JOLI! The elaborate headdresses of the Freetown masquerades: Made In Sierra Leone during a particula
JOLI! The elaborate headdresses of the Freetown masquerades: Made In Sierra Leone during a particularely creative spirited decade after the country gained its independence from Britain in 1961 these complex headdresses were used in the Joli masquerades in the capital Freetown during the seventies. The independence lead to an atmosphere of renewal in the free state. People migrated from rural areas to major cities such as Freetown, sparking enthusiasm and faith in the future. Deeper antecedents of the Joli masquerade may reside in a lantern festival celebrating the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr that seems to have originated in the 1930s and may have been inspired by a Gambian festival celebrating the Christmas season. Over time, the handheld lanterns morphed into large motorized floats constructed with bent and twisted wire, bamboo and wood. These wire frameworks were covered with layers of fabric and paper. In the 1970s Joli headdresses were made using the same materials and techniques and adopted many of the themes that had been used in the floats, becoming a sort of portable equivalent. The elusive water spirit Mami Wata, who represents beauty and fertility, was frequently represented on headdresses. The last picture is an x-ray of a headdress showing the framework. -- source link
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