Even today, masquerades play an important part in Baining ceremonial life, and Baining artists create spectacular masks, most of which represent spirit beings-here the spirit of a tree fork. At times masquerades are staged especially for visitors. Westerners, attracted by the dramatic arrangements and startling effects of Baining masks, began collecting them in the late nineteenth century, even though such masks were commonly meant to be discarded in their traditional context.

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