Ekpo's cow and dog voices

enang ekpri akata; ebua ekpri akata

Source term: bull-roarer

akata: Efik 'bull-roarer'. ebua ekpri akata: 'the dog of the little akata'. enang ekpri akata: 'the cow of the little akata'. Ekpo: 'ghost'.

Akata is the Efik word for the bullroarer, and at Calabar there were two, both sacred: the dog of the little akata and the cow of the little akata. The cow was much the larger, and only members of Ekpo, the society of the ghosts, could sound it. Ekpo held its revels at night, its officiants mostly masked, and the cow's wailing was heard as the voice of a ghost. The roarers were so sacred that outsiders were told nothing about them beyond their names.

the wailing of the enang ekpri akata is regarded as a ghostly voice

M. D. W. Jeffreys, 1968, p. 70

Particulars

Object

Two sacred bullroarers, a much larger "cow" and a smaller "dog".

Function

The larger, enang ekpri akata, may be used only by members of the Ekpo (ghost) society; its wailing is a ghostly voice at the society's night revels, usually led by masked officiants.