Mukudj
Mukudj (also okuyi) is the white-faced mask and stilt dance of the Punu and related Ogooué River peoples of southern Gabon. The masks are said to embody the personas of past community elders and were worn by costumed stilt dancers at Mukuji society funerary rites. The creator of a mukudj mask tried to capture the likeness of the most beautiful woman in his community, then transformed her into a transcendent being by applying kaolin from riverbeds, a material associated with healing and the ancestral realm. The mask has a three-part black coiffure, arching brows over slit eyes, and pursed red l