Masquerade Festivities in Anambra State: The Beauty and The Beast.

The masquerade society in this context is an exclusive secret society for males of Igbo origin. This society’s membership is made up of males who have gone through the necessary initiation rituals to become full members who are entitled to the benefits of belonging to this society. The masquerade practice as described above is commonly seen in Anambra, Enugu and some parts of Abia State for the South Eastern parts of Nigeria. This in no way means that the masquerade cult group practice is peculiar to the Igbo speaking States of Nigeria but for the sake of this article we would be looking at the benefit of this group to the Igbo speaking States where they are practiced.
In the past, when there were strict rules to be adhered to as a member of the cult group, these cults were most beneficial to their communities as the members of the cult served as civilian law enforcement agents in those communities. The energy of the young members of these cults were used to secure their various communities and also show the richness of our culture as a people when these masquerades performed for their audience during festivities.
Unfortunately, in recent times, the masquerade society has been terribly abused such that they seem to have more nuisance value to the society than benefits. From Nnewi to Ufuma down to Abatete to Awka to Ogidi to Awkuzu to Ukpo and Ukpor, the list of towns where the masquerade act is practiced multiple times in a year is outrightly endless. Instead of being a huge cultural symbol for Ndi Igbo, it has now been reduced to a tool used to extort innocent commuters and members of the communities of their hard-earned money in very violent manner. Lately the violence associated with Mmonwu as it is called in Igbo tradition is at an all time high and should be addressed before it becomes a disaster to the State. There should be a deliberate attempt to make laws to address these practices and also ban the brazen use of drugs by the youths involved in it.