Mask Helmet Gelede

Gelede society practices the cult that gives its name to older women, “our mothers” (awon sya wa) who can use their powers for the benefit of the community but can also use their forces against it and then become sorcerers, witches (aja). These masks dance in funeral ceremonies for the death of a member of society or on the occasion of annual playful festivals that celebrate fertility as a guarantee of prosperity. This mask has a child on his head with a glass of offerings.

The Yoruba statues of cup bearers are related to divination, serving for a part of a cup of offerings and welcome cup to offer tail nuts to the visitor as a sign of peace. On the other hand they are mediators with the world of spirits who are invited to remain in the cup, like a privileged crucible of the universe, in which ancestors can manifest themselves. Mediation with invisible forces is also exercised on a real level, as the cupbearer is the symbol of the sacred political power transferred to the king. In the divination sessions the fortune teller interprets the position of the tail nuts.