ABSTRACT
Iro, Oro, Egun, Egungun, and Eleko, are all now Orishas representing the spirits of their ancestors, and it is during festivities connected with them that the “bull-roarer” appears. At Ilaro I noticed three trees with all their branches cut off 1 and the bark 29round each stumped branch curled like a frill around it. On the top of each tree was a white flag. It was down these trees, I was told, that the spirit of the departed came to visit his relations. One of the chiefs of Ilaro had died some days before, and so, when I arrived there, people playing drums kept passing through the market on their way to the late chiefs house. Just before dark, as the market people were assembling, an “Egun” presented himself before my tent, and told me that he was the father (deceased) come from heaven, and what was I going to give him. The men, they said, know that the Egun is a man 30dressed up, but they respect the dress and keep up the play for the sake of the women-folk whom, they say, need this assurance (that the chief has risen from the dead). This Egun wore top boots made by the Hausa. He also wore pants instead of the native cloth. His shirt and overcloth were of a rich texture, but not different from that worn by the well-to-do. But he wore a net-like mask in front of his face which gave him a weird appearance. Men and boys followed him, and seemed to be much impressed when the Egun cried out in a voice evidently not his own: “I am from heaven, therefore you must respect me.”
