Similarly to the pipibudze masks of the Kwele tribe, the Lega’s Lukwakongo (miniature) masks have a heart-shaped face framed by a line formed by the nose, the eye rows and the planes of the cheeks. The wooden face is whitened and smoothed with kaolin clay, which is said to allude to the refined and perfected nature of the Bwami initiate, some of whom use the masks during initiation ceremonies.

Any holes running around the lower edge of the mask would have held a beard made of natural liana fibres.

This mask would rarely be worn on the front of the face, but instead on the side of the face, the forehead, tied to the body, displayed on the fences, or dragged across the floor during Bwami meetings and ceremonies.