Overview
Ijele is the largest and most elaborate of the Igbo masquerades, a towering, multi-tiered structure of cloth and ornament that can stand several metres high, associated with the Anambra area and traditionally brought out only on the most significant occasions, such as the funeral of a titled elder or a major community celebration. Because of its size, cost and ceremonial importance, Ijele appears far less often than smaller masquerades, and its rare public outings draw very large crowds. UNESCO has recognised Ijele masquerade as part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
History and origin
Ijele developed within Igbo communities of the Anambra area as the most senior masquerade in the local hierarchy, reserved for the most important occasions because of the resources, skill and preparation required to build and perform it. Its construction traditionally involves months of work by skilled craftsmen who assemble a tall, decorated superstructure depicting figures, animals and symbols of community life, mounted on a costume that a trained performer carries and manoeuvres. Because of its scale and significance, Ijele has been documented and celebrated by cultural institutions in Nigeria and internationally, and it was inscribed by UNESCO as an example of Igbo masquerade heritage in recognition of its artistic and cultural importance.
What happens
An Ijele masquerade appearance is a rare and major community event, usually held to mark the funeral of a highly titled elder or another occasion of great significance. The masquerade emerges accompanied by drumming, singing and a large crowd of onlookers, and moves slowly and carefully through the performance space, given its considerable height and weight, with handlers assisting and clearing space around it. Its surface displays numerous carved and decorated figures representing animals, everyday scenes and symbols of status, which spectators view closely as part of the display. Other masquerades and cultural performers often accompany an Ijele outing as part of a wider programme of festivities, and the event concludes with the masquerade being carefully returned to storage, since it is brought out only occasionally.
When it takes place
on rare occasions tied to significant funerals or community events, with no fixed annual date
Where a date is set by a traditional council, a lunar calendar or the harvest, it changes from year to year. Confirm locally before making plans around it.
Where to see it
Anambra communities, Anambra State
The people behind it
IgboThe Igbo live mainly in south eastern Nigeria — Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo — with long-established communities in Delta and Rivers and traders settled in almost every Nigerian city. Historically most Igbo communities governed themselves without kings. Authority was shared between lineage heads, age grades, title societies such as ọzọ and village assemblies where free men debated until consensus formed, a structure colonial officials misread badly when they imposed warrant chiefs in the early twentieth century. Commerce is central to Igbo life. The markets of Onitsha, Aba and Nnewi are among the largest in West Africa, and the ìgbà bòi apprenticeship system, in which a young trader serves a master for years before being settled with capital of his own, has reproduced businesses across the country for generations. The Igbo are overwhelmingly Christian today, with Catholic and Pentecostal traditions both strong, though masquerade societies, the new yam festival and kola nut rites remain part of community life. The memory of the Biafran war of 1967 to 1970 and the rebuilding that followed still shapes how many Igbo describe their place in Nigeria.Spotted something wrong? Tell us.