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EGBO

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Originally appearing in Volume V09, Page 12 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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EGBO , a See also:

secret society flourishing chiefly among the Efiks of the See also:Calabar See also:district, See also:West See also:Africa. Egbo or Ekpe is a mysterious spirit who lives in the See also:jungle and is supposed to preside at the ceremonies of the society. Only See also:males can join, boys being initiated about the See also:age of See also:puberty. Members are See also:bound by See also:oath of secrecy, and fees on entrance are payable. The Egbo-men are ranked in seven or nine grades, for promotion to each of which fresh See also:initiation ceremonies, fees and oaths are necessary. The society combines a See also:kind of See also:freemasonry with See also:political and See also:law enforcing aims. For instance any member wronged in an Egbo district, that is one dominated by the society, has only to address an Egbo-See also:man or,See also:beat the Egbo See also:drum in the Egbo-See also:house, or " See also:blow Egbo " as it is called, i.e. See also:sound the Egbo See also:horn before the hut of the wrong-doer, and the whole machinery of the society is put in force to see See also:justice done. Formerly the society earned as See also:bad a name as most secret sects, from the barbarous customs mingled with its See also:rites; but the See also:British authorities have been able to make use of it in enforcing See also:order and helping on See also:civilization. The Egbo-house, an oblong See also:building like the See also:nave of a See also:church, usually stands in the See also:middle of the villages. The walls are of See also:clay elaborately painted inside and ornamented with clay figures in See also:relief. Inside are wooden images, sometimes of an obscene nature, to which reverence is paid. Much social importance attaches to the highest ranks of Egbo-men, and it is said that very large sums, sometimes more than a thousand pounds, are paid to attain these dignities.

At certain festivals in the See also:

year the Egbo-men See also:wear See also:black wooden masks with horns which it is See also:death for any woman to look on. See See also:Mary H. See also:Kingsley, West See also:African Studies (1901); Rev. Robt. H. See also:Nassau, Fetichism in West Africa (1904) ; C. See also:Partridge, See also:Cross See also:River Natives (1905).

End of Article: EGBO

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