Yoruba masks, and particularly gèlèdè
masks, emanate from societies characterized at the same time by unit and
diversity around a common origin: the city of Ilé-Ifé, where the Yoruba people
thinks that the first man appeared. The most part of Yoruba lives in Nigeria,
where they constitute the biggest urban civilization of Western Africa, but
they are also present on all African continent, where they constitute cores
tied to their origins. It explains the cultural diversity of groups, which
invented a new identity according to their migrations.The society of gèlèdè is
organized around the "mothers" and meets at night. The
"mothers" are being supposed to change into birds and be invited by
souls to examine the possible problems of the society. Although they are
exclusively carried by men, they’re created by and for women. Ordered by a
woman, it is the women that contacts their dance. They can also serve for
receiving political authorities, treat problems in a more individual manner,
and to distract.
The gèlèdè masks are underlined
by scarifications on cheeks and forehead, characteristic of yoruba
civilization, which counts dozens varieties. The present type of scarification
on this mask is called abaja. The wood choosen to be the manufacture of gèlèdè
is a clear and light wood. Once sculpted, masks are coated with invisible
substances by ancient, guarantors of the protection of the community. They are
kept out of the view of the non-initiating, often above the home, smoke of
which has protective virtues. They can be used during about fifty years before
being replaced.
Gèlèdè masks are of a very big
diversity: simple head with plaited hair, or combed by a hat, by a neckerchief
sometimes overcome by a load or by a stage fixed with tops or of ankles. All
masks have prominent eyes, pierced in the centre and delimited by hemmed eyelids.
The nose, lightly hooked, introduces rounded up bones. The mouth with the
muscular lips is in general closed. This item is endowed with a hairstyle,
composed of braids and fins above ears, similar to one of the masks yoruba kept
in the Museum of the Man in Paris (visible in Yoruba. Masques et rituels africain on the page 61).
J. Rivallain et F. A. Iroko, Yoruba. Masques et rituels africains,
Paris, Hazan, 2000
Art Gallery L’Oeil et la Main
African primitive art
41 rue de Verneuil
75007 Paris
www.african-paris.com
