The distinct Songye style is easily recognisable in the figure’s Kifwebe mask with its mass of closely carved lines and bold shapes, such as the protruding sagittal crest.

The Songye people believe in the rebirth of human and animal spirit. The benevolent spirits are believed to be reborn through the creation of these ancestral power figures, while malevolent spirits (bikudi) are unable to be reborn and are instead forced to roam the earth for eternity.

These wooden power figures would have thus served as protectors of the community from evil bikudi spirits.