At the edge of a Chewa village in Malawi is a clearing—a center of community life in times of celebration and of mourning.

During funerals, these spaces become crossroads between village and graveyard as animal masks perform ritual dances.

The final dance of the antelope mask, called Kasiyamaliro, or “Let’s Stop the Funeral,” signals the return of well-being to the community as the deceased’s spirit enters the world of the ancestors.