In Pende communities, wooden masks like this one were created and danced for entertainment purposes. This particular mask is associated with two long-standing, athletically demanding types of masquerades: Ginjinga and Pota. In Ginjinga and Pota, the young male dancer was expected to execute fast-paced alternating footwork on his toes. These aerobic outbursts never failed to delight audience members and led one Pende elder, Muhenge Mutala, to say that the masquerade was capable of "making rejoice the bodies that are shivering."