Masks

• The most recognizable tradition of the Mossi people is their use of masks. Large wooden masks are painted and repainted year after year and are passed on from family member to family member. They are used during the dry season after the harvest to put on elaborate shows, as well as to make appeals to the ancestors for anything from fertility to an abundant growing season. They are also often used as totems for protection and for the identification of important people.
  
  

Religion

• Seventy percent of all Mossi still practice the traditional animist religion of their ancestors. Those who converted to Muslim or Christianity are generally found in the urban centers, leaving the vast majority of the rural tribal Mossi to practice the old religion. This religion teaches that a single divine creator, "Wende," is responsible for all aspects of the natural world. Each person also has a soul, which is represented by an animal. Entire villages will often share the same kind of soul-animal, and totems can often be found indicating which animal it is.
  
  

Annual Sacrifice

• The annual sacrifice is one of the biggest events in the Mossi tribal year. Large amounts of millet beer are brewed to be offered in sacrifice to the ancestors, as well as consumed by the mask-wearing tribesmen. The mask-wearers then parade through the tribes, visiting each clan spirit house to offer sacrifices of millet beer to the ancestors in an appeal for a fruitful rainy season and protection for the upcoming year.
  
  

Figures

• In addition to masks, Mossi tribesman create figurines out of single pieces of wood. In contrast to the masks, these are generally more important to tribal hierarchy than they are to religion. The figures affirm the chief's right to rule and the importance of other high-ranking members of society. Two posts carved with figures, one male and one female, generally mark the entrance to the home of the chief to differentiate him from the rest of the tribe.