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Song and dance performances that are part of ceremonies often incorporate the use of masks to recreate and symbolise the character of the spirit dancers impersonate. Masks and the performance attached to them therefore reflect the communities history, as well as the political, social and economic forces that influence its life. Almost all ancestral dances are masked dances because they articulate the roles of ancestors that are not seen by humans.

These invisible energies are unleased in singing and dancing in the community, which express the communities legacy. By using masks to demonstrate the invisible power of the ancestors is universally appreciated in Afrika. The colours and the styles of the masks as well as the songs, the music and the dancing are a form of storytelling, an aesthetic narrative about the identity of the community, of it’s place of origin and creation, of it’s practices, of the teachings of the ancestors, of the myths and legends and of the very character, virtues and morals of the spirit that the masks symbolise.

They reflect the cosmological orientation of the community. Song and dance call on the benevolent spirits to bring blessings into the community or to restore peace and harmony where chaos was disrupting the rhythms of nature or the balance between the people and the universe of their lives.