Egungun - The Living Ghosts of Benin
In human history, the stories of ghosts have always scared us, but in reality these stories are true, it is difficult to say. While many people believe in the stories of ghosts, there is no less number of people who refuse to believe all these things at the same time. Science still denies these stories. There is also a place in the world where the people are called as living ghosts, whose touch can cause death. We are talking about the small country of West Africa, Benin. It is said that the begining of black magic was intoduced from here. People of a community living here have been named Egungun, they are considered as Secret Society. The people of this secret society are called 'Living Ghosts'. Tradition holds that if any member of the Egungun community touches anyone, then he dies immediately and also the Egungun member. Cloths play an important role in the world of the Egunguns. Egungun wears a lot of colorful clothes. They cover their faces to hide their identity. The Egungun, one of Benin's secret societies, appear as masked men who pass judgement in disputes.
The people here believe that the souls of the dead ancestors come and express their opinions inside the Egungun members. So these people work to solve village disputes and make decisions. Therefore, the decision of Egungun is considered to be the message of God and the final. The Egungun speak in a high-pitched and in a language that is not understood by other villagers. Through drumming and dance, they are believed to become possessed by their spirits of the ancestors. There are some minders with Egungun, who have a stick in their hands. Minders make a certain distance between people and Egunguns. Even if Egungun sit and relax somewhere, the Minders keep on guarding. There are people who play drums with people of Egungun community. Egungun also dances on the beats of drum. They are always accompanied by drummers.