Butu
Butu is a masked spirit figure from the RaGbenle secret society of Sierra Leone, representing the ancestral spirits and supernatural forces that underpin traditional social order. The RaGbenle society is a powerful regulatory institution among the Mende and related peoples, responsible for maintaining law, conducting initiations, and acting as intermediaries between the living and the spirit world. Butu appears during crucial community ceremonies—initiations, funerals, harvest festivals, and judicial proceedings—embodying the authority of the ancestors and enforcing societal norms. The spirit'