Egungun

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Egungun is a part of the Yoruba pantheon of divinities. The Yoruba religious system is sometimes referred to as the 'Yoruba Religion' or simply 'Orisa Worship'. In the tradition of Orisa and ancestor worship, the Egungun represents the "collective spirit" of the ancestors.

Ancestor worship is present in some form in most cultures (whether recognized as such or not), but is most evident in the indigenous cultures of the world. For almost 95% of the world's population, prayers and ceremonialized offerings to deceased ancestors is a natural part of everyday life. To provide a place for ancestors at one's dinner table; to celebrate the remembrance of ancestors at one's gatherings; to seek the guidance and intercession of ancestors in times of decision, striving, or struggle, is natural to indigenous peoples around the world. Ancestor worship or reverence is everywhere in traditional Africa. Egungun is a part of this worship.

Ancestors assure a place for the dead among the living. It is their responsibility to compel the living to uphold the ethical standards of past generations. Egungun is celebrated in festivals (Odun Egungun) and family ritual through the masquerade or custom. In family situations a family elder or Alagba presides over ancestral rites and may or may not be initiated into the local Egungun society. But in community settings, Egungun priests and initiates that are trained in ancestral communication, ancestral elevation work and funeral rites are placed in charge of invoking and bringing out the ancestors. Elaborate costumes adorn the Egungun masqueraders (dancers), and through drumming and dance, these dancers become possessed with the spirits of the ancestors. The Egungun then spiritually clean the community and through exaggerated acting/miming demonstrate both ethical and amoral behavior that occurred since their last visit, exposing the strengths and weaknesses of a community with hopes of encouraging behavior more befitting of their descendants. Once this occurs messages, warnings and blessings are doled out to spectators. Some important Egungun include the Elewe of the Ìgbómìnà Yoruba sub-ethnics, which is common in the towns of Òkè-Ìlá Òràngún, Ìlá Òràngún, and Arandun.

Ancestor worship reminds us that we are not individuals, alone in the world; but part of a comprehensive and coherent legacy that ties billions of souls together, here in the marketplace, and in the realm of ancestors which we call Home. Although the grief of loss still accompanies the arrival of Orisa Iku, ancestor worship provides us with the essential understanding to arrest the pain and celebrate the beauty of the life process.

In Brazil, the main cult to the Egungun is practised in the Island of Itaparica in the State of Bahia but houses in other States exist.

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Egungun masquerade competition at the Alaafin palace, Oyo, Oyo State, Nigeria, video taken Aug 1999 Egungun Energized to Dance

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