Yoruba, Egungun Mask and Costume, Nigeria ©John Urban
This page is a record of an exhibit that took place in 1998. The individual links below will take you to the CURRENT VERSION of the pages that formed part of that exhibit. |
African Costumes shows the colorful. textural traditional costumes of the
Yoruba, Igbo and Mende peoples, focusing on many varied and elaborate Egungun
costumes of the Yoruba people of Nigeria. The Egungun association honored
spirits of the ancestors and invoked their protection or aid. They were
used at funerals and could transmit messages from ancestors to the living.
The dancer could look out through the mesh and use rapid swirling movements
to swing the cloth strips out horizontally. This round form with a tiny
head on top indicates that the spirit depicted was almost too powerful to
be depicted in human form.
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