The Supernatural Role of Masks in Nigeria’s Yoruba Tribal Culture

Julia Kelley

Whether the feminine celebration of the Gelede mask or the spiritual transformation through the Egungun mask, these cultural objects perform an imperative role in the Yoruba people’s religious culture. 

Egungun Festival Masks. Fermi12. CC BY-SA 4.0. 

African masks have been functionally used for thousands of years. Recognized for their supernatural qualities, they transform wearers into new entities, symbolize animal or ancestor spirits, mythological heroes, or moral values, and can even be a way of honoring specific individuals. Moreover, specific ceremonies and masks act as visual representations of local customs. With a vibrant music and dance tradition, the Yoruba people are known for their notable mask culture. The Yoruba are one of Nigeria’s largest ethnic groups, mainly concentrated in the southwestern part of the country but also found in smaller groups throughout Benin and Togo. For over 1,500 years, they have also been defined by their advanced urban kingdoms, strong economy and unique artistic tradition. Ceremonies are imperative to their way of life; vibrant festivals, rituals and weddings display cultural pride, celebrate history and connect the physical realm to the spiritual. Beyond the symbolic instruments and costumes used during these occasions, masks are also extremely vital due to their mystic transformative qualities.

Gelede Mask With Animal Figure. Daderot. CC0 1.0.

Gelede Dance. dave massie. CC BY 2.0.

Gelede Mask With Woman Figure. Kugbenu (Vervaardiging). CC0.

However, when and how masks are used depends on their corresponding festivals. The Gelede mask, for example, is used during the Gelede dance. This ceremony is performed as a way to pay tribute to the primordial mother Iyà Nlà and recognize women’s role in social organization and development. Retracing the history and myths of the people, the Gelede takes place annually after harvests and during times of drought and epidemics. The masks, adorned with intricate motifs and vibrant colors, are worn as a way to honor “mothers,” or good witches who have power over bad ones, in their efforts to protect the community from negative forces. Individual masks reflect local traditions, such as through unique facial markings or figures included on the masks. 

Epa Festival Mask. Beeldhouwer / sculptor: Jospeph Agbana. CC BY-SA 3.0.

Epa Mask With Warrior Figure. Unknown author. CC BY 3.0.

Large Epa Helmet Mask. Em-mustapha. CC BY-SA 4.0.

Epa masks are worn during yam harvest festivals by young male dancers as they leap onto mounds. The rigorous movements of this dance indicate the community’s fate over the next year; if the dancer successfully leaps, then all is well, but if not, sacrifices are made to the forces that made him fail. Leading up to these ceremonies, the masks are kept in shrines, where they are fed to increase their power and efficacy. Since they are believed to contribute to the wearer’s success, heavy weight and symbols associated with war are characteristic of these masks.

Ancestor Egungun Mask. Sailko. CC BY 3.0.

Egungun Festival. Fermi12. CC BY-SA 4.0.

Yoruba Egungun Mask. Daderot. CC0 1.0. 

One of the most important masks in their ritual culture, the Yoruban Egungun masks are worn to worship ancestors. These are used during Odun Egungun or “masquerade” festivals, during which men move through town wearing masks as they embody their ancestors. These masks act as a visual manifestation of those being depicted, offering members of the community the opportunity to strengthen their familial bonds and ask for protection or blessings. 

Yoruba Festival Music and Dance. Tunde Akangbe. CC BY-SA 4.0.

Developed over centuries, ceremonial masks remain a significant part of Yoruban culture. African masks have also become admired in museums worldwide for their intricate designs, but contemporary artists and historians have noted that they are exhibited mostly as ethnography. Moreover, African masks have inspired many well-known European artworks, most notably in Picasso’s 20th-century modernist paintings. This Westernization has helped shape stereotypes around African communities, decontextualizing their current cultural significance. However, as the Yoruba masks demonstrate, festivals recommence every year, and the masks continue to visually represent the community’s rich history and religious tradition.

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Julia Kelley

Julia is a recent graduate from UC San Diego majoring in Sociocultural Anthropology with a minor in Art History. She is passionate about cultural studies and social justice, and one day hopes to obtain a postgraduate degree expanding on these subjects. In her free time, she enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with her friends and family.

Where Protest Lives in Paint: Oaxaca’s Murals of Resistance

Kennedy Kiser

Oaxaca’s vibrant street murals speak out against injustice, preserve Indigenous identity and invite travelers to witness resistance in color.

Oaxaca mural of revolutionary figures and Mexican

In the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, visual art spills onto the streets and across crumbling walls, telling stories rarely captured in textbooks or by tour guides. Oaxaca has long been a hub for both Indigenous culture and political resistance. Its murals reflect this layered history with vibrant and sometimes defiant voices, often highlighting legacies of colonialism and systemic inequality. 

Many amplify the voices of the Zapotec and Mixtec peoples, who have long resisted marginalization and assimilation. As scholar Bethany J. Welch explains, murals function as a way for Indigenous communities to reclaim public space and narrate their histories, refusing to allow their story to be filtered through state-sanctioned narratives and the lens of tourism.

Mural referencing the 43 missing students in Oaxaca, Mexico. Tobias Versus. CC BY 2.0.

Strolling through neighborhoods like Jalatlaco or Xochimilco becomes a visual lesson in autonomy. On Jose Lopez Alavez Street, bold images of Indigenous women, animal protectors and corn deities appear on walls beside neighborhood cafes and galleries. The murals mix ancient Zapotec symbols with messages of resistance to gentrification, environmental destruction and cultural erasure.

Mural referencing the 43 missing students in Oaxaca, Mexico. Tobias Versus. CC BY 2.0.

In central Oaxaca, a wall along Berriozabal Street honors the 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College who disappeared in 2014 while on their way to a protest. Created by the Urtarte Collective, the mural preserves their names and images, reminding passersby of the unresolved violence that continues to haunt their community. Elsewhere, recurring symbols like the possum — a local protest motif — emerge in politically charged artwork critiquing police violence and land theft.

Muralist painting wall for Casa de la Cultura in Oaxaca. Alejandro Linares Garcia. CC BY-SA 4.0.

Murals also serve as visual protests against environmental injustice. Canadian mining company Fortuna Silver Mines carries out operations near San Jose del Progreso despite long-standing resistance from locals. Murals in neighborhoods like La Noria depict masked water defenders, cracked land and slogans like “El agua vale más que el oro,” or in English, “water is worth more than gold.”

Feminist mural reading “Sin mujeres no hay revolución” in Mexico City. Wendy Aviles R. CC BY-SA 4.0.

Themes of gender injustice are equally prevalent. Oaxaca, like many parts of Mexico, faces an ongoing femicide crisis. In response, murals around the Santo Domingo Cultural Center and near Carmel Alto feature the faces of missing women, alongside phrases like “Ni Una Menos” (meaning “not one less” in English).

While often photographed, these murals are not decorative. They are part of an ongoing dialogue between community and state, artist and audience. Travelers can deepen their understanding by participating in walking tours run by local artists, such as Caminos del Arte, which provide historical and political context while ensuring support flows back into the neighborhoods depicted on the walls.

Oaxaca’s murals are not permanent fixtures. They adapt in response to elections, tragedies and resistance movements. Some are painted over, others quietly fade and many are reborn in new forms. This continued renewal reflects a larger truth: in Oaxaca, street art is a living archive — one that documents what official records often omit.

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Kennedy Kiser

Kennedy is an English and Comparative Literature major at UNC Chapel Hill. She’s interested in storytelling, digital media, and narrative design. Outside of class, she writes fiction and explores visual culture through film and games. She hopes to pursue a PhD and eventually teach literature!

Buddhism in Tibet and the Sacred Dzogchen Caves

Julia Kelley

Spotting the landscape of Eastern Tibet are the Sacred Dzogchen Mountain Caves, natural formations that have been revered for centuries as sites of historic Buddhist enlightenment. 

Entrance to Pilgrimage Road in Dzogchen Monastery. Mario Biondi. CC BY-SA 4.0.

Found in the mountains of Eastern Tibet, also known as Kham, is the Rudam Valley. Here, 4,000 meters (13,123 feet) above sea level, plateaus imprinted with lakes and waterfalls are home to a population of more than 850,000 people. Tibetan Buddhist monasteries dot the landscape, reflecting the valley’s religious significance and contributing to its diverse culture. Most notably, in the Holy Dzogchen Area, surrounding communities have their own cultural expressions marked by distinct seasonal ceremonies and local traditions. The population in the Holy Dzogchen Area widely practices Vajrayana Buddhism, a form of Tantric Buddhism that emphasizes one’s potential to achieve enlightenment in a single lifetime rather than through many. This doctrine is taught in the Dzogchen Monastery, which offers a religious education to young people who desire a monastic life and serves as the main monastery for hundreds of branches throughout Tibet. 

Guru Rimpoche Cave. Anjan Kumar Kundu. CC BY 4.0.

The Holy Dzogchen Area’s beauty and devout culture are further exhibited through its natural cave complex, known as the Sacred Dzogchen Mountain Caves. From mountains to valleys, the thousands of caves that make up this system are a powerful feature of the local religious practice. The significance of these natural formations can be traced back to a series of influential Dzogchen Vajra masters who lived in them to reach enlightenment. Buddhism was first introduced to Tibet in the 7th century C.E., and was not translated until 641 C.E., when Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo unified the region and converted to Buddhism with his marriage to two Buddhist princesses. The king also invited important Buddhist masters, Padmasambhava and Shantarakshita, to teach the doctrine throughout the country. This included instruction in Dzogchen, an advanced system of meditation that gives the Holy Dzogchen Area its name. These leaders and their students utilized the isolated and serene nature of the surrounding caves to facilitate their enlightenment. The Snow Mountain caves, Shinje and Senge Druppuk caves, and Canyon caves are only a few of the sites that have become revered for their religious history, as Vajra masters such as Shri Singha and Padmasambhava lived and meditated in their solitude to achieve high realization. 

Sacred Cave Interior. slobo486. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

This long history as a Buddhist religious symbol has made the Dzogchen cave system a common pilgrimage route. Beyond the caves, the entirety of the Dzogchen Area has become associated with enlightenment due to these countless sacred sites. Many pilgrims first journey to the Dzogchen Monastery, where they can practice retreats and meditations in the monastery’s retreat center. From there, devotees travel to surrounding temples and sacred caves, walking in the footsteps of Buddhist leaders. On their blog, Yowangdu Experience Tibet, travelers Lobsang and Yolanda write about their personal experience with the pilgrimage. They describe one of the caves as “a sacred spot where the great Buddhist master had honed his wisdom and compassion in decades of meditation” and where “he had written the text that had moved and inspired” them, echoing Dzogchen followers’ continued belief and devotion to these holy spaces. 

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Julia Kelley

Julia is a recent graduate from UC San Diego majoring in Sociocultural Anthropology with a minor in Art History. She is passionate about cultural studies and social justice, and one day hopes to obtain a postgraduate degree expanding on these subjects. In her free time, she enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with her friends and family.