Okpo Ekak: Paradox of Passion and Individuality among the Efik

Masks have long been used in religious and communal ceremonies concerned with spiritual transformation, disguise, fertility rites, or amusement. They are usually worn over the face, but in some societies masks are worn on other parts of the body. For example, Gelede and Egungun masks of the Yoruba people cover the entire bodies of their wearers (Lawal 1996, Drewal and Drewal 1990, Adepegba 1984). Inuit women wear finger masks during storytelling and dance performances (Feinup-Riordan 1996). Similarly, among Efiks, Okpo masks allegorically shape the complexities of sexual maturity with full body masks (Figs. 1a–b). To Efiks, masks are cultural objects intricately woven with other aspects of their communal life.¹ They view their world as a continuum, composed of the living and the dead, with the ancestor(s) ever-present in the lives of individuals, families, and the wider society. Efiks believe that religion and life are embodied in the art of masquerading—masquerades are dynamic. Thus, the power of Efik masks and masquerades reside in their ability to synthesize several sociocultural elements to achieve a variety of purposes.

Efik people are inhabitants of Calabar—formerly Old Calabar—which lies along the Calabar River that flows south for about five miles into the Cross River estuary. The people speak the Efik language—a Cross River language of the Benue-Congo family. They settled in their present locale sometime about the end of the sixteenth century (Latham 1973:3). From the mid-seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries, Calabar developed into a major trading center because of its strategic location at the intersection of Calabar and Cross Rivers. It first became a major slave-trading depot, with Efiks as middlemen in all trade between Europeans and local inhabitants throughout the slavetrading period. These roles caused the obong or king to impose and collect a trading tax called comey for trading privileges on the river. After the abolition of the slave trade in the late 1880s, it quickly made the transition from the slave to the palm oil market. In 1849, Calabar became the first headquarters of the British consul on the Bights of Benin and Biafra; by 1891 it became the first capitol of Oil Rivers Protectorate. In 1846 Reverend Hope Masterton Waddell of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland established a Christian mission there with the help of Jamaican catechists. Thereafter, Calabar became the first center of missionary expansion on the Bight of Biafra, and many Efiks professed Christianity.

This is a sociocultural study that examines the meaning, aesthetics, and functionality of Okpo in Efik society and how cultural forms of knowledge and expression shape and are shaped by Okpo performances. It investigates the character and social values of Okpo in Efik society, while analyzing various symbolisms of traditional and foreign materials used in making Okpo’s attire. It also examines the effects of evangelical Christianity on Efik visual culture and practices. In these contexts, it integrates the conceptual nature of the Okpo mask within the rich mosaic of Efik culture to inform our understanding of Okpo’s complex, enigmatic meaning. Okpo as an Efik word has two meanings. On one hand, it means “the uninitiated,” and on the other, “a billy-goat” or Okpoebot.

While this study acknowledges Okpo’s sexual allusions, it will also attempt to explore sexuality among Efiks as informed by the Okpo mask through the symbolism, aesthetics, and functionality of the mask and its costume. Approaching Okpo from this angle paints a larger picture of its genre. The histories of Okpo are not recorded in any text, but rather as oral accounts and thoughts expressed in its performances. Accordingly, much of this analysis is shaped by oral accounts from informants, field notes recorded at various times between 2002–2012, and the author’s own experiences behind Okpo masks in Calabar.

1a Okpo Ekak Masquerade, 2012

1b Okpo Ntaga Ekpat, 1978

One purpose of Okpo’s existence is to celebrate the sexual maturity of boys and girls from pubescence into adolescence. (Throughout this study...