Aro Ododua

Aro Ododua are ritual masks that have two forms: male – Uwen – and female – Ọra. According to oral tradition, when Ọranmiyan left Uhe, he brought two totems, Uwen and Ọra. The male is identified by the four suborbital marks that identify a Benin man. Uwen guarantees that the Ọba survives at war, no matter how terrible the war is. Ọra guarantees the productivity of the Ọba, as he must always have children. They are also known as the two royal deities – Ẹbọ n’ẹdo. They can only be produced by guilds when commissioned by the Ọba.

Aro Ododua are cast in brass in the form of human heads with tall tube-like projections from the crown make up all of the Masks included here. These are worn at the royal Odudua masquerade as part of the annual Ague or New Yam Festival introduced by Ọba Eresonyen, who ruled during the eighteenth century (Blackmun, 1984, p.267 ; Blier, 1998, p.75 ). Susan Preston Blier (1998, p.75 ) argued that this was perhaps a reference to Eresonyen’s military victory over neighbouring Yoruba peoples and kingdoms at the time, however this is disputed by Edo oral tradition today.

Although many kinds of masks are made and used in Benin Kingdom, only those that may be classified as belonging to the art of the royal court have been included here. As such, a number of wooden masks used in masquerades – often described as ‘village-style’ – will not be described here.