The vi­brant rhythms of tra­di­tion echoed through the streets of San­ta Cruz on Ju­ly 26, as the Omo Oduduwa In­sti­tute, in col­lab­o­ra­tion with Black In­di­an Cul­ture and Mas­quer­ade and the Oje Egun­gun So­ci­ety, pre­sent­ed the Egun­gun Fes­ti­val 2025.

The event fea­tured a colour­ful street pro­ces­sion that moved along Pe­tite Cu­ra­caye Branch Road to the La Venezuela Stat­ue on the San­ta Cruz Old Road. Dressed in elab­o­rate, sa­cred cos­tumes, par­tic­i­pants brought the spir­it of the an­ces­tors to life in a mov­ing cel­e­bra­tion of cul­tur­al iden­ti­ty and spir­i­tu­al re­mem­brance.

The Egun­gun Fes­ti­val is root­ed in the Or­isha re­li­gion of the Yoru­ba peo­ple of South West Africa. It is a pow­er­ful rit­u­al tra­di­tion that ho­n­ours and re­mem­bers the an­ces­tors through mas­quer­ade per­for­mances. The term Egun­gun trans­lates to “pow­ers con­cealed” or “dry bones (of the an­ces­tors),” sym­bol­is­ing the sa­cred con­nec­tion be­tween the realms of the liv­ing and the dead.

In this deeply spir­i­tu­al fes­ti­val, the Egun­gun mas­quer­aders rep­re­sent an­ces­tral spir­its, in­voked to bless, guide, and pro­tect the com­mu­ni­ty. Through drum­ming, dance, chants, and rit­u­al, the fes­ti­val re­in­forces a sense of con­ti­nu­ity and cul­tur­al pride among devo­tees and on­look­ers alike.

The Egun­gun Fes­ti­val 2025 not on­ly cel­e­brat­ed an­ces­tral rev­er­ence but al­so show­cased the en­dur­ing strength and vi­bran­cy of African tra­di­tions with­in T&T’s mul­ti­cul­tur­al so­ci­ety.