Gestures, Dance and Colour: Non-Lingusitic Communication in Emobo and Ewere Celebrations in Bini Kingdom

While language is one important means of re-enacting the history and culture in festivals, it is not the only means; the use of gestures, dance and colours has been greatly maximised in Ugies (festival or celebration) Emobo and E were. They are festivals, whose central figure are the Oba and depict two memorable events in the lives of the Obas of the past, and they are celebrated yearly to commemorate these occasions. The work focuses on the use of gestures, dance and colour, which are replete in these performances to foreground the message of these festivals, and how these nonlinguistic cues have been used to re-enact the history of the Bini people and the Obas in particular. This paper is anchored on the semiotics theory, which deals with the study and analysis of signs and symbols as part of communication for the effective execution of these festivals. It is discovered from the analysis that these non-linguistic cues are very important in execution of the festival because they aid in complete understanding of the festival.