Religion
Sango Worshippers at a Festival in Ibadan, Nigeria Circa 1970s
This photograph captures devotees of Sango, the Yoruba god of thunder and lightning, participating in a traditional festival in Ibadan, southwestern Nigeria. The celebration features vibrant drumming, dancing, and ritual performances dedicated to invoking the deity’s power.
As noted by art historian Margaret Thompson Drewal in Yoruba Ritual (1992), “there is some amount of cross-dressing by both men and women, and in possession trance there are more literal gender transformations.” These ritual practices reveal how, despite rigidly defined gender roles, Yoruba religious traditions create spaces where participants can temporarily cross gender boundaries, embodying the spiritual and symbolic traits of the opposite sex.
Photo Credit: Eliot Elisofon