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Very expressive african mask from the Bembe, Congo. This type of mask represents the source of all fertility. Hand carved from a single piece of wood, with groove decoration.Height: 32 cm.The Bembe
form a small group of 60 to 80,000 people; they live on the plateaus situated to the north
of the Zaire River, as well as on the shores of Stanley Pool and in the cities of
Brazzaville, Dolisie, and Pointe-Noire. The Bembe had close contacts with their neighbors
the Teke, but Kongo contributions were essential to their culture and traditions. Their
social organization was based on the matrimonial clan, whose members could live in several
villages. The family unit generally included three generations. The chief in charge of the
village, the
nga-bula, mediated with the ancestors. Hunting was the main activity;
before leaving on a hunt, the leader would invoke the ancestral spirits, using as
intermediaries statuettes kneeling in the position of a hunter waiting for his prey. The
Bembe believed in a creator god, Nzambi, whom they did not depict figuratively. He was the
master of the life and death – unless the latter was due to the act of a sorcerer,
ndoki,
who could magically “eat” the life force of clan members. The ancestors had
close ties with the living and received offerings through the “priest,” who made
appeals to statuettes, the
kitebi or
bimbi, consecrated by the sorcerer.
These figurines were the idealized images of the ancestors and would often wear attributes
that allowed them to be identified as medicine men or hunters. The ancestor worship among
the Bembe is older, though, and precedes the use of magic statues,
nkisi, by the
sorcerers.
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