OGBOMOSO CRADLES CARNIVAL: Watch video of breathtaking performance by Finasere, Egungun that rolls in fire

OGBOMOSO CRADLES CARNIVAL: Watch video of breathtaking performance by Finasere, Egungun that rolls in fire

Yinka ADETUNJI

The 2025 Ogbomoso Cradles Carnival has gone and gone. Only the memories will linger. However one of the iconic moments of the festival was the breathtaking display by a mysterious Egungun, known as “Finasere,” (Literally – “Plays with fire”).

Egungun Finasere captivated the audience with its mastery and control over fire – naked fire for that matter. It first performed the feat on the opening day and repeated it on the close of the event Monday at the Soun Stadium Ogbomoso.

When the show was about to start he stood in grim posture, its lappets dripping with agbo (concocted liquid) as its custodians armed with dried grasses prepared the fire under a hail of drumming and rendering of its panegyric. It sways intermittently.

Then the fire was lit. It dashed to and fro swaying to the drumbeat and being splashed across with the fire. A heap consisting of dried grasses and wood was quickly made following which the Egungun marched into it unaffected, it then packed the burning items with its hand tightly held to its lithe body. Ultimately, it fell into the fire, rolled in it, sat in the fiery flame until it quenched the fire. And another was lit repeating the spectacle.

VIDEOS

Its performance attracted a lot of spectators who formed a circle round it watching in disbelief.

ogbomosoinsightonline.com asked one of its “accomplices” and the woman informed Finasere is an Egungun from Igbeti in Olorunsogo local government area of Oyo state.

Ogbomoso has Danafojura an Egungun which shares similar characteristic. Its custodians put dried grasses on it to start a fire too as it shouts of cold. It must not not encounter any other fire; if it does there will be consequences like dipping its hand into what is on the other fire like food items destroying same at the instant. “If it oil being used for frying it turned black,” those who witnessed it said. However, Danafojura only comes out once in three years and it is during the Egungun festival. Thus, it might not participate in a festival like this. All through the period, its last bearer Chief Sunday Babatunde, who died last year, told ogbomosoinsightonline.com, that the costume must remain soaked in concocted liquid. Another version of Danafojura will have dried grass heaped upon it while it squats and a fiery fire started before springing up from under the fire after a while.

The Yoruba culture is deep.