Leopard Spirit
Ibibio · deity · mythic age · Recorded classification
The tutelary bush/leopard spirit of the Ekpe (Mgbe) society of the Cross River. As a spirit-being it is classed as deity per registry rules, though it is bound up with the human secret society that channels its authority; the nsibidi sign-system is associated with it.
Domains
- law and justice
- the wilderness
Powers
- enforce the will of the ancestors on the living
Sources
- Ekpe is the leopard-spirit of the Cross River leopard society, whose masked manifestation enforces the will of the ancestors and communal law among the Efik and Ibibio.: P. Amaury Talbot, Life in Southern Nigeria: The Magic, Beliefs and Customs of the Ibibio Tribe (Macmillan, 1923). (ethnography)