#78 – Egúngún and Me

“Egúngún” is a Yorùbá word that is loosely translated to mean “masquerade” in English. They are not the same. But since no word in English captures it, masquerade will do.

A masked figure with an elaborate costume, known as Egúngún in the Yorùbá culture of Nigeria
A masked figure with an elaborate costume, known as Egúngún in the Yorùbá culture of Nigeria. Source: risdmuseum.org

Egúngún, also colloquially called Eégún (basically an abbreviated form), are masked figures in traditional costumes believed to embody spiritual links to ancestors. Some are even seen as ancestors themselves.  Occasionally, Egúngún visits earthlings in times of celebration, remembrance, festivals, and so on. Basically, these masked and elaborately adorned figures are used for ancestral reverence.

I’ve seen quite a few. Whenever Egúngún is out, a large crowd of people follow. They sing and chant sometimes. Some people in the crowd also hold long sticks to whip passers-by. I have no idea why. I steer clear from any Egúngún display, which is why the story I’m about to is pretty funny.

Bruh and sis, I am not going to detail Egúngún facts here. You can read about this piece of Yorùbá culture here, here, and here.  The above was just to introduce you to my encounter with Eégún today ?.

I decided to go to school today to have a meeting with my supervisor. A few steps from my gate (on a small street) to a main road that leads to my bus stop, I looked back and saw a legion of men led by a masquerade. They were throwing some sort of yellow grains in the air and making some noise.

Omo (a Yorùbá slang. It literally means “child”), that’s when I noticed I was the only one walking in the street ?… Shops were open, though

It looked like they even increased their pace as I increased mine. Although, this is probably just an imagination. I kept “discreetly” looking back. They were right in the middle of the street, heading towards my direction!

I reached a t-junction that led to another street. A bike (commercial motorcycle) was heading towards me from the street. I stop him and told him where I was going. He said he was not heading there, and zoomed off… in the direction he said he wasn’t going to. Tsk tsk tsk.

Anyway, I kept on walking (pretty fast now) and encountered another bike. To be honest, I don’t recall if this was my second or third bike. My memory of the whole scenario is pretty fuzzy. My mind was just focused on getting myself out of there.

I finally climbed (boarded) a bike. It seemed Mr Eégún and friends were right behind me. I told the bike guy to move quickly, “fast fast fast” ???.We sha zoomed off. While on the bike, I remembered to pray.

The last sentence in the paragraph above is what I want you to focus on. One of my goal as a Christian is to ask God for help, inspiration, ideas, etc. in ALL circumstances; good or bad. In fact, I always want God to be my first option, no matter what. I found it funny that the name of God totally flew out of my mind in a fearful situation. Why was I even fearful? I literally laughed at myself on the bike while it transported me to safety. Anyway, this is an admonition to myself to do better (in terms of my personal goals as a Christian) next time.

These are 500 words (or more ?)! Talk to you tomorrow!

As a way of being accountable, I am informing you that this article was written on May 26, 2022

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