Transmutations in Masquerade Costumes and Performances: An Examination of Abuja Carnival 2010

Abstract

Masquerades or spirit manifests are uniquely ritualistic. Masquerade performances in African culture are symbolizations; they represent not only the physical and continuous presence of the ancestors but also their luminal sense of justice and equity. Masquerade, derived from mask
presupposes that somebody’s identity is concealed with costumes and sometimes, makeup. Since costuming is the most essential and significant element in the masquerade art, this study tries to understand how performance context and purpose can mediate the form or costume which a masquerade wears. Being highly ritualized, how does its socialization
impact on its costuming and vice versa? Indeed, how does technology and commerce mediate the ritual content of costume especially since carnival atmosphere and purposes require a large number of participants hence the need to build costumes for a large number of people? Again, the argument that masquerades as representations of the ancestors must
adapt and change to be in the image of a 21st century ancestor might be invoked to justify the transmutations in contemporary masquerade costumes.