AFRICAN TRIBAL COSTUMES

YORUBA Egungun Costumes 16

YORUBA Flat Egungun Costumes

Photographs © Hamill Gallery

Every African mask was danced with a costume; sometimes simple raffia or cloth hiding the identity of the dancer, often as with the Yoruba, an elaborate assemblage of textile pieces. African textiles were all articles of clothing; many were costumes denoting rank and status.

The African Costumes Exhibition 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.

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