Ofika Figure

Among the Mbole people, the Lilwa society fulfilled ritual, educational, judicial, social, political and economic functions. Among other things it regulated relations among the main lineages, supervised healing or divination rituals, and prescribed moral codes, such as the prohibition of adultery, lying and stealing. During their initiation, boys aged seven to twelve were circumcised, faced physical trials, and learned the society’s rules, as well as the essentials of its esoteric language. Ofika sculptures, which were only shown to initiates, depict individuals hanged for having revealed the society’s secrets or violated its precepts.