The concept of Life and Death transcends physical notions of Noise or Silence. It has a metaphysical dimension that is reflected in these words: Those who are Dead are never gone – They are in the brightening Shadow and in the thickening Gloom – The Dead are beneath the Earth – They are in the quivering Tree – They are in the groaning Wood – They are in the flowing Water – They are in the flowing and still Water – They are in the Hut; they are in the Crowd – The Dead are not Dead.
Light as a feather! This is how softly your Ancestors might speak to you. And this is why you must listen intently - not just with your ears, but with every fiber in your being. They spoke to you yesterday, they speak to you today, they will speak to you tomorrow and they are speaking to you right now. But you'll never hear them unless you are willing to sit in silence, to hear the powerful messages that are landing as gently as feathers.
Egungun is regarded as the collective spirits of the Ancestors who occupy a space in heaven, hence they are called dwellers of heaven. These Ancestral spirits are believed to be in constant watch of their survivors on Earth.
Egun (Ancestor) = To die of natural causes at an advanced age, leaving behind numerous progenies, like a tree bent from the weight of its fruits & in harmony with the divinities & the Ancestors - To be buried with the performance of all the rites that mark the tradition which permit one to enter Orun. where one is reunited with the ancestors of one's lineage (Isese) to be later reincarnated constitute for good death.
Egungun = Ancestor Masquerade - We are born with death = Without the death of the flesh, there is no resurrection, no immortality. Every birth is the rebirth of an Ancestor. The spirits could be invoked collectively and individually in time of need. The place of call is usually on the grave of the Ancestors, the family shrine, or the community grove. The Ancestral spirits have collective functions that cut across lineage and family loyalty. They collectively protect the community against evil spirits, epidemics, famine, ensuring the wellbeing, prosperity, and productivity of the general community.
Although it is regarded dangerous for the Ancestral spirits to dominate day to day activities of the people on Earth, occasional physical appearances of Egungun/Masquerades visibly demonstrate the closeness of the Ancestor to their survivors. The lineage or family ties become strengthened as each member displays his or her loyalty. The coming out of the lineage Egungun is a source of blessing and pride to the family. Egungun appearance is a time of festivity and entertainment, a time of apprehension of forces of evil and of engendering deep belief in divine guidance and protection. Above all, having an Egungun is a way of immortalizing one’s name because anytime the Egungun comes out, the drummers and women of the family sing in praise of one, recounting the heroic deeds of the family.
To understand Egungun mysteries one needs to understand the historical development of the cults. Every member of a community seems to be involved in the worship of Egungun, since everybody has at least one Ancestor to call upon. The Egungun ensemble acts as the medium for the masker's transformation into his Ancestors.
An Egungun society is composed of Men and Women whose lineages have the right to present the Masquerade. The Masker is kept at a distance from the surrounding crowd with the help of attendants dressed in Masquerade costumes of different types...
Communication with your own Ancestors is a birthright. At times this communication can simply involve remembering a revered Ancestor and making use of the memory as a basis for making life decisions. In many ways Ancestor communication is an extension of the training and wisdom we receive from our parents.
Remembering names is more than reciting a genealogy, it is preserving the history of a family lineage and the memory of those good deeds that allowed to the family to survive and create a home for the continued cycle of reincarnation. This is why Ancestral veneration is important in the world. You are not just talking to dead people; you are remembering and learning from your past. If you do not learn from your past, in this life and in former ones you will repeat mistakes.
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