On the temples they have a protuberance that represents tattooing. The masks had an important function in the bangongo dance of the hunting ritual. When hunters returned empty-handed, the ancestors would be appeased by organizing a dance. The masks were also used in a secret ritual of the ba ngongo society, in charge of initiation and circumcision of young men. The choreography of masked dances was highly complex and had to appease the spirits of the ancestors and compel them to intervene.
Masks still play a role today in secular festivities.
Nowadays he mask dances are performed for payment, and their magic has largely given way to entertainment. The statuary limited to rather crude figurines whose features are copied from masks, played a definite role in the fertility ritual and also in the cult devoted to the spirits.