The Eyo festival is a major tourist attraction in Lagos state. The Eyo Festival is a Yoruba festival in Lagos, Nigeria. The word “Eyo” refers to the masquerades that come out during the festival.
The Eyo festival may be held in honor of a chief from a ruling family, and Oba who had died, and when a new head of an Iga or a new Oba is installed on the throne.
In modern-day, a governor can ask for the Eyo festival to be organized also. It is Eko’s creation, it has no parallel anywhere in Yoruba land. The Eyo festival is used to showcase the culture of the Isale Eko people.
Each Eyo(masquerade) comes out of an Iga (palace) of a ruling family in the morning and heads for the Agodo(shrine). The Eyo is robed from top to bottom in white flowing cloth.
The white flowing costume consists of an ‘agbada’ and the ‘aropale’. The Eyo also wears an ‘Akete’ (a hat) that bears the colors and shield of the Iga from which he comes from. An Eyo may tie ribbons, in the colors of the house that he represents, to the Opambata (palm branch) that he carries.
An Iga’s Eyo may have up to 50-100 members. Each person carrying a robe as Eyo must pay a fee for the privilege to the Iga, ruling house, whose colors and Akete the Eyo wears.
During the festival, these masquerades can beat up people who are seen with bicycles, motorcycles, suku which is a popular hairstyle among the Yorubas, those who are putting on sandals and anyone who smokes during the festival.
Although, the crowd of supporters following the Eyo does not wear white robes. Historians claim the cultural festival was inherited from Ibefun, a town in Ogun state, where the then Oba of Lagos, Oba Akinsemoyin, set out to assuage the Eyo deity so that his childless younger sibling, Erelu Kuti, can bear a child.
The Erelu did eventually bear two children whose line to date determines an Oba’s ascension to the throne in Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria.
More recently, the festival occurs in memory of eminent Lagosians who died or to commemorate visits by State and foreign dignitaries with a parade that terminates at the Tafawa Balewa Square on the Lagos Island.
When an Oba of Lagos dies, it is compulsory that the Eyo festival takes place according to tradition. The family of the deceased must put a request to the Akinsiku of Lagos who is the head of the Eyos.
The Akinsiku of Lagos will then requests for the Ikaro, offerings, and gifts, from the family of the deceased and when the family meets this request then the Akinsiku collects the offerings and distributes them among the deity families of Lagos state.
In accordance with tradition, a divination rite must follow the distribution of the Ikaro(offerings). This rite is carried out at the sacred sanctuary of the Eyo Orisa called the Awe Adimu.
At the sanctuary of the Eyo Orisa, an appropriate date is chosen for the festival to hold. When a date is selected, each of the five Eyo groups will meet to work out their plans for the festival. This meeting process must be concluded a full week before the Eyo festival day.
At 5 am on the day of the Eyo festival, all the Eyos gather together to the sounds of the Gbedu and Koranga drums, two drums that are only beaten during the Eyo festival.
All the Eyos in their full regalia begin to move towards the Para, a tent built with raffia mats, erected somewhere in the neighborhood of Enu Owa in Lagos Island. Enu Owa is an important place on the island where the ceremonial crowning of any Oba takes place.
All the Eyos proceed to the Oba’s Palace at Iga Idunganran to pay homage before moving out into the streets of Lagos Island. The Eyos finally meet at Tafawa Balewa Square where thousands of people will be waiting to receive them and join in the festivities.
While festivities go on in a carnival-like atmosphere, the Eyo masquerades engage in dancing, singing, and displaying weird acrobatic moves.
After the festival, the Eyo masquerades move back to the Para, where the opening of the traditional festival was declared at dawn, to tear it down. The tearing down of the Para is instructed by the Orisa Adimu.
