Photographs © Hamill Gallery
Egungun
Headdress 76
10.5" high
$600
This Egungun headdress has been vetted as authentic.
The word Egungun refers to masking associated with honored male lineage
ancestors. While each mask has a personal name, it does not usually refer
to a specific ancestor. Rather, Egungun masks embody the "collective
force of the ancestors. All of the Egungun in a community appear
annually during a joyful festival that celebrates the distinguished dead.
During the festival, the ancestors bless the living, promote physical and
spiritual health, settle disputes, enforce tradition and morality, and cleanse
the community of witchcraft.
--from African Shapes of the Sacred: Yoruba Religious Art by Carol
Ann Lorenz, Senior Curator, Longyear Museum of Anthropology, Colgate University.
|
TRIBE |
OBJECT |
|