• Yoruba Gelede Mask, Nigeria #697
• A carved wooden helmet or cap mask with classic facial features and vegetable like finials on top. The mask is well handled showing field use and wear. Yoruba People, Nigeria, Africa.
• Measurements: The Mask itself measures 8" x 10"
• Includes a Custom Made Base.
• Condition: Fair, well handled
• Provenance: Allan Stone Collection, New York
• This type of Mask might have been worn at Funeral Ceremonies and expresses humor and irony with a subliminal laugh that is alien to Western Christian Funerals.
  
• Gelede Headdresses (not Masks as these sit ON the head and not across the face) are one of the few among the Yoruba People to celebrate Female Forces.
  
• The Gelede is performed by the Yoruba-Nago Community 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.
  
• Gelede is also 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.