This Rare African mask from the Yela or Mbole - Congo is hand-carved from a single piece of wood. The Yela and their neighbours, the Mbole, live in the central-eastern equatorial forest. Their socio-cultural life is dominated by the secret Lilwa community, which is judicial. The mask is worn by the "Kumi", the one who speaks and passes judgment, but was also used during male initiation ceremonies into the Lilwa society to obtain discipline and secrecy from the new initiates. The masks of the Yela and Mbole show stylised faces, with diagonal stripes under the eyes. These were used by prominent members of the Lilwa community during ceremonies that symbolised judgement and emphasised moral behaviour. These highly stylised traditional masks intervened in initiation rituals of which little is known because they took place outside the village, in secret. The Yela are a people whose rituals have remained quite mysterious to us. They are culturally close to the Mbole, who are somewhat better known, with whom they share the cult of Lilwa.
