Efe/Gelede Headdress, Apasa

In 2001, UNESCO proclaimed the Gelede festival an oral and intangible world heritage. The festival, which dates back to the early 19th century, is held annually among western Yoruba peoples living in Nigeria and the Republic of Benin. It honors older Yoruba women, whom men refer to in public as "our mothers" and "powers of the world," but in private as "witches." This double identity epitomizes the Yoruba understanding of elderly mothers as spiritually powerful. The masquerade name reveals its purpose: Ge (to soothe, placate, indulge) Ele (women's private essence) De (to relax, soften with care). During the festival, young masked men wear a costume of women's headties and turn the town marketplace into a stage where they entertain and soothe an audience of mothers through satirical performances.

The Gelede masquerade consists of nighttime (Efe) and daytime (Gelede) performances, with different masks worn for each event. In the example here, the masculinity of the Efe mask is represented in the flat, vertically striped, abstracted beard and the horizontally striped "cutlasses" that may refer to Ogun, the deity of iron and warfare.