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This information was automatically generated from data provided by MOA: University of British Columbia. It has been standardized to aid in finding and grouping information within the RRN. Accuracy and meaning should be verified from the Data Source tab.

Description

Filá headdress. Gourd headpiece, with hanging raffia cover. The half gourd is decorated with lace around its rim and across to the top centre where it wraps around a protruding lip. On the body between the strips of lace are woven circles of raffia beneath flower shaped arrangements of cowrie shells and plastic beads. Out the top protrusion emerges a stiff tuft of raffia held together by a wrap of grey plastic twine. From the lower rim of the gourd hang thick, metre long strands of raffia, entirely encircling the headdress so that the fringe hangs down evenly over the wearer’s front and back.

History Of Use

The filá of Omulu Obaluayê is the most distinctive element of this costume (includes 3041/2-3). The costume depicts Omulu Obaluaiê, “King and Lord of the Earth,” one of the core orixá of the Afro-Brazilian religions of Candomblé and Umbanda. Omulu is the son of Nanã and Oxalá (the husband of lemanjá that Nanã seduced). Abandoned by his mother he was saved by Iemanjá and healed by his father Oxalá. He became a wanderer and is an earthly entity, related to death and diseases.

Cultural Context

religious; ceremonial

Narrative

Top of the Omulu's costume. This item is part of a set acquired from the O Mundo dos Orixás shop, Madureira Market, in Rio de Janeiro.

Item History

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