Egúngún Festival in Òṣogbo: Gogoru Masquerade

This masquerade opens the important Ọdún Eégún (abbreviation of the word Egúngún) or Masquerade Festival in Òṣogbo.
Egúngún refers to Yorùbá sacred masquerader or masked, costumed dancers connected with reverence to ancestors.
‘Egúngún is the cult of sacred ancestry. Twice a year - and again on the decease of an important descendant of its hierarchy - age-old masking costumes are brought out of the shrine. It is such a mask which is worn when Baba, the forebear, leads a procession and possesses the dancer’s mind and costume.’ (A Life with the Gods, Susanne Wenger/Gert Chesi, 1983, page 187)