The Eyo Festival

The Eyo Festival, otherwise known as the Adamu Orisha Play, is a Yoruba festival unique to Lagos, Nigeria. In modern times, it is presented by the people of Lagos as a tourist event and, due to its history, is traditionally performed on Lagos Island.                                    

The Eyo

The word "Eyo" also refers to the costumed dancers, known as the masquerades that come out during the festival. The origins of this observance are found in the inner workings of the secret societies of Lagos. Back in the days, The Eyo festival is held to escort the soul of a departed Lagos King or Chief and to usher in a new king. It is widely believed that the play is one of the manifestations of the customary African revelry that serves as the forerunner of the modern carnival in Brazil. On Eyo Day, the main highway in the heart of the city (from the end of Carter Bridge to Tinubu Square) is closed to traffic, allowing for procession from Idumota to the Iga Idunganran palace. The white-clad Eyo

An Eyo Iga Olowe Salaye

 The first procession in Lagos was on the 20th of February, 1854, to commemorate  the life of the Oba Akintoye.

Here, the participants all pay homage to the reigning Oba of Lagos. The festival takes place whenever occasion and tradition demand, though it is usually held as part of the final burial rites of a highly regarded chief in the king's court.

Among the Yorubas, the indigenous religions have largely lost the greater majority of their traditional followers to Christianity and Islam. Be that as it may, the old festivals are still almost universally observed as tourist

attractions which generate a lot of revenue for government and small businesses around the Lagos Island venue of the Eyo festival. It is during these occasions that their traditional

monarchs and nobles exercise the most of their residual power. Order of events

Order of events

A full week before the festival [4] (always a Sunday), the ‘senior’ eyo group, the Adimu (identified by a black, broad-rimmed hat), goes public with a staff. When this happens, it means the event will take place on the following Saturday. Each of the four other ‘important’ groups — Laba (Red), Oniko

(yellow), Ologede (Green) and Agere (Purple) — take their turns in that order from Monday to Thursday.

Click here to watch a video clip of Eyo Festival

History of Eyo Festival

History as we have heard. The Eyo masquerade is not originally from Lagos Island but was brought there sometimes around 1750 by two unnamed personalities from Ibefun and Ijebu communities in present day Ogun State. Owing to the

fascinating appeal, they succeeded in introducing it as part of interment rites of passage for the departing Oba at that time, Oba Ado who is believed to have married one of their cousins, Olugbani.

Another version has it that the main deity Adamu Orisha originated from Ibefun just as Eyo masquerade came as a result of the need to protect the deity from the activities of hooligans who might seek to destroy or steal it.

Those who hold this view say that the traditional iconic staff of the masquerade known as Opambata, was invented as part of the regalia for the purpose of warding off undesirable elements.

Another dimension was added to the supposed origin of the masquerade and festival as a prominent indigene, Chief Adekunle Alli, opined, “Orisa Ogunran and Orisa Elegbaopopo were originally brought to Lagos from Benin by Chief

Olorogunagan Asagbemi, and Chief

Olorogunigbesule during the reign of Oba Ado of Lagos, over 350 years ago.”

Since time immemorial, the festival as depicted by the image of a masquerade in flowing white apparel has grown from a rural festivity to an internationally acclaimed event, attracting both local and international tourists, even though the frequency of such festivities vary depending on

who the Oba considers worthy of having such play staged in his/her honour.

According to Alli who is an authority on local custom and history as they relate to people of Lagos Island, “The first Adamu Orisa play to be recorded was the one held by King Dosumu for

his late father, King Akintoye, on February 20, 1854, six months after the death of the Father.”

Initially, five groups, different others have emerged, while participation in the play was restricted to family members of various individual Eyo groups of both the nuclear and extended family members, and any person or group of persons who have no filial link to any of the families can also join them for the purpose

of the festival.