Helmet mask "gelede" ·  Nigeria, Yoruba · ID: 3035249

Description

wood, encrusted reddish brown and black paint, small remains of bright blue, regular facial features, the coiffure widely projecting to the back, hairline with banded contour, slightly dam., minor missing parts (above all the small round projections on both sides of the coiffure), rep. (rear part of the coiffure), socle;
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.