Biebuyck (1973, Pl.95) illustrates a similar spoon in the Fowler Museum, Los Angeles, and writes: spoons of this kind, classified as kalukili or kakili, are used in various rites from kongabulumbu to kindi. They are not used for eating purposes, although occasionally masked dancers are symbolically fed with them. The spoons suggest sexual symbols and are sometimes interpreted as substitutes for knives.