Read: Ousmane Diakhaté and Hansel Ndumbe Eyoh, "The Roots of African Theatre Ritual and Orality in the Pre-colonial period " Margaret Thompson Drewal, Yoruba Ritual. Intro 1-47, and highly recommended are also pages 89-104.
Reading Response: Identify the major properties of Yoruban ritual as you interpret them through the readings. What strikes you as essential here?
Watch the videos below on Egungun, Bata, and Gelede. It's not required that you grasp the differences between all the forms. Just as in India, there is vast and rich diversity between forms. But watch and see if you can link anything you see with the Diakhaté and Eyoh and/or the Drewal readings.
Recommended: Kole Omotoso, "Concepts of History and Theatre in Africa" in A History of Theatre in Africa, 1-13. Also recommended: Joel Adedji, "The Origin and Form of the Yoruba Masque Theatre." And also recommended: Wole Soyinka, "The Fourth Stage" in Art, Dialogue, and Outrage.
A Gelede mask:
Gelede masks like this are worn by men in elaborate masquerade performances. This ritual takes place each year between March and May, at the beginning of a new agricultural season. The purpose of the performance is to pay tribute to the special power of women, both elders and ancestors, who are known affectionately as "our mothers." The frequency of the bird motif on Gelede headdresses is not surprising, given the popular belief that the "powerful mothers" change into birds at night (thus the nickname, eleye—wielder of bird power) to wreak havoc on sleeping and unsuspecting victims.
Another Gelede mask:
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