Helmet mask "gelede" ·  Nigeria, Yoruba · ID: 3032626

Description

wood, brown patina, traces of black paint and kaolin, bearded face with delicate facial features, linear banded tattoos, headcrest of a dignitary, slightly dam., minor missing parts, cracks, paint rubbed off;
in contrast to Yoruba societies like “egungun” or “ogboni”, which are dedicated to the veneration of ancestors, “gelede” is directed on forces manifest in the world of the living, associated above all with women. In some areas “gelede” honours “ogun” the god of iron and the art of war, in other regions “eshu” is adored, the trickster god and messenger of the gods. The most important protective deity however is “yemoia”, the goddess of the rivers and the sea, which is the eqivalent of “iyanla”, the “Big Mother”. She represents the prime mother, who watches over birth but might as well cause destruction and death.

Comparing literature

Eisenhofer, Stefan (Hg.), Kulte, Künstler, Könige in Afrika, Linz 1997, p. 179 f.