The Egungun costume’s body, which is made up of layer after layer of adorned material, honors the family’s wealth and prestige while paying tribute to their ancestors.
In order to appease or curry favor with the ancestor spirit, owners of Egungun or members of the lineage frequently added new panels of cloth over previous ones throughout time. A range of fabric appliquéd panels, perhaps applied over several years, are visible in the costume’s creation in the exemplar for purchase consideration.
During an Egungun performance, the dancer’s movements create flowing patterns from the individual strips of cloth, highlighting the striking variety in textures, colors, and designs. The clever construction of the outfit ensures that the cloth panels splay out in all directions during intensive dancing or spinning movements, never revealing the dancer’s body beneath.
