The whole two weeks I have been here, I have been fascinated by this sinister figure. I can count at least 5 of them during my daily commute between Lagos and the mainland. More than 2 metre tall, with steel or bamboo frame providing the structure, they have white cloth draped over the frame, and topped with a wide-brimmed hat. To complete the effect, they held a wooden staff in one 'hand'.
If I meet any of them on a dark street at night, I will wet my pants while fleeing from these spectres, not exactly Casper the friendly ghost.
I wanted to ask the local what these are, but was worry there are superstition or something religion that make it impolite for me to ask. These could be the ones you cannot name. I tried googling, but with vague terms like "white cloth wide brim hat Lagos Nigeria",I wasn't any answers from the Oracle. Fortunately, as I approaches my third weekend here, posters with this figures started popping up on the road, on the back of buses of on lampposts. I could now made out the words "Eyo Festival" and "TBS". Now, I have something to work on.
I found out the Eyo Festival is a poccession in Lagos where the participants dress up like these spectre. It is not held regular, but since it's inception, it went on once a year on the average. TBS is not a TV channel, but a stadium where the parade was held when Nigeria gained its independant. I actually drives past it on my commute. The Eyo is only found on Lagos island, the poccession is not allowed to cross the water out of the island. It is held after a tribal chief passed away, and the other tribes on Lagos island gathers for the poccession. I now know the what, where and why; and best of all, the when. The festival will go on the coming Saturday.The last thing to find out is the how. How did the poccession originated? How did they ended up dressed like that? Actually, even after the pocession and with the brochure that came with the ticket, I never really know how it originated. But I did find out how to get to the festival. The local at the offic couldn't provide much informations. They knew it was going on this weekend, but none seems to have plan to participate or know how to get a ticket (if at all tickets are needed). Finally, I decide to check with the reception at the hotel. The guy there promise to ask around and help with the ticket. I also asked to hire a driver for the day to take me to TBS.
By Saturday breakfast, there was still no news if the hotel has made the necessary arrangement. Near noon, I went down to the reception to ask. The guy handed me an envelope, and in it was a VIP car windscreen decal for the TBS carpark. A VIP ticket that admits two, and a brochure giving a little history of the festival plus the Do's and Don'ts. All these are for free, I only need to pay for the car hire.I got into the olive-green Toyota, and was glad to find a middle-age guy at the wheel. As expected, he was much more safety-concious compare to the daredevil of a driver for the mini-bus. From the chat we have, I found out he was not from this part, but from the Igbo tribe in a province to the east of Lagos ("if I started in the morning, I could be home the same day"). He has been here for more than 10 years. He is from the Iban tribe which is different from the Yorumbi which found the majority in Lagos. I always found the Yoruba to be aggressive, in the way they look and speak. In fact, many of the Yoruba have marks on their face. These were done by cutting a few lines on their face with a knife when they were young, but the scars stay with them. The marks were done for identification. The only reason I can think of such marking is that the tribes go to war against one and other. My driver was much less aggressive looking. Actually, this man would save my arse by the end of the day.
Before we reach TBS, we could see the participants in their costume making their way to the gathering of tribes.
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