What is a Gelede Mask?
A gelede is a festival of masks performed in veneration of the society’s powerful older women, the iyami. Egbado Yoruba communities perform gelede annually, at which time they formally recognize the powers of the iyami, and solicit their benevolence to ensure the prosperity of the community.
What does the Igbo mask represent?
Maiden masks, representations of adolescent females, impersonate Igbo ideals of youthful feminine beauty. In their original context, they were danced by male performers during festivals honoring important patron deities, as well as for entertainment.
What does Gelede mean?
Gelede in the context of Yoruba belief The Gelede social agenda rests on the Yoruba maxim Eso l’aye (The world is fragile). In other words, life is delicate and should be lived with caution and with an emphasis on diplomacy, consideration, respect and harmony.
What is the purpose of the Gelede ritual?
The Gelede is performed by the Yoruba-Nago community that is spread over Benin, Nigeria and Togo. For more than a century, this ceremony has been performed to pay tribute to the primordial mother Iyà Nlà and to the role women play in the process of social organization and development of Yoruba society.
What are three types of masks created in Africa?
Masks can be grouped into three main forms: face masks, helmet masks, and headresses.
What are Igbo mask made of?
Skilled craftsmen make masks, which are usually carved from wood and painted; they may also incorporate cloth, beads, shells, and raffia.
What is the purpose of the gelede ritual?
Are Yoruba from Mecca?
The Yorubas are said to have sprung from Lamurudu one of the kings of Mecca whose offspring were:—Oduduwa, the ancestor of the Yorubas, the Kings of Gogobiri and of the Kukawa, two tribes in the Hausa country.
What does an African mask symbolize?
Masks are often made to resemble people, animals and other objects that people identify with. Many African masks represent animals. Some African communities believe that the animal masks can help them communicate with the spirits who live in forests or open savannah.
What is the purpose of an Igbo mask?
What do Igbo masks represent?
Among the Southern Igbo, the Ekpe society, introduced from the Cross River area, uses contrasting masks to represent the maiden spirit and the elephant spirit, the latter representing ugliness and aggression and the former representing beauty and peacefulness.
Are Yoruba people Egyptian?
A sizeable number of these accounts usually explore the historical evidence from ancient Egypt. Although, such historical traditions differ from one school of thought to another, some modern historians of Yoruba descent insist that the Yoruba originated from Egypt.