|
|
Iragbiji Celebrates Egungun Festival
(The Gurardian) |
| |
|
|
BY CHUKA NNABUIFE
IN Iragbiji, a very cultural town, near Osogbo, the capital of Osun State, acitivities marking this year's edition of the annual Egungun Festival begins on Sunday, May 22. Disclosing this, renouned international artist and high chief of Iragbiji, Muraina Oyelami, said the major fiesta of the week long celelebration is the Grand-Finale, which comes up on May 29.
With more information in the homepage www.oyelami.com/iragbiji.htm, highpoints of the festival, marked mostly by masquerading and the display of households' material cultural heritage include Ikeegunwa'le, the first day's outing of masquerades which signals the commencement of the seven-day festival. According to tradition, it is believed that on this day the group of masquerades named Egungun Alasoore arrive from orun (heaven) to meet the Alagbaa who brings them to the market square where the oba (royal father and cultural ruler of the town), traditional chiefs and the town's people receive them amid orchestrated drum play, Bata music and dance.
Another remarkable day is the third, specially reserved for the powerful masquarades known as Alapansanpa. Noted for its high activity and hundreds of followers, the Alapansanpa makes several rounds around the town amid dancing and singing and poetic chants (oriki).
The seventh day, which is the grand-finale is the festival's major tourism attraction. Very colourful, the day brings all 'important' Egungun to the major arena of the town (Oba's Market Square) for turns of performances in the presence of the natives and their rulers. It is also a day the town recieves many guests.
Egungun festivities, marked by many towns in the Yoruba land of South West Nigeria, usually heralds the period of yearly crop harvests. |
|
| |
|
|
Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
| | | |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
|
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
|
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
|
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
|
26 |
27 |
28 |
| | | |
|
|
|
| 
|
Warning: include(http://forum.nacdonline.net/mods/phpbb_fetch_all/mine.php) [function.include]: failed to open stream: Connection timed out in /home/nacdgov/public_html/news_stories.php on line 231
Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening 'http://forum.nacdonline.net/mods/phpbb_fetch_all/mine.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/opt/php52/lib/php') in /home/nacdgov/public_html/news_stories.php on line 231
|
|
|
|
| |
