The wabele mask is a masterful combination of dangerous animalistic elements: antelope horns, crocodile jaws, and wart hog tusks. The mask portrays the magical powers of the male Poro society that may be directed against lawbreakers, sorcerers, and malevolent spirits. The mask's power to "strike" people comes from the substance that is placed on the top of the mask's head. The chameleon figure on top of the mask represents one of the five principal animals present at the creation of the world. Members of the Poro society wear this mask at funeral celebrations for deceased society members, whose Poro membership becomes known only at this time.

Pumbu is one of the three types of helmet masks owned by Pende chiefs, and is considered the most dangerous. The performer dresses in the chief's garb and brandishes a warrior's bow, arrow, and sword, symbolizing the chief's power to make war and execute criminals (in pre-colonial times). The interlacing diamond pattern signifies chiefship; the mask's white rimmed eyes express uncontrolled anger. The mask appears only in times of social crisis, when the chief must assert his authority. The performer must be restrained by ropes, and onlookers are kept at a safe distance by young men wielding whips. At the end of the dance, the mask breaks loose and kills a stray animal (chicken or goat) to display its deadly power. According to one scholar, "Pumbu depicts the courage that the chief must sometimes muster to address life-and-death issues."

The members of the Kifwebe society are regarded as possessing the powers of sorcery, which they use in the service of the political leaders to maintain their position of control. The mask's shape and design symbolizes the supernatural, mystical and ancestral forces from which the Kifwebe members obtain their powers. The white color of the female style Kifwebe mask shown here -- in contrast to red, white and black colors of the male style masks -- signfies peace, beauty, goodness, wisdom, and reproduction. The female Kifwebe dancing, which occurs at regular staged performances and at lunar ceremonies and funerals, is said to activate the benevolent spirits that engender many children. The mask's remarkably abstract face and its dark colored costume, depicts a bizzare, other worldly being, something that is partly human, animal, and spiritual, as the Kifwebe members themselves are believed to be. The face of the mask combines powerful features that are associated with certain animals: the eye slits are said to the "holes of termites" and "the swelling of sorcerers;" the chin represents the snout of a crocodile; the long, pointed mouth resembles the beak of a bird, also the "flame of a sorcerer;" the incised grooves on the face depict the dark and light stripes of powerful and dangerous animals, such as the zebra, porcupine, and snake; long raffir fibers are attached to the holes in the chin to depict the mane of a lion.