Masquarades

Ejagham masks may be grouped into two main types. The helmet and crest masks. The later covers the head down to the shoulders and the former sits on top of the head. These masks may have one, two, three faces or more. There is often a male and female face of a mask. The mask could be a head or
entire figure. Most of the masks are items of secret socities or groups, and they only appear at special occasions such as funerals, initiation of members, or agricultural events. Masks are made by an artist who carves the form from a single piece of word and covers it with soft, untanned animal skin that had been soaked in water for several days. He stretched and tacked the skin into place until it dried and stiffened.  After the skin is dried, the artist stained it with pigments made from leaves and bark.

Some of these masks were introduced into Ejagham land by outsiders. When I interviewed some elders in Oban on the origin of some these masquarades and masks, I was informed that many of the masks were originally played in Ejagham land by ‘asung’ (slaves). These were people who resided in Ejagham land but were not bonafide children of Ejagham. The origin of ‘slaves’ in Ejagham land is to be seen within the context of slave trade that was very common along the Calabar-Cameroun axis in early nineteenth century. Some historians have highlighted the connection between spread of some these masks and maquarades with slave trade along the riverine areas. .

The elaborate trading network along the river formerly involved the selling of rights to Ngbe and other associations, including the right to perform their various masquerades. The group selling the rights would perform the masquerade in the village of the buyer group, then return home, leaving their masks and costumes behind. The river trade thus helped to spread related art events and art objects among diverse people over a broad area, though changes in both form and meaning took place as local copies of masks and costumes were made. This is why okum implies something that is secret. Initiates are forbidden to disclose the inner workings of okum. In the past women and slaves couldn’t come face to face with some masquarades like Nchibe.