Rituals and masquerades

By Uduma Kalu

I thought we had settled this, Prof, with Okiyi telling you even the Ekpe has no ritual performed for it.

There are more, even in Isiugwu. 

Okonko, Obamba, Erinma, Oshimoshi etc.

My grandfather, Evangelist Johnson Uduma Ndukwe's house at Ndi Okpo, still stores some of these costumes. The troupes used to wear them in our presence. At Elu Ohafia, during the last Udumaeze burial, the masquerades there wore their costumes, sometimes, in places partly secluded, almost in the public glare. There are many masquerades that are performed without the shenanigans of rituals, without saying that all Igbo masquerades are without rituals. In a way, therefore, it's good to know that while many are without rituals, we shouldn't assume that the few that essentially belong to juju people and are steeped in rituals are the barometer to measure or view all Igbo masquerades as juju rituals.