Ancestor Mask Nzambe-Kana

It dominates the Tukula red and brown pigmentation on which stand out large eyebrows in the form of swallow with wings deployed, small eyes and small mouth ajar showing teeth well carved in saw. Triangular nose. Under the red forehead appears a heart-shaped face. Beneath the eyes are two black and oblique bands that go towards the edges of the face. This mask contrasts with those used mostly by Tsogho which are white, the color of the deceased. It appears in the daytime rites of Bwiti society, in the rites of passage of the neophytes, in the rites of death and in the rites of mourning.

These masks participate in funerals. When they are out of use they are kept in the meeting house of the initiates, the ebanza. They belong to the secret Bwiti society. Bwiti’s masks at night celebrations can only be seen by initiates. However, in other events, by day, they can be shown to everyone.Access to Bwiti society is achieved after overcoming a series of hard tests and obtaining a whole series of knowledge about nature, medicinal plants and the meaning of the rites and customs of the group including the passage through hallucinatory trances to which one arrives chewing hallucinogenic roots.