The Otsa Festival of the Ekperi: Igbo age-grade masquerades on the west bank of the Niger?

African Arts, Winter, 2003 by Jean M. Borgatti

The Ekperi speak an Edo language and trace their origins to the Edo kingdom of Benin in their orthodox history. Nevertheless, they and other northern Edo peoples living in eastern Nigeria's Etsako local government area share such cultural institutions as title associations and masking traditions with their riverain Igala and Igbo neighbors, who live to the east, across the Niger River. Masking traditions tend to be associated with age sets, as among the northern Igbo, and stylistically the masquerades reflect eastern prototypes. Horned masks symbolize male aggression; carved wooden or appliqued cloth masks display elaborately coiffed hairstyles of nineteenth-century maidens; and "tall ghosts" made of fabric represent senior ancestors. The very eclecticism of eastern Etsako masks evokes an Igbo rather than an Edo model. The masquerades, their context, and the languages associated with them suggest a continuum of age-grade masking traditions from the east bank to the west bank of the Niger, and indicate greater complexity in the cultural background of the Ekperi and their neighbors than the orthodox history allows.

Today numbering about 15,000 or more, the Ekperi occupy settlements dispersed over 400 square miles west of the Niger River in the southeastern corner of Etsako local government area in Edo State. Benin City is some 70 miles to the north, but Ida]l, the ]gala capital, is only 15-20 miles to the west, located on the opposite bank of the Niger. The Ekperi claim to have migrated from Benin in the early sixteenth century during the Benin civil war known as Okwu-Oba (Alonokua n.d.:3). Local histories further suggest that they and the neighboring Uzairhue, Avianwu, and Uwepa-Uwano descend from a common Edo ancestor, Oluku (Bradbury 1957:103). At the time of Ekperi's departure from Benin, Benin and Idah were engaged in open warfare, and both kingdoms record the settlement of fringe areas in the aftermath of conflict (Boston 1962:380-81; Dike 1976: 6/2-5). The prevalence of night societies and title systems like those of the Igala and Igbo suggests that a local population inhabiting the area prior to the sixteenth century absorbed Igala influence (Eboreime 1978:2; see also Borgatti 1976c, 1979c, 1989).

Peacetime activities resulted in even greater cross-cultural communication among the peoples living along the Niger, for the river served as a major highway to the coast. The Igala capital at Idah faces the northern Edo settlement of Agenebode (Uwepa-Uwano) on the opposite bank, and what is now the Ekperi area is said to mark a point on the border between Edo and Igala authority prior to the Idah war of 1515 (Eboreime 1978:2). Furthermore, the Igala were a nautical people who regularly traveled downriver to trade. Elizabeth Isichei notes that they often stayed away from home for long periods of time, living in large covered houseboats or in temporary housing. From fills it was but a short step to permanent settlements. Indeed, a whole chain of Niger Igbo towns claim Igala origins, as Ossomari does, or like Illah, have quarters that trace descent from Igala. Both of those communities use masquerades that retain Igala as a spoken language (Isichei 1976:54-55). (1)

A process of settlement and resettlement along the Niger continued into the nineteenth century. R. E. Bradbury points out that the "multiplicity of settlement in the relatively small Ekperi tribe is due to scattering, during the last century, by Nupe raiders" (1957:100). As one local historian notes, villagers fled "to the high forested Elephant country lying to the south" (Alonokua n.d.:4). Thus, correspondence was broken between territorial groups and descent units--facilitating cultural change and innovation. Certainly, many cults throughout the area date from this period, having as their purpose the protection of the community from the depredations of war (Borgatti 1976b:60-61).

Masquerade Types

The Ekperi annually celebrate the feast of Otsa to purify the land and reinforce community solidarity. Every three years, new masquerades are introduced as an elaboration to mark the formation of the boys' age company that occurs at this time. (2) I observed Otsa festivals in three Ekperi communities between 1972 and 1973: Azukhala, Ugbekpe, and Udaba. I collected information on the sequence of events and data on masks in Ogonochi and Osomegbe as well, photographing Otsa festival masks, but not in performance context. (3)

Responsible citizens sponsor the masquerades for Otsa that are performed by the members of the dance society called the Igbokobia. Depending upon available resources, festival congregations, organized by quarter, create one or two new masked performances. Consequently, each congregation builds up a repertoire of images that may be drawn upon in succeeding festivals. Thirty or more masked performances may take place during the three days of public celebration that mark the end of the Otsa festival period.

Six months before a major festival, or Big Otsa, the head of the dance group, Ogakpogu (Keeper of the Great Gong), or his council--twenty or thirty young adults from the previous age group, and the dancers who form the Igbokobia--decide how much money should be collected from each adult. Although masking is primarily a male occupation, Ekperi women also play important roles. They serve as "mothers" who sponsor new plays and as supporters who perform in concert between masquerade plays. The position of "mother" varies from congregation to congregation, however. In Ugbekpe-Ekperi's Ogienokhwa Quarter, it is inherited; the "mother," as a public representative for the masqueraders during the festival, is approached by women who would like to make votive offerings. (4) In Azukhala-Ekperi, members of the dance society appoint important women to be mothers of new masquerades, making them financially responsible for costuming and other costs. During the festival, the "mothers" come to the dance area with their masquerades to sprinkle chalk and water, symbolizing peace and good luck, and to collect gifts on behalf of the masqueraders. (5)