Epa Mask - Yoruba
Shown here is the Epa Mask carved by the Yoruba people. Epa masks are carved from soft and light-wooded trunks of the e’ruku tree. The central figure is very large in comparison to the four figure surrounding him. The use of the horse, staff, and beard may all allude to his powerful status. The headdress is worn at the climax of the week-long festival whose purpose is to reinforce the structure of the community.[1] In the Epa festival, men perform the ceremony with large headdresses carved from wood, in honor of Epa, the male deity who was a wood carver. During his festival, which is held every other year, the masked dancers must jump onto a large flat-topped mound about three feet high. As some Epa masks are 4 feet tall and weigh up to at least eighty pounds, and can also be as large as 6 feet tall and one hundred and twenty pounds.
[1] William Buller Fagg, Nigerian Images (New York: Praeger, 1963), 102.
[1] William Buller Fagg, Nigerian Images (New York: Praeger, 1963), 102.