Helmet mask "gelede"

Description

wood, kaolin, indigo blue pigment,

Gelede" masquerade are meant to honour the special spiritual powers of women (specifically elderly women “awon iya wa” and the great mother Yemoja, “iya nla”). The whole community should benefit from their life-giving forces, peace and harmony should be promoted.

“Gelede” festivals take place every year between march and may at the beginning of the new planting season. They have been described as real spectacles. The mask dancers wear headdresses of enormous variety of shapes and colourful costumes to celebrate the different roles of the villagers in society (market traders, blacksmiths, hunters, mothers, priestesses, etc…).