Description

Epa helmet masks are used to promote health and wellbeing within a community by celebrating and honouring ancestors, cultural heroes and important individuals (including mothers, priests, farmers, kings and hunters) within a village. Originating in Ekiti and spreading to much of North-Eastern Yoruba towns (including Owo, Efon Alaye, Igbomina and Ijesa), the bi-annual, week-long Epa festival acknowledges the roles these individuals have played in building a successful community.

Epa masqueraders perform slow, steady and controlled movements due to the huge and heavy masks they carry on their heads during performances. The masqueraders dance around the village and must jump on a raised mound to demonstrate their ability to maintain balance. It is believed to be a bad omen for the town (sometimes leading to misfortune) if the mask should fall of the performer’s head during the jump. When not in use, the masks are kept in shrines where villagers can pray to and provide offerings to ancestors.

The oloko helmet mask represents the 'lord of the bush' or 'owner of the farm' with dual references to farming and hunting. It represents the activities men must perform to gain control over nature for farming purposes. These masks are typically the first to appear during the Epa festival.