In Search of Ancient Kings

The Egungun society is one of the least-studied and written-about aspects of African diasporic spiritual traditions. It is the society of the ancestors, the society of the dead. Its primary function is to facilitate all aspects of ancestor veneration. Though it is fundamental to Yoruba culture and the Ifa?ue/Oriss?ua tradition of the Yoruba, it did not survive intact in Cuba or the US during the forced migration of the Yoruba in the Middle Passage. Taking hold only in Brazil, the Egungun cult has thrived since the early 1800s on the small island of Itaparica, across the Bay of Saints from Salvador, Bahia. Existing almost exclusively on this tiny island until the 1970s (migrating to Rio de Janeiro and, eventually, Recife), this ancient cult was preserved by a handful of families and flourished in a strict, orthodox manner.

Brian Willson spent ten years in close contact with this lineage at the Candomble temple Xango Ca Te Espero in Rio de Janeiro and was eventually initiated as a priest of Egungun. Representing the culmination of his personal involvement, interviews, research, and numerous visits to Brazil, this book relates the story of Egungun from an insider's view. Very little has been written about the cult of Egungun, and almost exclusively what is written in English is based on research conducted in Africa and falls into the category of descriptive and historical observations. Part personal journal, part metaphysical mystery, part scholarly work, part field research, and part reportage, In Search of Ancient Kings illuminates the nature of Egungun as it is practiced in Brazil.