Dogon antelope mask
Walu masks are another (as well as the Kanaga for example) common mask used during the rites of the dama festivals (part of the Dama funeral rites, which assure the passing of life from one universe to another, and the good relations between the universe of the living and that of the dead). As well as ancestral worship during the Dama, the Dogon offer agricultural sacrifices and the Walu mask represents the animal, the antelope – the Bamanan-speaking peoples also have an important antelope mask for agricultural rites, called the ciwara. Both share the similar two raised/ pointed ‘horns’, and the Walu has two rectangular holes for the eyes. The Walu is danced by initiated who also speak the secret language.
