Ritual Mask, "epa"
Yoruba, Nigeria

Carved Wood.
 
Dimensions:
H 79 cm. L 46 cm.
 
Provenance:
Galerie Walu, Zurich (before 1999).
 
The centre of the Epa cult is Ekiti, but the masks appear in a larger area that also includes Igbomina and Ijesha. According to some authors, the Epa masks in certain areas are called Elefon, while others report that masks without attachments are called Elefon and the others Epa. All agree, however, that the cult and its masks serve especially to commemorate important ancestors and to venerate the social roles on which coexistence in the urban community is based. 
 
Epa masks were danced on an annual or biennial basis at mask festivals lasting several days, at which the important social roles in Yoruba villages were celebrated. This reaffirms the connection to the ancestors and ensures their benevolent support for the community.
The young men wearing the masks also demonstrate their courage and strength by dancing acrobatically with the heavy masks and even performing jumps.
 
According to most accounts, the most important Epa masks serve to personify war heroes and hunter ancestors and commemorate them as the cultural heroes and founding fathers of a town. In this context, the Epa mask festivals are part of the celebrations for Ogun, the god of iron and the most prominent deity in the Ekiti pantheon. Warriors and hunters, as well as all those who need implements and weapons made of iron for their professions, are among Ogun's followers. It is therefore not surprising that warriors, kings, hunters and herbalists are often depicted on Epa masks.
 
At the festivals, the different masks of the dance group appear in a precisely defined order. oloko, the "Lord of the Homestead", the mask with the leopard, opens the festival. He is followed by the "warrior" Jagunjagun, also depicted as a mounted hunter or king, and the healer olosanyin. The festivities are concluded with a mask depicting a female figure, usually a mother with children or a priestess with an entourage.
 
A mask attachment depicting a farmer with a hoe is rarely found in epa masks. As a rule, the sculptures refer to warlike cultural heroes and show warriors, their wives and children, Ifa or Osanyin priests, leopards and dogs. But the Epa mask rituals are also associated with the celebration of the new yam harvest. As Marsha Vander Heyden reports, the new yam may only be eaten after the Ogun priests have offered young yams of the current year as a sacrifice to the god of iron.
 
This depiction of the peaceful farmer adds another dimension to the otherwise martial iconography. In all accounts of Epa celebrations, the opening mask is called oloko, lord (or owner) of the homestead. Curiously, however, this mask is usually adorned with a depiction of a leopard tearing an antelope. The mask with the farmer, on the other hand, seems to be a more direct embodiment of oloko, the lord of the homestead.
 
Further reading:
Eisenhofer, Stefan (1997). Cults, Artists, Kings in Africa. Linz: Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum.