Gelede

The Gẹlẹdẹ spectacle of the Yoruba is a public display by colorful masks which combines art and ritual dance to amuse, educate and inspire worship. Gelede celebrates “Mothers” (awon iya wa), a group that includes female ancestors and deities as well as the elderly women of the community, and the power and spiritual capacity these women have in society. However, this power may also be destructive and take the form of witchcraft; therefore, Gelede serves the function of appeasing this power, as well.

The Gelede social agenda rests on the Yoruba maxim Eso l'aye (The world is fragile). In other words, life is delicate and should be lived with caution and with an emphasis on diplomacy, consideration, respect and harmony.

Most Yoruba myths of origin can be found in the divination narratives knows at Odu Ifa. There are approximately 256 Odu Ifa, each of which contains a number of poems called ese Ifa. A typical ese Ifa is a narrative about a person or animal with a problem and the steps to resolve that problem. An ese Ifa explains the origins of Gelede as beginning with Yemoja, "The Mother of all the orisa and all living things." Yemoja could not have children and consulted an Ifa oracle, who advised her to offer sacrifices and to dance with wooden images on her head and metal anklets on her feet. After performing this ritual, she became pregnant. Her first child was a boy, nicknamed "Efe" (the humorist); the Efe mask emphasizes song and jests because of the personality of its namesake. Yemoja's second child was a girl, nicknamed "Gelede" because she was obese like her mother. Also like her mother, Gelede loved dancing.

After getting married themselves, neither Gelede or Efe's partner could have children. The Ifa oracle suggested they try the same ritual that had worked for their mother. No sooner than Efe and Gelede performed these rituals- dancing with wooden images on their heads and metal anklets on their feet- they started having children. These rituals developed into the Gelede masked dance and was perpetuated by the descendants of Efe and Gelede.

This narrative is one of many stories that explains the origin of Gelebe. An outdated theory states that the beginning of Gelede might be associated with the change from a matriarchal to a patriarchal society.

Although Gelede ceremony may be staged at any time of the year (to better the lot of an individual, to cleanse the society of pestilence, to induce rain, to enrich human fertility, to enlist the support of supernatural forces and the "powerful mothers" in wartime, and to honor the dead), the most elaborate performance occurs during the annual festival.

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Wikipedia