agan and the Igbesodi Chieftaincy families. The Adimu looks like an egungun masquerade, but its outfit is made of sack cloth which makes it look ugly and terrifying. It is fully charged with dangerous charms and people dare not meet it on the way. At the rituals, he weeps for the loss of the life of the illustrious son and conducts libation to the high gods. Its outing is between 4.00a.m. and 6.00a.m. in the morning. After this, the other Eyo masquerades are released unto the streets of Lagos Island.

The Eyo masquerade carries a special stick known as “Opambata” which they use to greet friends by touching them with it and unveiling after this for recognition. They speak with a ventriloquial voice, suggesting that they are not human and that they represent the spirit of the departed people. The yorubas, perhaps like the majority of mankind, very much believe in the re-incarnation of the spirits of their loved deceased ones. They believe that the spirits of their departed ancestors or indeed compeers are always with them and at all times ready to strike in order to protect them. The Eyo symbolises the arrival on earth of this spirit and whenever you meet an Eyo and greet him with the words “AGOGORO EYO” he is expected to answer “MO YO FUN’E, MO YO FUN’RA MI”. The words of salutation translated thus – “What a tall and imposing Eyo” and the response “I rejoice with you (for seeing this day) and I rejoice with myself” The Eyo performs the conviction that the contract between the living and the dead is real indeed.


[img]http://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150804308757790&id=746307789&set=a.10150795861592790.464934.746307789&refid=17[/img]

All members of the public are requested to respect the eyo players, the play being the only traditional play of Lagos, and whenever they meet the eyo they are required to remove their caps, headties, fold their umbrellas if they are carrying any, put away their pipes, cigarettes or cigars, dismount from their bicycles, autocycles or motorcycles and clear to a side of the road. As the day’s performance draws to an end, the Orisa Adimu walks through the major streets of Lagos Island, surrounded by thousands of its supporters and onlookers, saying prayers all the way for the deceased of the spectators and for the whole city of Lagos and Nigeria as a whole. The climax of this “day of days” ends when the Adimu and his group arrive at the grandstand at Idumota Square, one which Remi Olajumoke describes as “a scene of utmost splendour and delight”.

In the recent past ( '80s & '90s) the great Lagos festivals of Egungun, Eyo and carnival have been marred by violence between youth groups representing different neighbourhoods or masquerade groups. The state government has thus gotten involved in organising the Eyo Festival and Carnival in order to ensure that they are vilence free and tourist friendly (more on this in the carnival section).

The focal points for the Eyo Festival has traditionally been the Eyo Arcade at Idumota Square, the Iga Idungaran (when the masquerades come to pay homage to the Oba at the palace) aand City Hall (where the corpse of the deceased is laid in state). In recent times, to make the event more tourist friendly, the Lagos State Government has also made the Tafawa Balewa Square a focal point.

It's official. I hate the anti-spam bot.

I'll repost the carnival article, but this time I'll break it into many posts.

Meboi/Fanti/Carnival

Carnival is a festive season that occurs immediately before Lent (the last celebration before lent); the main events are usually during February. Carnival typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party. People often dress up or masquerade during the celebrations, which mark an overturning of daily life.

www.nairaland.com/attachments/677272_lagos20carnival202010_jpg20a215283de7928d4f095ce19bdfc36d

The Brazilian Carnival is one of the best-known celebrations today, but many cities and regions worldwide celebrate with large, popular, and days-long events. The Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is the largest carnival in the world, according to the Guinness World Records, with two million people per day on the streets. The first festivals of Rio date back to 1723.

www.nairaland.com/attachments/677273_5676951105_3431aae1de_jpgace890a59760169cd2c123314c41c932
Lagos Carnival 2011

During the 1850’s there was a large influx into Lagos of educated Africans who had earlier been sold as slaves, from Sierra Leone, Brazil and Cuba. The Sierra Leonians were known as Akus or Saros, the Brazilians and Cubans as Agudas.

In the 1880s there were four distinct groups in Lagos – the Europeans, the educated Africans (Saros), the Brazilians and the indigenes. The town was physically divided into four quarters corresponding to these groups. The Europeans lived on the Marina, the Saros mainly west of the Europeans in an area called Olowogbowo, the Brazilians behind the Europeans – their quarter was known as Portuguese Town or Popo Aguda or Popo Maro – and the indigenes on the rest of the island – behind all three. By 1888 there were 3,221 Brazilians in Lagos. A prominent member of the Brazilian group was Placido Adeyemo Assumpçao who later changed his name to Adeyemo Alakija.

www.nairaland.com/attachments/677274_5677531802_f0b179abfe_jpgc71f5292e5e23c389beaffefe215817a

Fanti Carnival (also known as Caretta) was brought to Lagos Island by these Brazilians who settled around Campos area in Lagos State and on Lagos Island to be specific. It was introduced by the Da Souza and Kanaku families. The masked rider and the horse are aspects of Brazillian ranch life. Some of the men dress like cowboys and they are known as FASUTINI and they ride bicycles while their leader rides a horse.

It is important to stress that, in the early days women did not partake in the dressing up in masks and different clothing, but they were allowed to go around with the different actors.

[img]https://www.nairaland.com/attachments/677391_IMG00478-20120409-1025_jpg3391d0c771d589dfb7405d846706cb72[/img]

The carnival comes up three times in a year, Boxing Day, Easter Monday (the first celebration after Lent and Easter Sunday) and on New Years Day.

As time went on, the people living in Lafiaji area, also on Lagos Island, started participating in the carnival. Later still, other areas of Lagos, like Obalende, Surulere, Yaba, etc caught the carnival bug. Until recently, Lagos was the only part of Nigeria that hosted the carnival.


There should be a nairaland button on this phone next year.

naptu2: During the 1850’s there was a large influx into Lagos of educated Africans who had earlier been sold as slaves, from Sierra Leone, Brazil and Cuba. The Sierra Leonians were known as Akus or Saros, the Brazilians and Cubans as Agudas.

Wow