From Iseyin to Irkutsk: Alateorun and the Symbolic Foundations of Russia–Africa Dialogue

Masquerades in African societies, particularly among the Yoruba of Iseyin in Nigeria, function as conduits of ancestral memory, moral instruction, and socio-political commentary. The Alateorun masquerade, distinguished by its esoteric “breathing” costume, symbolizes a culturally encoded form of gendered protection within a patriarchal social order through its ritual prohibition for adolescent girls and young women to hawk items in the streets during the ritual. This article examines how Alateorun’s ritual symbolism can inform cultural diplomacy, especially in the Russia–Africa context. Drawing on ethnographic literature, recent scholarship on intangible cultural heritage and soft power, and comparative ritual analysis, this article places Alateorun in dialogue with Slavic traditions, including Kupala Night festivals, ancestral veneration practices, and ritual costuming. The analysis demonstrates that shared symbolic vocabularies, ritual garments, seasonal festivals, and mythic archetypes can provide conceptual ground for intercultural dialogue without presuming historical equivalence. The study argues that indigenous performance offers a framework for pluriversal diplomacy and heritage-based cooperation within contemporary debates on Global South cultural agency and post-Western international relations. Alateorun, therefore, emerges not only as a spiritual expression of Yoruba cosmology but also as a potential symbolic interlocutor within twenty-first-century Russia–Africa cultural relations. Finally, this study proposes several initiatives to strengthen Russia-Africa cultural engagement through heritage-based frameworks.