Gelede Mask, Yoruba peoples

The Yoruba people of Nigeria and Southern Benin have an end of the dry season festival to celebrate female power called Gelede. The annual Gelede festival honors the creative and dangerous powers of women elders, female ancestors, and goddesses, known affectionately as "our mothers." the Gelede masked performance is a way of sustaining life through creating a social bond with their female elders, by paying respect to them. There will be peace in the community and the land will be blessed by rain and fertile soil. The Gelede headdress often consists of two parts, a lower mask and an upper superstructure. The lower mask depicts a woman's face, its composure expressing the qualities of calmness, patience, and "coolness" desired in women. The static expression and simplicity of this portion of the headdress contrasts with vitality and diversity of the superstructure. The design of the superstructure is intended to placate the mothers by displaying their inner powers for all to see, thus pleasing them and ensuring the well-being of the community. Birds signify the dangerous noctural powers of women who act as witches. The two figures with the cow in the center represent the farming community and the power of the Gelede to provide a bountiful harvest. Gelede artists demonstrate their artistry and mastery of the medium by developing complex imagery within the confines of the basic cylindrical mass of wood. The elaborately carved example shown here (originally painted in bright colors) exhibits many different forms and angles to view, as the dancer moves before his admiring audience.

Source: Blackmun-Visona, Monica, et. al. A History of Art in Africa. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson: Prentice Hall, 2008, pp. 254-255.