The center of the Epa cult is Ekiti, but the masks appear in a larger area that also includes Igbomina and Ijesha. According to some authors, the Epa masks are called Elefon in certain areas, others report that masks without an attachment are called Elefon and others are called Epa. However, everyone agrees that the cult and its masks are particularly important for the memory of important ancestors and the worship of the social roles on which coexistence in the urban community is based.

epa masks were danced every year or two years at mask festivals lasting several days, at which the important social roles in Yoruba villages were celebrated. The connection to the ancestors is confirmed and their benevolent support for the community is secured.

The young men wearing masks also demonstrate their courage and strength by dancing acrobatically with heavy masks and even performing jumps.

According to most reports, the most important Epa masks serve to personify war heroes and hunter ancestors and commemorate them as the cultural heroes and founding fathers of a city. In this context, the Epa mask festivals are part of the celebrations for Ogun, the god of iron and the most famous deity in the Ekiti pantheon. Warriors and hunters, as well as everyone who needs tools and weapons made of iron for their professions, are among the followers of Ogun. It is therefore not surprising that warriors, kings, hunters and herbalists are often depicted on Epa masks.

At the festivities, the different masks of the dance group appear in a precisely defined order. The festival is opened by oloko, the "lord of the homestead", the mask with the leopard. He is followed by the "warrior" Jagunjagun, also represented as a mounted hunter or king, and the healer olosanyin. The celebrations are concluded with a mask depicting a female figure, usually a mother with children or a priestess with entourage.

A mask attachment depicting a farmer with a hoe is rarely found in Epa masks. As a rule, the sculptures refer to warlike cultural heroes and show warriors, their wives and children, Ifa or Osanyin priests, leopards and dogs. But the Epa mask rituals are also related to the celebration of the new yam harvest. As Marsha Vander Heyden reports, the new yam may only be eaten after the Ogun priests have offered young yams of the current year to the god of iron as an offering.

The depiction of the peaceful farmer adds another dimension to the otherwise martial iconography. In all reports about Epa celebrations, the opening mask is called oloko, master (or owner) of the homestead. Strangely enough, this mask usually adorns the depiction of a leopard tearing an antelope. The mask with the farmer, on the other hand, seems to be a more direct embodiment of Oloko, the master of the farm.