As a kid, I would follow the Egungun ensembles – Ifa Dare

Of all the traditional Yoruba festivals, Egungun (I.e. Masquerade) festival was undoubtedly my favorite. As a kid, I would follow the Egungun ensembles from their respective compounds to the King’s palace. My favorite Egungun, by far, was Andu (image not shown). I was so enthralled by Andu that I convinced my brother to be a mini Andu of our compound (I.e. JARIOGUN compound). The deal was: it would be a two-man ensemble. My brother would be the ancestor (I.e. the Egungun), and I would be the drummer and his guide around the compound….???.

My brother obliged! And no sooner had he obliged than I went ahead to design his costume, closely to Andu’s as possible, from old stockings, cloths and my mom’s Aso oke. It was a wrap! It took me two days to design the costume and a day to create my Sakara drum. On the fourth day, my brother mounted the costume while I led him out of our house. The first stop was my classmate’s house. We managed to make three stops before the word got around to my parents of our activities. The show was cut short, and we’re led back home. Dumbfounded, my parents were!
My brother and I were grounded for two months, and we’re eventually sent to a children boarding school, more like a boot camp, in a neighboring town. As evidenced by the comment in my report card: “IFA was always found around the kitchen;” certainly, the worst experience of my life or should I say, the worst hunger of my life. For obvious reasons, I only lasted a year in that school!