Awa Society

[7] This Society is one of the important aspect of Dogon religious life—which is primarily based on the worship of the single omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent Creator God Amma[8][9] and the veneration of the ancestors.

When a person of importance dies, members of the Society wear a special kind of African mask called the Kanaga, and perform a ritual dance on the roof of the deceased in order to escort the soul (nyama) of the dead to its final resting place, and to defend the living from bad wandering souls that might linger and wish to cause harm to the living.

[citation needed] These ritual masks are also worn at the end of mourning as well as during death anniversaries.

[13] The Awa believe that their traditional religious role is to reorder the spiritual forces after the world was left in a disordered state following the death of "their ancient ancestor"—the Nommo.

It is their view that the spiritual realm was disrupted as a result of that death and resurrection in the form of the serpent ancestor Lebe.