Egun Pasoda ("turning around cloth") costume
Used to enact a complete transformation, they appear in costumes with ambiguous
bodies that move and dance in acrobatic ways. Whirling cloth around them,
and parading with legs stepping high, the masqueraders are playful and agile.
As the drums accelerate, they bend forward, and peel their backs off, tuck
them under their legs and eventually turn completely inside out, revealing
another entire costume. Masterful performers enact this transformation right
before the spectators' eyes without exposing their human form beneath, and
thereby confirm that beings from beyond human limits are present.
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Lamidi Ayankunle talks about Egungun masquarades |