Egungun Masks

It's obvious that in the Yoruba Culture of Nigeria there is a strong presence of spirituality throughout.  You can see it within several of their objects and what we know as their art.  Their Egungun masks and masquerades are seething with spirituality.  These are seen as a chance for the living to communicate with the dead and also as a veneration of their ancestors.

When an Egungun masquerade is performed, the person under the mask(like many other cultures) takes on the whole personality of the spirit or ancestor.  When dressed in the mask/costume they are no longer themselves, but are the spirit fully and act like such.  These spirits and depending on the masks all act differently.  Sometimes, these masks are purely for entertainment while other times they are used to teach social norms to their culture.

An example that we discussed in class that I found very intriguing was the European Egungun masks.  I was surprised that while these costumes are considered some of our everyday outfits were considered to be much more spiritual to them.  These specific masks were used to teach the correct way to court and have a relationship between a male and a female.  At first, a performance is done based on how Europeans are too promiscuous and then the "correct" example is given.

Something else that I noticed about the Egungun masks was that when these are worn every part of the body needs to be covered including a person's hands.  Egungun literally means "power concealed" and it is said that these spirits have so much power that they need to be completely contained from everyone else.  The idea of having so much power probably seems foreign to most of us but this was/is a regular occurrence in the Yoruba culture.  

More objects and icons are used in many other ways to portray spirituality in the Yoruba Culture.  These Egungun masks are only one example and it is very clear how important of a role they play in their culture.