Ekpo is the Ibibo word for ‘ancestor’ and is also the name of their principle masking society. White or yellow faced masks come out during daytime to participate in the burial festivals honouring the recently deceased and at agricultural festivals. Their appearance at agricultural festivals is important because it is the ancestors who watch over the fertility not just of the family but of the crops and livestock as well.

Slow and gracefully performed, the masked dances are seen to embody the spirits of people whose lives on earth were productive and morally exemplary. Rather than representing individual ancestors, these masks stand for the collective community of spirits who have a positive and welcoming influence on their living descendents.

Lineage groups organise Fang life but some institutions such as ngil cut across these to address society as a whole.  This institution, which is now outlawed, held judicial and political power and would be involved in the affairs of several villages. The masters of the ngil could travel from village to village without danger in their role as peace keepers.

The function of ngil was to combat sorcery, evil practices and those who were disrespectful in dealing with society members. They also adjudicated between clans during conflict and rivalry. This mask, worn by the master of ngil, was a symbol of fear and retribution.

When the master of the ngil was summoned to a village he would arrive at the dead of night at the home of a suspect accompanied by a throng of members carrying torches. This enhanced the fearsome aspect of the mask which was worn with a headdress made of feathers and raffia that added to its size and bulk. The masker’s body was painted black, red and white, and he spoke in a forbidding and raucous voice. The mask was made of soft wood and whitened with kaolin which symbolises the power of the spirits of the dead.

The styles of these three groups overlap and it is difficult to distinguish them from each other especially in the central areas of Côte d'Ivoire. However the three styles have much in common. This is seen in an emphasis on a ‘smooth’ classical beauty of the face which is framed by an elaborate hairstyle and a structure at the top.

These masks, called ngblo (mblo), can largely be considered entertainment masks and appear in sets with animal masks. They are worn by male dancers who perform in public theaters as well as funerals. This is in contrast to the large helmet masks that are not meant to be seen by women.

The masks represent social roles or may be inspired by the beauty of real people. The human face masks are often surmounted by a zoomorphic form that demonstrates the skill of the carver but may also carry symbolic meaning.

 The Kwele are a fairly small group of forest people who believed that in order for the healing powers of the ancestors to be effective in times of crisis (such as epidemics or famines) the community had to reach a certain level of energy or ‘heat’. To bring themselves to the necessary heated state, the community invited forest spirits, ekuk, to lead them in dance. As neutral outsiders, the ekuk could bring a community together in a way leaders could not.

Maskers wearing the ekuk masks made the spirits manifest. They entered the village to the accompaniment of music. Male spirits pranced rhythmically while female spirits (danced by men as is usual in African society) shuffled slowly. The village people followed mimicking their dance steps.

As with the ngil mask the face of the ekuk mask is painted with white kaolin, the colour of the spirits. The mask would have been danced in a costume combining sumptuous woven loincloths, a product of the civilised world, with pelts of animal skins, associated with the occult world of the forest. The masker’s body was fantastically painted in red, black and white patterns. Nutshell anklets created rhythmic sounds as the ekuk pounded their feet.

The Bamana association called Ntomo is concerned with the sacred power, nyama. This society organises young boys into age grades, trains them and ultimately oversees and arranges their ritual circumcision. These boys wear masks as part of their training and the masks allude to the principles of conduct they are in the process of learning.

Researchers who have studied Bamana customs have been intrigued by the complexity of the themes that were taught and the way the boys had to re-enact the creation of the world as part of their learning. The form of the masks contained symbols that embedded these principles of learning. Horns, for example, may refer to principles of femininity, masculinity or sacred history.

Carved from wood, the masks are sometimes covered in cowrie shells (a form of pre-colonial currency that is still valued for its symbolic importance to wealth and possibly fertility) blood-red seeds or shining brass.

Bwa wooden masks are the embodiment of bush spirits. These represent the natural forces on which all life depends and they are invoked to benefit humankind. Two types of plank masks exist: those that depict creatures of practical or ideological importance such as serpents, hawks or monkeys while the more abstract can stand for ideas such as ‘the spirit of growth’ or other supernatural forces that cannot be seen.

Nearly all the wood masks are painted in red, black and white high-contrast geometric shapes which are symbolic of economic, spiritual or political cultural codes. During male and female initiation older initiates explain the symbolism to the novices.

Another type of mask, the Do leaf mask, exists amongst the Bwa. These seem to operate in unison with the plank masks. While use and meaning shift from region to region, in the northwest these two types of masks embody a beneficial interaction. The leaf mask fosters growth in the spring while the wooden plank masks perform after the harvest to facilitate integration in village culture and to promote respect for the rules of proper social behaviour.

Punu mukudju masks represent refined, lovely maidens with their rounded contours, naturalistic proportions, slit eyes, high arched brows, full lips and ornate coiffures. Red scarification patterns – keloids in a lozenge formation just above the bridge of the nose and in a rectangle at the temples – tell us that the mask represents a female character. She is a beautiful young woman who has returned from the spirit world to participate in village life.

Such masks are still worn at ceremonies and funerals and bring joy to the community. However an underlying apprehension of a need to be constantly vigilant against witchcraft is also present in the performer. The Punu share with the Fang and the Kwele the ‘white’ faced mask style as a manifestation of the departed spirits. The whiteness of the face represents not only the spirit world but also anti-witchcraft powers. Witches are believed to be most active at night and the whiteness stands for clarity and light which stand in opposition to night, darkness and mystery.

The performance which is extraordinarily beautiful requires great skill as it is performed on stilts that raise the dancer as much as 3 metres feet above the ground.