According to the Dogon mythology, the masks originated from the accidental discovery made by women while gathering wood in the forest and noticed something red falling from the beak of a hawk. While checking, they realized that the bird of prey had snapped something it hated by mistake; it confused fresh meat with, in fact, an object used in the Yeben rites (the first landowners).  Along with the strange object, the women came upon the Yeben themselves performing their sacrifice rites. The women scared them off and they ran away leaving all the ritual objects behind including the masks. Yasigi, the Dogon's mythical female ancestor, who cultivated red hibiscus to produce fibers for ritual skirts. In her left hand she holds the mixer she used to brew a beer for the first Sigi mask ceremony; in her right hand, she holds a fly whisk reserved for the dignitaries of the same ritual cycle.