Regents of the University of California The Arts of Egungun among Yoruba Peoples Author(s): Henry John Drewal Source: African Arts, Vol. 11, No. 3 (Apr., 1978), pp. 18-19+97-98 Published by: UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies Center Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3335409 Accessed: 27-10-2016 14:33 UTC REFERENCES Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3335409?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contents You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms Regents of the University of California, UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies Center are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to African Arts This content downloaded from 141.213.142.215 on Thu, 27 Oct 2016 14:33:03 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms The Arts of Egungun among Yoruba Peoples gungun masquerades are elaborate ensembles of masked figure. At the basis of this definition is the belief in the cloth and other media that pay homage to forces affecting presence of some supernatural force. As the Yoruba art the living. The widespread distribution of Egungun throughout historian Rowland Abiodun has suggested, the term egungun, Yorubaland and the variety of its visual forms (even within ina its essence, refers to "powers concealed." The term single community) require the combined efforts of scholars egungun as supernatural power concealed may explain why working among various Yoruba subgroups. The collection of some informants at Owo say that egungun are masquerades essays that follows brings together the material, perspectives, representing orisa (gods), while others state that they are the and perceptions of different researchers examining Egungun "incarnated spirit of an ancestor" (see Poynor). Among Oyo within specific communities. Our common objective is toand Egbado Yoruba, some informants speak of the masquerade provide a more comprehensive and precise classification of as their orisa, but this is probably in the sense of "something masquerade types. Contributors were asked to present worshipped" rather than as a personified force such as Sango typologies for their study areas in addition to considering other or Ogun. On the other hand, the distinction between gods and aspects of particular interest to them. ancestors is not always clear. For example, the orisa Sango The results, despite the different methodologies employed, (god of thunder) is also a deified ancestor said to have reigned indicate significant variations throughout Yorubaland and, atas King (Alaafin) at Oyo-Ile. What seems more important, the same time, some intriguing similarities. For example, the however, is that both gods and ancestors are regarded as ara Egungun type called paka (paaraka) in Iganna (Schiltz) has orun, "beings from beyond," whose power and presence can swirling panels of cloth suspended from a horizontal stick, be invoked by the living. These are some of the concepts while in Ila-Orangun (Pemberton), paaka are masqueraders for embodied in the term egungun, supernatural power concealed. lineage ancestors having carved headdresses, skins, mirrors, In contrast, the term Egungun, while within the broad packets of medicine, etc. In Ilaro, there are no paka, and the category of egungun, refers more specifically to the masking term is recalled only as an ancient name for all Egungun. Such tradition generally attributed to the Oyo Yoruba and associated comparisons, when systematically studied, may yield impor- with the honoring of ancestors. One Yoruba scholar explains tant information about the origins and development of this the term as ". .. strictly applicable to masquerades found complex masking tradition. Particularistic studies when among Oyo sub-ethnic groups in Oyo, Ibadan, and Osun viewed together validate generalizations about Yoruba art and provinces. This type is also found in areas which at one time or indicate the extent of artistic homogeneity and diversity among another came under the political suzerainty or cultural influ- various Yoruba peoples. Existing among all Yoruba sub- ence of Oyo Empire" (Ojo 1974:46). Another states that the groups, Egungun is thus an appropriate subject for comparative masquerade known as Egungun Oyo is "connected with analysis. ancestral worship" (Olajubu 1977:174). The classification of Egungun types, which might appear to Most writing associates Egungun with the ancestors, but be a fairly straightforward task, is in fact an extremely complex what is the precise nature of this relationship, especially in the problem involving the comprehension of indigenous light of informant testimony linking Egungun with orisa in taxonomies. The contributors recognize the difficulties: the certain areas. While some Oyo Yoruba oral traditions link the problem of distinguishing between personal Egungun names origin of Egungun with the institution of "ancestor worship" and generic terms for types (Schiltz; Houlberg, p. 56; Drewal during the reign of Alaafin Sango (Adedeji 1969), informants & Drewal); the problem of determining "sets" where one often specify that only some masqueraders, but by no means masquerader may be regarded as within several type categories all, are literally "for the ancestors." Only those Egungun simultaneously (Schiltz); the practice of "layering," in which prepared for an ancestor (or ancestors collectively) and called a masquerader wears one costume type over another and Baba (Father) or Iya (Mother) are said to be, strictly speaking, changes these during performance (Drewal & Drewal); and the for the ancestors. They may be of any type. Others (probably variety of criteria used to classify Egungun as well as the range the majority) are for the ancestors in the sense of their being of variations within type categories. Such factors demonstrate part of the Egungun society and thus partaking of the spiritual the complexity attending the analysis of indigenous power of the forebears. Their presence honors ancestors by taxonomies and the classification of masquerade types. These serving as evidence of a descendant's commitment to continu- same difficulties arise in the definition and use of the term ing the traditions of his predecessors and maintaining the Egungun itself. reputation of his lineage. The definition of Egungun involves a number of fundamen- It is in this context that one can understand how Egungun tal linguistic, philosophical, and historical considerations. At masquerades honor ancestors and at the same time serve as the outset, a distinction must be made between the terms important status symbols for the living. A continuous and egungun and Egungun, which have often been used inter- reciprocal relationship unites those from beyond (ara orun) changeably in the literature. In its broadest sense, egungun and those in the world. An individual exists because he/she is (egun, eegun, egigun, eigun) refers to any masquerade or part of a larger corporate entity, especially the idile, or lineage. 18 This content downloaded from 141.213.142.215 on Thu, 27 Oct 2016 14:33:03 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms M M ? I_ .- -1 - 1. __ ? _ M_ M_ m . .?i..? .. r ? -,?. ';S - --? 1?:- -- - -?'?..? - ' ? .r."? -'.? -. .. '.4? , , ?' - - g :- - - ....M 17,.. ,, ?IMI'll-'M , ?-?.f.:?40:?.:? .. mK:W::? wr -.?' .tA?'-"_:.'O.??'w??'?'-- ... ..M.N 2.1-."? 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