Gelede
headdress. The
Gelede cult pays homage to the power of elderly women
who ensure the fertility and well-being of the community, but who are also held
responsible for human barrenness and death. The
mask festivals called Efe/Gelede are celebrated among the subgroups of the
southwestern Yorubaland. It is usually held between March and May, when the rains arrive
and a new agricultural cycle begins. The masquerades, songs, and dances are in honor of
“our mothers,” whose power is especially manifest in elderly women, female
ancestors, and female orisha (goddesses). Through song, dance, and
costume, the underlying truth of the power and authority of woman in a male-oriented
society is acknowledged. During Gelede
festivities, helmet masks and headdresses carved in the form of a human face are worn. The
sculptured motifs, which appear on Gelede masks,
are almost infinite in their variety. They are as diffuse as social experience, for the
spiritual power of “the mothers,” for whom Gelede is performed, is
attentive to every aspect of social life. The Gelede
society wore masks horizontally like a cap.
Yoruba
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16 x 11
x 9
$240 + $35 (S + H)