THE FACT, MYTH AND FALSEHOOD OF EKU DEITY: A DISCOURSE

Abstract

Pre-colonial traditional Africa society evolves a masquerade for social interaction, oath- taking, as well as linking the living with the ancestral spirit- an oracle for consultation, and execution of justice. For the people of Ebiratao of north- central Nigeria, masquerade costume is in two parts: facekuerade (non – mask masquerade) and the mask masquerade. The two served as an agent of social order, a fortified phenomenon against the evil of witches through incantation, also enacted for entertainment and disciplinary figure meant to reform wayward children. Generally speaking, the institution of masquerade, leadership by elders, custodians of the people's traditional culture served as a pivot in guiding the traditional set- up of the Ebira people. The status and roles of masquerade as arbiter was truncated by the British colonialist but the custodians of Eku (masquerade) hold tenacious to Eku practices as a culture of the people long after the departure of the British and the antagonism from the Orthodox Islamic revivalist (Sheick Ahmad Rufai of the Tijaniyyah brotherhood sect) and the Young Muslim scholars did not perish the outing of masquerade. This study therefore; aims to discuss the origin, myth and false belief in the origin of the masquerade and its function as an agent of ancestors to discipline offenders in the pre-colonial Ebira society.