Masks have been a central feature of African ceremony and social life for more than five thousand years. Their functions are complex and varied: they validate a wearer's community authority, initiate youths into adulthood, protect communities from witchcraft, assist--or supplicate==the spirits of the dead, and facilitate the teaching of social values. The individual who dons a mask is transformed from his or her everyday personality into an expression of a spirit force. The mask spirit comes alive through music, dance, ceremony, and the social context in which it appears. The striking masks reproduced here, representing the traditions of eleven cultures, come from the outstanding African collection of the Brooklyn Museum.