Idiok mask

In the village Ibibio Just as in Anang there is the secret society Ekpo which is responsible for the cult of ancestors and which performs legal, political and religious functions. His masks, Idiok, in very varied and colorful forms, are intended to parody some bad aspects of the conduct of the spirits of some deceased for which their bearers dance agitously. They are masks with deformations on the face or exaggerated features that reflect behavioural changes. Some of these masks are masks of disease and reflect the ravages caused by leprosy as well as bad behaviors. The Idiok mask of the Ekpo represents a ghost spirit, a wandering spirit, of a deceased who has not been able to reach the status of ancestor and its purpose is to provoke fear and annoy the living but can also do good works. For more effect the mask dances at night covered in raffia clothes. Its bearer has the power to symbolically kill the women and the uninitiated that it finds in its path.

This black mask features a huge, open mouth, with large white teeth. Large eyes with openings for the vision of your carrier. Blow ears. In the headdress, yellow and red lines stand out over the black one.