Epa mask, Knight

The cult Epaalso called elefon in Benin, it is practiced mainly in the north, at parties of the same name that last three days and are held every two years. They are protective masks of the community and the crops. In the south they are mainly used in funerals and rites of passage. Within common lines there are a wide variety of masks eppa, depending on the village or region in which they have been carved. They represent a human head with leaping eyes, on which a human figure or set of figures may appear. The Epa cult comes from the kingdom of Oyo and is directed by the Alafin, supreme chief. Sometimes they can have large dimensions.

These masks are formed by two parts separated by a circular platform. The lower part, called Ikoko, represents the world of ancestors or spirits and may have one or two faces. The upper part represents the world of the living and above it may be featured various characters, typical scenes of the village, scenes of animals, warriors, knights or mothers with their children.

This helmet mask represents an important ballerina accompanied by two musicians and a page, so it could be a prince. His three scarifications on the lower part of the cheeks denote that he is an initiated man. Interestingly, the horse has been painted in green. In the right hand it carries a symbol of power while the left holds a thick flange. On his left is a symbolic snake with elongated rings, Tukula red, which, as in many other African peoples, is linked to money. The three elongated rings allude to the three scarifications of the Yoruba.

These figures of knights symbolize the military expansion of the Oyo empire over the centuries XIV a XVII.