Description
Relating its fundamental cultural role in local vigilantism and community policing in Ogu societies, Zangbeto is a term in Gun language which means "Men of the night" or "Night-watchmen".
The Zangbeto takes on a covering made from an intricate mass of tiny strands of hay, raffia, or other threadlike materials, which are sometimes dyed in very colourful hues. They are able to fall into a trance which, according to tradition, enables their bodies to be inhabited by spirits who possess special knowledge of the actions of people. However, Ogu legend tells that there are no humans under the costume, only spirits of the night.
In Ogu culture, the Zangbetos are the traditional security guards or policemen of their communities. They are said to form a secret society which can only be strictly attended by Zangbeto or voodoo worshipers and devotees. Zangbeto is deemed to have spiritistic and magical abilities, such as swallowing splinters of glass without coming to any harm and scaring away even witches. In a trance, the Zangbeto are said to evoke a power that inhabited the earth long before the appearance of man and provide a source of wisdom and continuity for the Ogu people.
Elaborate festivals built around the Zangbeto are held regularly in different Ogu communities across West Africa. The popular ones are those that hold in Porto-Novo, Benin Republic and in Ajido, Lagos, Nigeria. These festivals comprise colourful displays, electrifying performances, and magic by the man inside the Zangbeto.
Vodún or vodúnsínsen is an African traditional religion practiced by the Aja, Ewe, and Fon peoples of Benin, Togo, Ghana, and Nigeria. Practitioners are commonly called vodúnsɛntó or Vodúnisants.
Michael Babatunde Olatunji was a Nigerian drummer, educator, social activist, and recording artist.
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Lagos State is a state in southwestern Nigeria. Of the 36 Nigerian states, it is the second most populous state but the smallest in area. Bounded to the south by the Bight of Benin and to the west by the international border with Benin for 10 km, Lagos State borders Ogun State to the north for about 283 km, making it the only Nigerian state to border only one other state. Named for the city of Lagos—the most populous city in Africa—the state was formed from the Western Region and the former Federal Capital Territory on 27 May 1967.
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The Igala people are a Yoruboid ethnolinguistic group native to the region immediately south of the confluence of the Niger and Benue Rivers in central Nigeria. The area inhabited primarily by the Igala is referred to as Igalaland. Situated in an especially ecologically diverse region of Nigeria, the Igala have traditionally engaged in crop cultivation, and have been influenced culturally by many surrounding cultures over the centuries. Today, people of Igala descent are estimated to be at a population of 1.68 million people.
The beliefs and practices of African people are highly diverse, and include various ethnic religions. Generally, these traditions are oral rather than scriptural and are passed down from one generation to another through narratives, songs, and festivals. They include beliefs in spirits and higher and lower gods, sometimes including a supreme being, as well as the veneration of the dead, use of magic, and traditional African medicine. Most religions can be described as animistic with various polytheistic and pantheistic aspects. The role of humanity is generally seen as one of harmonizing nature with the supernatural.
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The Yoruba people are a West African ethnic group who mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by the Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute more than 50 million people in Africa, are over a million outside the continent, and bear further representation among members of the African diaspora. The vast majority of the Yoruba population is today within the country of Nigeria, where they make up 20.7% of the country's population according to Ethnologue estimations, making them one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa. Most Yoruba people speak the Yoruba language, which is the Niger-Congo language with the largest number of native or L1 speakers.
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Badagry, also spelled Badagri, is a coastal town and Local Government Area (LGA) in Lagos State, Nigeria. It is quite close to the city of Lagos, and located on the north bank of Porto Novo Creek, an inland waterway that connects Lagos to the Beninese capital of Porto-Novo. The same route connects Lagos, Ilaro, and Porto-Novo, and shares a border with the Republic of Benin. As of the preliminary 2006 census results, the municipality had a population of 241,093.
Vodun art is associated with the West African Vodun religion of Nigeria, Benin, Togo and Ghana. The term is sometimes used more generally for art associated with related religions of West and Central Africa and of the African diaspora in Brazil, the Caribbean and the United States. Art forms include bocio, carved wooden statues that represent supernatural beings and may be activated through various ritual steps, and Asen, metal objects that attract spirits of the dead or other spirits and give them a temporary resting place. Vodun is assimilative, and has absorbed concepts and images from other parts of Africa, India, Europe and the Americas. Chromolithographs representing Indian deities have become identified with traditional Vodun deities and used as the basis for murals in Vodun temples. The Ouidah '92 festival, held in Benin in 1993, celebrated the removal of restrictions on Vodun in that country and began a revival of Vodun art.
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Gberefu Island also known as Point of No Return is a populated historical island located in Badagry, a town and local government area of Lagos State, South-Western Nigeria. Symbolized by two poles slightly slanted towards each other and facing the Atlantic Ocean, the island was a major slave port after it was opened in 1473 during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade era. According to Nigerian historians, as many as 3 million slaves were believed to have been shipped to the Caribbean and Americas between 1518 and 1880 from the island.
The Gun people, also rendered Ogũ, Ogun and Egun, is an ethnic group principally found in Lagos and Ogun State regions of southwestern Nigeria, and Ouémé Department in the southeast of the Republic of Benin, who speak the Gun language. The Ogu account for about 15% of the indigenous population of Lagos State and 6% of the total population of the Republic of Benin, although their parental ethnic group Fon is the majority in Benin Republic.
Ologun Kutere reigned as Oba of Lagos from around the 1780s to around 1803. He succeeded Oba Eletu Kekere who reigned between 1775 and 1780. "Ologun" is the Yoruba word for "War General".
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Chief Theophilus Olabode Avoseh, known as T. Ola Avoseh, was a local historian, writer and chief of Badagry, Lagos. He wrote several booklets and pamphlets in the English and Yoruba languages on aspects of the history and culture of Badagry and Epe towns in Lagos, Nigeria.
