Where the Gelede masks embrace the rituals of daily life, the great masks of the Egungun people speak of the cult of the dead.
When members of a Benin village experience a great Egungun mask dance, they are in the presence of their dead ancestors. As drums beat into the heat of the African night, the past and the present merge and the death masks of the Egungun swirl. There is both fear and hope that the ritual will give way to optimism for the future. The purpose of the Egungun dance, and the performance of the masks in attendance, is to cleanse and reconcile the community and liberate it from burden. A visit by the dancing dead ancestors demands a sense of responsibility to the living to behave themselves on a daily basis.
Egungun dance ceremonies also perform the important task of exposing misconduct within the village and avenging it. Punishment is swift.
If touched by the mask, a person reveals to the village they are guilty. They are then banished to a symbolic death within the living world. However, with an offering of money or alcohol to the Egungun mask, the person can save themselves from metaphorical death and shame.
The mask dances are always performed by the initiated men of every village that make up the secret societies who have gone through an intricate series of rituals to be accepted into the group. Once accepted into these secret societies, the men will be able to know the power of the masks and will be well versed in the stories concerning the myths, prayers, chants, and magical practices to each community. These men will be qualified to play the sacred ceremonial musical instruments that allow the mask dancers to fall into trance and become the conduit for the spirits to present in the living world. Even female characters are played by the men.
With the passing of the festival season that marks the end of sacred dances for another year, the masks have performed their task of keeping the forces of life and death in balance. The masks again have demanded their toll, namely the responsibility that every human appease the forces of the spirit world beyond their control and be well behaved for the next year.
The Gelede and Egungun dances of the Yoruba are the visible affirmation of the elusive world of the African spiritual world and of the powerful magic that lies within Africa's modern psyche.
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