What is the meaning of Gelede?

“With gẹ, meaning ‘to soothe, to placate, to pet or coddle,’ ẹlẹ meaning a woman’s private parts, and dẹ meaning ‘to soften with care or gentleness,’ Gelede refers to the concept of honouring women and their innate powers so that the entire community may reap the benefits of their life-giving forces.”

What is the purpose of the Gelede ritual?

The Gelede is performed by the Yoruba-Nago community that is 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.

What is a Gelede mask?

A gelede is 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.

What are Gelede masks made of?

Gelede mask (‘The Brazilian’) made of wood.

Who is Yemoja?

Yemonja, also spelled Yemoja or Yemaja, Yoruban deity celebrated as the giver of life and as the metaphysical mother of all orisha (deities) within the Yoruba spiritual pantheon.

What do Yoruba masks represent?

But the Yoruba mask also has a force that extends to the world of spirits and gods. These masks also have the dual effect of transforming the wearer and the ambivalence of serving good and evil ends. This indicates that the Yoruba mask apart from its spiritual essence is a symbol of great complexity and ambiguity.

What do the Yoruba emphasize in their style of dance?

The qualities emphasized in Oge are body flexibility, balance, rhythm, and timing-the basis for the assessment of the dance.

Is Yemaya real?

Often depicted as a queenly mermaid, Yemaya is considered the Ocean Mother Goddess in Santería, an Afro-Caribbean religion practiced around the world. With anchored roots in the Yoruba religion, Yemaya was brought over to the New World by enslaved Africans as early as the 16th century.

Who colonized Yoruba?

British
In the late 1880s, with the help of a British mediator, a treaty was signed between the various warring factions. Yorubaland was officially colonized by the British in 1901, but a system of indirect rule was established that mimicked the structure of Yoruba governance.

What are Nigerian masks used for?

NIGERIAN MASKS Masks usually have a spiritual and religious meaning and they are used in ritual dances and social and cultural events. A special status is attributed to artists that create masks and those that wear them in ceremonies.

What religion can you not dance?

Religious bans These include some adherents of Mennonite, Hutterite, Baptist, Seventh-day Adventist, Church of Christ, Restorationist, and Holiness movement sects.

What is Yoruba dance called?

The Yoruba traditional dance, more commonly called “ijo Ibile” is incomplete without important elements such as the popular traditional wear simply called aso oke, accompanied by an array of unique beads, cowrie shells, and precious stones as adornment for both male and female dancers.

Are Yoruba from Mecca?

The Yoruba people and descendant are black people who occupies the south-western area of Nigeria in Africa. The origin and existence of the Yoruba race can be traced to their ancient father ODUDUWA who migrated from the ancient city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia.