A masquerade ceremony (or masked rite, festival, procession or dance) is a cultural or religious event involving the wearing of masks. The practice has been seen throughout history from the prehistoric era to present day. These events are deeply connected in the spiritual and social lives of people. These performances can have variety of themes, music, costumes and rituals. Their meanings can range from anything including life, death, and fertility. For example, in the Dogon religion, the traditional beliefs of the Dogon people of Mali, incorporates several mask dances, including the Sigi festival. The Sigi festival has also entered the Guinness Book of Records as the "Longest religious ceremony".

Among other examples are West African and African diaspora masquerades such as Egungun masquerades, Eyo masquerades, Northern Edo masquerades, the Omabe festival of Nsukka, the Akatakpa festival of Obollo-Afor, Caribbean Carnival (which is called "Mas"), Jonkonnu, and Mardi Gras Indians.

There has been evidence of masks linked to rituals since the Neolithic era. Some of the earliest masks are from the Southern Levantine dated to the mid-ninth and eighth millennia BC. These masks were located amongst various artifacts linked to ancient ceremonies. Items found include modeled skulls, gypsum, beads of wood, textiles, flint, basketry, bone, anthropomorphic, and zoomorphic figurines. Figurines also included miniature stone masks that represent what masks, made of organic materials, possibly resembled. Most masks from that era were made of less durable materials like wood, fibers, textiles, and feathers. Because of this, they were lost to time. Masks made of longer lasting material are rare leaving mostly these miscellaneous articles. Archaeologists concur with the use of masks in religious ceremonies but because of their rarity, they are unable to study masks further to uphold their preservation. Archaeologists have also recovered cave marking depictions that show cranes with human legs but other birds anatomically correct. Experts have linked these depictions to prehistoric masked ceremonies.

During the era of enslavement in the Americas, free and enslaved Black people fused African religions with carnivals to continue practicing their culture under the Code Noir. The Code Noir in French colonies forbid all non-Catholic religions and required free and enslaved people to convert to Catholicism. As an act of resistance and to outsmart their enslavers, Africans syncretized their masking culture with European parading traditions.

Ritual masquerades are primarily known for and understood to be within indigenous African religious context and to uphold specific protocol that is unchanging and very strict. In different cultures the men masqueraders are known for playing integral and vital parts of society in generating perpetual wealth. In Salu Mpasu, men would perform certain deeds and paid expensive fees to the me already performing in the masquerades. These masquerades would happen in a territory marked out by white flour and they would perform within the restricted area, creating minimal interaction with the crowd, as they watch from they other side of the line. without crossing it.

Masquerade choreography is an important part of the ritual, performance and storytelling. With dance being Arica's most popular form of recreation, the choreography movements are designed to express identity, spirit, or of the masquerader, often blending with rhythm, symbolism, and tradition into a strong visual expression. The dancers play important roles in many spiritual and communal ceremonies, with their performances deeply tied to symbolic roles. In many cultures, masked performers represent divine beings, nature spirits, or revered ancestors. Others take on the task of calming spiritual forces through movement, while some entertain crowds during festivals and public events.

In West African masquerade ceremonies, choreography is deeply influenced by gender divisions, with masked dancing traditionally performed by men due to spiritual, cultural, and ritual significance. These male dancers often belong to secret societies and embody ancestral spirits, deities, or natural forces through physically demanding, rapid, or even forceful symbolically telling movements. Women dancers are to play vital roles by singing, and guiding the ceremony's rhythm, especially in inspiration or initiation rituals.

These masquerades uses rhythm and movement to push a narrative to help retell stories that are impactful to their specific culture. In areas like Guinea and surrounding places the Sòmonò masquerades use puppet characters to help push a story and remind the communities of the importance of the Niger River.