Anthropomorphic headdress "okooro"

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Description

wood, pigment residues, rest.

“Okooro” masked figures appear at the beginning of the annual “agbo” or “ekine” festival, which is held in honour of the water spirits and “olokun”, the goddess of the sea.

The headdresses show elegant women with particularly beautiful horn-like towering hairstyles and are complemented by a costume of finely woven reed mats.

The “okooro” parade through the streets greeting important members of the community and making offerings at shrines, accompanied by songs and rhythms beaten on a hollow tortoiseshell, before they arrive at the water’s edge to call the water spirits for the “ekine” festival.

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Comparing literature

Drewal, Henry John & John Pemberton, Yoruba, New York 1989, p. 66, ill. 79

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