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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;2manybooks, post: 2966709, member: 8267&quot;]I believe your mask was made by a Yoruba carver (Nigeria &amp; Benin), for the Gelede Society. It is a helmet mask, worn on top of the head rather than over the face. The vertical facial scarifications are typical, and these masks usually have elaborate coiffures, or other human or animal figures on top. In processions and ceremonies the masks are worn by male dancers.</p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;The Gelede Society originates in cultural myths about Yemoja, the mother of all living things, who could not conceive children until she learned a dance with a wooden image on her head. The Gelede is named after Yemoja’s chubby daughter, and the dance therefore has a close connection with fertility rites. Nonetheless, the Gelede ceremony performs diverse functions in Yoruba society, including to pray for rain, purify the village of disease, to enlist spiritual help in wartime, and to honor the dead.&quot;</p><p><a href="https://www.maskmuseum.org/mask/yoruba-gelede-3/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.maskmuseum.org/mask/yoruba-gelede-3/" rel="nofollow">https://www.maskmuseum.org/mask/yoruba-gelede-3/</a></p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/svQAAOSwVPFfZEj0/s-l500.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> </p><p>An Old African Gelede Helm Mask Nigeria</p><p><a href="https://www.ebay.com/itm/124342368579" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.ebay.com/itm/124342368579" rel="nofollow">https://www.ebay.com/itm/124342368579</a>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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