In Poro societies, adolescent boys learn farming, hunting, tribal history, and secret knowledge. Instructors will disguise themselves in masks like this one on certain occasions. When they wear this mask, they can peek out through the notches along the bottom.

This mask has a long neck with the head of a woman on the top (it's in the detail on the right.) The head represents the ideal beauty of a Sande woman with a high broad forehead, small facial features, a hairstyle composed of tufts and braids, neck creases, and a shiny black finish.