The women of the tribe are involved mainly in cultivating manioc and rice while the men hunt. It supervises ritual, educational, judicial, social, political, and economic functions. Boys of seven to twelve years old are isolated in the forest for circumcision and initiation, undergoing ritual purification and proving themselves through ordeals and fasting. The head of the lilwa society, known as Isoya , is so important that he is buried in a tree and his village hut is kept empty. The shoulders and arms seem inert and uncontrolled.
White pigment is applied to the face of the statue.
Ofika figures represent men or women who were hanged for transgressing the moral and legal laws of the lilwa. Such figures were shown to youths during their initiation into the association to illustrate the consequence of immoral conduct and also to instill in them respect for the authority vested in elders and ranking lilwa members. Abstract, polychrome masks were used during the closing rite, when the statues would be ceremonially brought out. The figures symbolized the power and authority of the lilwa and were the exclusive prerogative of high-ranking members. Ofika were displayed on other solemn occasions, such as during executions by hanging, during periods of persistent bad hunting, when oaths were taken, and when serious conflicts between parties were settled.