Introduction
There are different kinds of masquerades all over the world. However, the Ekpo
masquerade is peculiar to the Akwa Ibom people of Nigeria.
The Ekpo masquerade is a cultural heritage in parts of Africa especially South-South Nigeria with emphasis on Akwa Ibom State and Cross River State which share a common boundary.
Origin
This masquerade is believed to be ancestral spirits which exhume themselves from their graves to roam around town in certain times of the year. To convince people that they are actually exhumed entities , these masquerades usual try their best to look ugly and scary.
Attire
The Ekpo masquerade is usually made up of a huge ugly mask, a masquerade clothing and a matchet at or stick as the case may be. The mask is usually very huge and can have various designs. All designs are crafted in such a way that the masquerades look ugly and scary.
It does not talk with normal human voice but has a special voice which it communicates and use to further scare people away.
It has normal human parts However, the skin is painted with charcoal to agree with
the superstition which is spread about it.
In native parts of the country, this masquerade is dreaded and women are forbidden from seeing them. It is widely believed that if a woman sees an ekpo masquerade , the woman might become barren or die. This is even more dreaded if the woman is pregnant as it believed that the pregnant woman will give birth to a monster.
Some of these masquerades go around with all sorts of injurious weapons including matchets, clubs, bows and arrows. The arrows are believed to be poisonous.
With the advent of modern civilization, it has been made obvious that the Ekpo masquerade is no exhumed spirit but just an attire worn by a special group of people who have been initiated to the cult. In some parts of the country, these masquerades still carry classes and arrows however in most parts , they have been stopped from going around with any injurious weapons as the only thing they allowed to go around with is Sticks. Because of this major change, children can now follow them around. These masquerades intermittently pause to give the children a hot chase adding to.the fun. The masquerades visit households on invitation to dance for the occupants after which they are given money as a reward. They usually insist for the money to be dropped.on the ground since they believe that it is an abomination to give a spirit a gift with your bare hands.
When next you visit Nigeria, why not ask to see the Ekpo Masquerade