Large helmet mask "epa"

Description

wood, dyed with red pigment, white and blackish brown accents, janus-faced mask (“ikoko”) with disc-shaped superstructure, supporting a group of figures: equestrian figure with beard and dignitary staff in the centre, accompanied by eight smaller figures (amongst others a female bowl bearer, maternité, depiction of “eshu”), slightly dam., minor missing parts, cracks, paint rubbed off, rep. (left wrist of the equestrian), small traces of insect caused damage;
used at “epa” celebrations, which last for several days. Young men proof their skills and strenght by carrying such high tapering and heavy masks on their heads, while they are dancing and jumping. The different mask types appear in a strong order: the first mask to arrive from the forest is “oloko” - the “lord of the farm”. In its figure of the leopard leaping upon an antelope, as well as in the songs and dance, man´s mastery of nature in hunting and farming is dramatized. The second and third masks usually portray a hunter or warrior on horseback, often called “jagun-jagun” or “ogun” and the herbalist priest “olosanyin”. Here the establishment and the securing of communal life through bloodshed in war and in the preparation of healing medicines is imaged and proclaimed. Finally, in the company of a mask depicting a woman with children, the great mask “orangun” appears. In these masks, the mysterious power of women in bearing children and the power of men in organizing society through chieftaincy and kingship is affirmed.
This mask presumably depicts “jagun-jagun”, who successfully repelled an attack against the town of Efon Alaiye in 1880.