GELE AND GELEDE BEAUTY AND POWER

[Amnat77]

Gele is an elaborate women's headdress made popular by its use by women in sub-Saharan Africa. The name is Yoruba but the art form represented by the headdress is used in geographical locations beyond the demographic concentrations of the Yoruba in south-west Nigeria. It is used mainly in other African countries and in the African Diaspora.

The art of gele is marked by a sense of dynamic form, in which eloquent and elegant creases, vertical stretching, horizontal elongation, perpendicular balance, spiral twists, among other design configurations, are used to create a structure out of cloth, a structure that acts as a crown for the head.

Implicitly related to the elaborate character of this striking headdress is a complex of ideas about the head as matrix of cognition and as symbol for ori, the invisible but potent "inner head", the cognitive essence of the individual which transcends death, and which embodies the ultimate potential of the self.

http://gelegelede.blogspot.com/

 

[Amnat77]

The art of gele and its indirect relationship with the Classical Yoruba ontology of the human being can be related to the art of Gelede, an institution of Yoruba society that relates to an understanding of women as embodying, in a distinctive manner, the creative force, ase, that enables being and becoming in the universe. Within this structure of belief it is held that some women are able to demonstrate this power to an unusual degree, and may manifest it for good or evil. Such women are known as aje, and their character as women whose distinctive spiritual powers emanate from the procreative possibilities of their biology is represented by the name this group of women is known by,Awon Iya Wa,Our Mothers.

The Gelede festival is held in honour of these women, who, generally, are not understood to be known to the average human being, since their power is esoteric and the members of their fraternity often known only to fellow members. Men could also understand themselves as aje on account of their own cultivation of the special knowledge and power that comes with ase, but the name is usually attributed more to women.

http://gelegelede.blogspot.com/

 

[Amnat77]

Gelede II

http://www.alawoye.com/Ifa_Orunmila_:_Alawoye/Film_&_Video/Pages/Gelede_Spectacle_II.html


This is Gelede play & performance from several regions of West Africa, where Gelede is most preserved and regularly performed.

Gelede is a cultural & traditional Yoruba dramatic and theatrical performance, done in honour of women and femininity, in order to recognize and revere our “Mother & Wives” and the great Mother, Iyanla.

The performers are always men, dressed as women, as it is not culturally correct, for women to honour themselves, thus, it is men who will show their recognition by emulating womens behavior, dance, movement and subtle gestures. Showcasing the multi-dimensional attributes of women's essence.

Gelede has more than one dimension as does women, and is “performed” in several ways, for entertainment, for drama, performance, celebrations, cultural exposition and maintaining societal norms, the voice of Gelede is Efe.


Efe which is done late at night, is the poetic voice of Gelede, and it is the Efe which is also routed within Ifa traditional philosophy, mentioned throughout several Ifa stanzas the combination and purpose of Gelede & Efe, more importantly historically who is Gelede & who is Efe.

It is in the performance of Efe, during Gelede spectacle, which maintains the checks and balances within traditional Yoruba society.

For the Yoruba people and the community who is having Efe performed during these events, it is then that the concerns of the community and the mostly the women within the community are “allowed free voice” without concern for retaliation or retribution. Not unlike the use of open mic in western societies.

The performer would have “heard” the concerns of the society / women and fashioned it in poetic voice, creatively so both effective and yet entertaining, then they performer would deliver the message within costume to the audience and Chiefs respectively.

This form of free speech is and has always been very effective, in Yoruba land and beyond.

 

[$$RICH$$]

wow!
very different thankz for the enlightment