Egungun is a part of the Yoruba Pantheon of divinities. The Yoruba religious system is sometimes referred to as the 'Yoruba Religion' or simply 'Orisa Worship'. In the tradition of Orisa and Ancestor worship, the Egungun represents the "collective spirit" of the Ancestors. Ancestor worship is present in some form in every culture (whether they recognize it as such or not), but is most evident in the Indigenous Cultures of the world. For almost 95% of the world's population, prayers and ceremonialized offerings to deceased ancestors is a natural part of everyday life.

To provide a place for Ancestors at ones dinner table; to celebrate the remembrance of Ancestors at ones gatherings; to seek the guidance and intercession of Ancestors in times of decision, striving, or struggle, is natural to indigenous peoples around the world. Ancestor worship or reverence is everywhere in traditional Africa. Egungun is a part of this worship.

Egungun assure a place for the dead among the living. It is their responsibility to compel the living to uphold the ethical standards of past generations. Egungun is celebrated in festivals and family ritual through the masquerade or custom. Elaborate costumes adorn the Egungun dancers, and through drumming and dance, these dancers become possessed with the spirits of the Ancestors. Once this occurs messages, warnings and blessings are doled out to spectators.

Ancestor Worship reminds us that we are not individuals, alone in the world; but part of a comprehensive and coherent legacy that ties billions of souls together, here in the marketplace, and in the Realm of Ancestors which we call Home. Although the grief of loss still accompanies the arrival of Orisa Iku, Ancestor Worship provides us with the essential understanding to arrest the pain and celebrate the beauty of the Life Process.

In Brazil the main cult to the Egungun is practised in the Island of Itaparica in the State of Bahia but houses in other States exist.

External links

• Egungun: The Masked Ancestors of the Yoruba
• Egungun Festival
• Egungun Mysteries Come to America
• http://www.sacred-texts.com/afr/yor/yor07.htm

Portuguese

• Alapini Mestre Didi Asipa
• Egungun no Candomblé