Listen! It’s prudent to take pictures of masquerades from a safe distance. Why? A swipe of a masquerade’s cane can leave one reeling in pain. Now, that’s an easy rhyme! 😅
Today is Umudinja’s masquerade day. Masquerades are believed to be traditional spirits with sacred powers. They roam about the town seeking for people to beat. Hence, people try to run or avoid contact with them to avoid being beaten by these horrendous-looking creatures. From the images, one can notice the different types of masquerades common to this village. In a future blog post, I’ll write more about the names and features of each masquerade.
Who knows, maybe, just maybe, playing hide and seek with these ancestral facades is the fun of it all.
Oke Iroegbu's Blog (African Bard & Storyteller) 