Mask Helmet of Circumcision Hemba

Suku masks are mainly used in the initiation of young people with 10 a 15 years led by the “Mukanda” initiatory society. Initiation ends with circumcision. Except for the “kakungu” mask of thick cheeks and pronounced chin that is responsible for scaring all those who do not have to be in the vicinity of the sacred enclosure of initiation, the other masks are the so-called “heba” helmet masks, many of them bleached with kaolin and with a necklace or kind of beard formed by a long and thick mass of raffia. They usually carry some painted sign on their faces, as scarifications, and the head topped with an animal, often the pangolin. Masks with a white face can represent elders or ancestors and are also used in funerals, although they may be propitious for hunting and have apotropaic virtues.

This mask is topped with a leopard, curiously in the same position in which the pangolin always appears. The leopard can mean the defense of the boys who are celebrating the end of the "mukanda".