The Lagos Festival Eyo
The Eyo Festival, otherwise known as the Adamu Orisha Play , is a Yoruba festival unique to Lagos, Nigeria. When a high ranking King of Lagos dies, it is mandatory that the Eyo festival takes place, a farewell rite of sorts to the monarch who just passed on.
On the day of the masquerade festival, the Eyos gather together to the sounds of the Gbedu and Koranga drums, two drums that are only beaten during an Eyo festival.
As their numbers begin to swell at the gathering point, all masquerades in their full costume and 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 ceremonious crowning of any Oba takes place.
They all proceed to the Oba’s Palace at Iga Idunganran to pay obeisance before moving out into the streets of Lagos Island through Idumota, Tinubu Square and other major and minor roads.
