Christianity and Masquerade Practices Among the Youth in Nsukka, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

This article explores masquerade celebrations among the youth in the Nsukka area. Over a two-year period, youth masquerade celebrations were studied in the towns of Nsukka, Obollo and Umundu, and it was concluded that there were no reservations around participation, despite Christianity maintaining that these are pagan and fetish practices. Many reasons emerged for participation: attachment to Igbo culture, the quest to belong to the community/the question of identity, the communitarian aspect of masquerade celebrations, the challenges of inculturation, cultural revivalism, and the commercialisation of masquerades. Contrary to early (Western) missionaries’ prediction that Christianity would erode the Igbo people’s ‘fetish’, masquerades are thriving in Nsukka, perpetuated by the Christian youth in a bid to keep their cultural practices alive. This indicates that Christianity, despite its longstanding presence, has not succeeded in curtailing this growing phenomenon.

KEYWORDS:

• Masquerades
• omabe
• Nsukka
• youth
• Christianity
• inculturation
• identity
• cultural revivalism
• masquerade economics

Notes

1 The Nsukka cultural zone is in Enugu State. This article focuses on omabe of the Igbo people, who live in the local government areas of Nsukka, Udenu, Igbo Eze South and Igbo Eze North. There is homogeneity in the culture of the people from these areas, particularly in their celebration of omabe masquerade. I use Nsukka cultural zone and Nsukka loosely to refer to the people of these local governments in the article.

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Notes on contributors

Kingsley Ikechukwu Uwaegbute

Dr Kingsley Ikechukwu Uwaegbute teaches New Testament studies in the department of religion and cultural studies at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. His research interests cover the contextual interpretation and social-scientific interpretation of the New Testament, and the interaction of Christianity with Igbo culture.