Chokwe Mwana Pwo Mask

The Mwana Pwo mask, one of the best known Chokwe mask, representing a female ancestor, symbolized the ideal mother and woman. Dancing with feminine short steps, the Mwana pwo masquerader which is the embodiment of the procreative power, watches over the fertility of future generations. (Perani & Smith 1998:247). The interlaced design in the form of a cross, a special mark of beauty and rank, is incised on the forehead of most Mwana Pwo masks, called ingelyenggelye - the motif derived from a Portuguese iron cross, formerly distributed by Tchokwe traders (Herreman 1993:80).