Nkanu and Mbeko art and ritual.

In 1990, I first traveled to Lower Congo (zone of Kimvula) to participate in the daily life of the Nkanu and their neighbors. It was my goal to study the use of "art" objects within their ritual framework. (1) Since there is little in the literature on this topic, it was necessary to investigate through fieldwork. (2) When first I arrived, I felt great uncertainty about what I would find: How far had the culture been modified by Western influences? I was encouraged by the inaccessibility of the area, and indeed my first contacts with Nkanu informants confirmed that they were still performing ancestral rites. However, it also became clear that some of these rites had already been abandoned, while others were seldom practiced, and there were only a few specialists left who could give me information about them. Furthermore, although the Nkanu and their neighbors are very hospitable, it took me some time to win the confidence of their ritual experts. I had to convince them that I was not planning to institute a similar practice to theirs in Belgium.

As a female researcher I had expected to meet with resistance or even hostility when I tried to study exclusively male matters, such as the initiation into manhood known as nkanda. Sometimes this was the case. But helped by my interpreter, Emile Mbandu Konda--who enjoyed a respected status because of his age and education--I obtained information about this ritual and the woodcarvings used in it. Those who were willing to reveal such information always took care to protect themselves with ritual gestures against the misfortune (i.e., infertility) this revelation could cause. Fortunately, they also believed that, although certain kinds of information could not be revealed to uninitiated persons within their own group, it was not harmful to Westerners.

Nkanu and Mbeko Spirits

Nkanu and Mbeko ritual and ritual objects are impossible to understand without an understanding of their spirit world. At the top of their pantheon stands Nzambi, the remote god or Supreme Spirit. The Nkanu and Mbeko categorize spirit types as the bakulu, the bankita, the bisimbi, and the matebo. The bakulu are deceased clan members awaiting reincarnation, who experience a liminal existence in a realm known as the Mpemba world, (3) whence they may make occasional appearances in a variety of forms in the land of the living. The other three categories are types of natural forces. The bankita and the bisimbi are peaceful forces living in or near rivers, in the savanna, or on places of landslide, whereas the malicious matebo dwell in the woods. In addition to these forces of nature are spirits of the original ancestors, Mbaka (a dwarfish people) and Nsamba (a white-skinned people). Still other impersonal forces can be grouped under the name of minkisi (sg. nkisi). The Nkanu and Mbeko appear to make a distinction between the minkisi they borrowed from their neighbors the Yaka (such as nkanda, mbwolo, ngombo, nkosi) and those they inherited from their Kongo ancestors (such as mpungu, nkita, niangi).

The Nkanu and Mbeko do not see sickness or death as having natural causes, but rather seek their sources in witchcraft (kindoki) or in the presence of an nkisi that took possession of the patient. A person can place his belongings under the protection of an nkisi. When another individual touches or takes away such an object unlawfully, the nkisi will attack the thief or a member of his family. (4) Consulting a diviner, or nganga ngombo, will disclose the identity of the nkisi responsible for the disease. This specialist can make the nkisi "talk" so that it will reveal the reason for its presence.

In Nkanu and Mbeko society there are specialists who are capable of "capturing" the force of an nkisi, dominating it, and introducing it into an object: a sculpture, a utilitarian object, or an amalgam of elements. This container then is identified with the nkisi itself (Fig. 1). Some say that it was Nzambi--others that it was Mahungu or Ngu, a sort of androgynous primary being--who gave humans the use of minkisi to provide for protection or the fulfillment of wishes.

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One such important nkisi, which inspires the carving of "art" objects, is the nkisi nkanda. The word nkanda has various meanings. First of all, it can be translated as the force that is responsible for health problems such as infertility and sterility. The Nkanu and Mbeko consider these to be the worst problems an individual can encounter; barren individuals are not seen as able-bodied members of the community. Nkanda also stands for a collective initiation ritual, which the Nkanu and Mbeko claim to have borrowed from the Yaka. (5) An nkanda session is seen as a preventive treatment to assure the procreativity of men and thus the continuity of the society. It is an exclusively male matter and starts with the circumcision of the neophytes, young males between six and eighteen years of age (Fig. 2). After the operation, the neophytes are gathered within an enclosure in the forest. This seclusion area--wherein they must stay for several months, in former times sometimes for one to three years--is also known as " nkanda" or "kimpasi ki nkanda." (6) During the period of isolation they are instructed in techniques of agriculture, fishing, hunting, weaving, and so on. Nkanda songs and dances are taught to them as well as an esoteric vocabulary, dictated by the nkisi nkanda itself. Elder initiated men also instruct them in moral precepts and beliefs.

[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]

The nkanda is the preeminent framework for the use of several minkisi (here in the sense of objects containing a supernatural force). Statues, initiation panels, masks, and cephalomorphic poles protect the well-being of the neophytes and guarantee the good progress of the initiation.

The ritual objects (minkisi) made for the nkanda initiation have significant formal differences in terms of the size of the statues, the kinds of wood the carvers use, and the presence or absence of polychrome, from those meant for other healing practices and for divination. The nkanda objects are rather tall, are carved from the wood of the kingela tree (Ricinodendron heudelotti vat. Africanum), and are richly adorned with various colors, (7) whereas other ritual statues are small, made out of species whose wood is tougher and denser, and are monochrome, or at the most colored with red or white dashes or spots. Some of these formal differences arise from the fact that the objects in these different categories have been made by different groups of artists; sometimes, however, the explanation must be sought in the traditional formal prescriptions for nkanda versus non-nkanda sculptures. (8)

Sacred and profane sculptors

In Nkanu and Mbeko society, there are some carvers of non-nkanda objects (such as cephalomorphic slit drums and small ritual statues) who are themselves healers and diviners (Fig. 3). They may make the ritual objects they need for their practice, but more often order them from professional sculptors. There are also profession al carvers known as banganga baluvumbu (Nkanu) or banganga binkudimba (Mbeko) who are healers specializing in the treatment of nkisi nkanda afflictions. An nganga luvumbu sculpts the objects (masks, initiation panels, statues, poles; Figs. 4 and 5) used in the nkanda, but he is primarily a healer (nganga buka) of fertility problems, treating circumcised boys who are unable to have an erection. (9) The nganga luvumbu is also a dreaded sorcerer who employs his power to harm people. (10) When there is not an nkanda session going on, he usually accepts commissions to create all sorts of woodwork. Thus, within Nkanu and Mbeko society, there are healers and diviners, and there are carvers, and there are some individuals who, by personal choice, are both. However, an nganga luvumbu must, by definition, be both a healer and a sculptor.

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It is rather an exception to the rule that an individual chooses to become an nganga luvumbu; usually he is "chosen" by an ancestor or an elder. The person becomes ill, loses blood, and the diviner treating his problem reveals that a deceased member of the family, himself an nganga luvumbu, wants a successor and thus seeks to assure the continuity of the function within the family. In contrast, an individual can choose to become a simple sculptor of his own accord, driven by the impulse to create objects out of wood. He then apprentices himself to a master carver who can teach him this handicraft.

According to an Nkanu informant, Nsiabula Malungidi, the job of nganga luvumbu is a rather lucrative occupation. When at work, he can command the nkanda initiate to do all sorts of little jobs for him, such as fetching water or cultivating his fields. The job of a simple woodcarver is less profitable. He can seldom devote himself full time to this occupation. Just like his fellow villagers, to meet his daily needs he has to do agricultural labor, hunt, and/or combine carving with another craft, such as blacksmithing.

For his creative work the nganga luvumbu prefers the isolation of the woods. When he and fellow specialists are invited to make the ritual objects needed for an nkanda session in progress (Fig. 6), they can settle within the enclosure, but more often they choose to work in total silence in a dwelling constructed for them in the neighborhood of this ritual place (Fig. 7). When at work, these specialist carvers have to respect certain rules. Because there are certain powers involved to complete this job successfully, sexual abstinence is preferable before and during the period needed to finish the carving. The sculptor of non-nkanda objects, in contrast, remains in the village. The villagers are used to seeing him at work. He has no special rules he must obey. Batata Mutombo told me, however, that he always makes sure that there are no women or children in the neighborhood who can distract him. He added that in former times, sculptors had to withdraw to the savanna, where they had special contact with the ancestors.

[FIGURES 6-7 OMITTED]

During my fieldwork, I also investigated the social position of Nkanu and Mbeko sculptors and the attitude of the villagers towards them. Something can already be deduced from the fact that the Nkanu and Mbeko use the words bumbangu and bumfusi, both translated to me as "craftsmanship," to describe the creative process by which nkanda as well as non-nkanda objects are created. A carver in these societies is thus seen as a craftsman.

It is difficult to determine what place these creative specialists enjoy within the traditional societies I studied. Some of the woodcarvers I met are persons of high social status; for instance, the late Kiala Funga Nzombo was chef de groupement (11) of Kimbuba and head of the Kikiangu clan. Still others combine their profession with a job as a healer (nganga buka) or blacksmith, professions that of themselves compel a certain respect. The individual cases of professional woodcarvers who make non-nkanda art, of banganga baluvumbu, and of individuals who combine both roles give some idea of the range of their experience.

Francois Kitaia

At Kimpaka (Kipaolo) I met with an Mbeko sculptor, Francois Kitaia (Fig. 8), who was born in 1929 and grew up in the adjacent village of Kizulukulu. His mother, Kinkisi ki Luvwalu Kikweta, belonged to the Kimbenza Makuku ma Ntinu family; his father, Neni Nsangu, was of the Kiblungu clan. He received his personal name, Kitaia, from a member of the family who came to collect a part of his mother's dowry at the moment her first baby was born. He had to be content with so little that he named the baby "Kitaia" after a bad-smelling plant. Observing the famous sculptors Luyani and Nsebani (12) at work, Kitaia dreamt of becoming a professional carver and tried to make one piece after another. In Kinshasa he met with nka Malongo, a mulari, (13) with whom he collaborated from 1947 until he returned for good to his native village in 1959.

[FIGURE 8 OMITTED]

Kitaia prefers to make objects in "black wood" (bois noir, with such vernacular names as mbwengi, ngonti, n'si nkosi and n'koso). He carves little statues, slit drums, handles for flywhisks, pipes, and mortars. After he has shaped the objects, he rubs them in with the root of the kingondi plant. This gives the wooden pieces an ocherous tint that, after some time, turns red brown. Kitaia is not an nganga, so "transforming" objects into ritual pieces has to be done afterward by the clients themselves or by another specialist.

His tools consist of a small knife, a chisel, and a little ax. The metal parts of these tools were made by a blacksmith; the handles he made himself. He usually works near his dwelling. It does not bother him if the villagers watch while he is working. The villagers, too, are used to seeing him at work. He says that there are no particular rules governing his work, except for the fact that he never works on Sundays. He considers himself semi-modern: If he does not like the way a sculpture is turning out or if the wood splits, he simply throws it away. Traditional carvers would regard their wood splitting as evidence of malignant spirits and would be careful to ritually burn or bury an abandoned sculpture; to simply throw it away would be to risk nightmares and illness. The price he charges for a statue depends on the dimensions of the object and on the client he made it for: a friend, a member of the family, a villager, or a merchant from Kinshasa in search of art objects.

Kitaia carved little mbwolo figurines for the futu di ngombo (14) of the Kisengele family (Fig. 9). The Mbeko and Nkanu believe that the nkisi mbwolo often attracts the nkisi ngombo nkoko, so it is common to find mbwolo statues in the bag of a diviner. These little figurines are used to treat patients with ailments such as rheumatism, severe headaches, tooth pain, or apathy. Typical of Mbeko art, these objects have beards and headdresses ending in one large braid in the back of the neck of the sculpted figure.

[FIGURE 9 OMITTED]

Nsiabula Malungidi

Western collectors have usually regarded traditional African art objects as the products of anonymous makers and until recently were not interested in noting down the names of those who carved the pieces they gathered for museums or private collections. Even within the local community, such products are seen as tools to manipulate the spirit world, not as "art"; for them it is efficacy that counts, not who made them. What did surprise me, as I conducted my fieldwork, was the fact that many of the men and women I interviewed about nkanda initiation could recall the names of banganga baluvumbu who were active at the beginning of the twentieth century. In the context of nkanda initiation, it appears that carvers are less anonymous. This goes with the fact that it is the parents, in consultation with the organizers of the nkanda initiation session, who decide which banganga will be invited to make the objects necessary for the initiation and who will treat their children. It is therefore the best-known specialists, renowned because of their knowledge as healers and / or sculptors, who take part in nkanda sessions.

Nsiabula Malungidi is an nkanda specialist and does not accept any other commissions. I visited him at Kisanguna II (Kimasofi), a small village near the Congolese border with Angola. He is a member of the Simu Nzadi clan. At birth he received the name Malungidi. One day his paternal uncle Kinavwidi looked him up to tell him he had to join the nkanda camp at Kimatungu, an Nkanu village in northern Angola. There he got his nkanda name "Nsiabula." At the end of the initiation, he took the sobriquet "Kagena mfumu ko," which means, "There is no chief." This name was taken to chastise the organizers of the nkanda because there were insufficient funds to arrange a copious feast at the close of the initiation session.

Nsiabula Malungidi did not acquire his calling as the result of being struck by any illness. It was the wish of his father, ,ka Kilengu--himself an nkanda specialist--that his son became a circumciser or nganga kitapa, so he sent him to his own father, nka Nzama of Bembele (nganga kitapa and nganga luvumbu), in 1953 Nsiabula assisted nka Nzama in the nkanda of Bembele and there circumcised his first neophyte.

As a youngster he loved to make statues in wood, so he showed interest in carving nkanda objects (masks, poles, initiation panels, statues) as well. Nka Nzama imparted the skills of an nganga luvumbu to him. When I asked whether he wished the same profession for his own sons, he replied that they are twins; the tradition forbids bana ba nlongo (literally "children of the interdiction": twins, albinos, and the physically handicapped) to practice as banganga.

Since there was no nkanda taking place during my visit, I could not see Nsiabula Malungidi at work. Nevertheless, I was able to study some of the objects he made for a previous nkanda session. At Kisoma I saw three masks that had been made by Nsiabula Malungidi with the assistance of Marcel Kahuma of Kisoma. These masks had been used in the nkanda of Kingala (northern Angola) in 1976.

In Figure 10 we see Nsiabula Malungidi (right) with three masks at his feet: Kisokolo, Nkoso, and Makemba. Unlike the other mask types, the Nkoso mask (Fig. 12) is present at the beginning of the nkanda initiation. It is thus the only mask type that is not carved but plaited. A lukongolo liana formed into a circular shape reinforces the bottom of the cap. A collar made of raffia is tied to the cap and the liana. In the operungs of the plaited material, feathers of wild birds (15) are fastened with resin. The eyes and the mouth of the mask are made from the stems of small gourds. Little holes are placed under the "eyes" so that the masked dancer can see during the performance. I was told that in the western part of the Nkanu region, the Nkoso mask can be fashioned in wood, in the form of a human face, crowned with the same feather tuft. I could not find an example of this wooden variant in the field, nor in Western collections.

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The Kisokolo mask (Fig. 11) is an example of the mask type of the Angolan Nkanu. A typical element of this regional form is the shieldlike panel with rounded corners, upon which the face is carved in relief in the middle. (16) The characteristics of the Kisokolo mask are a white face, a nose with elongated top, two hornlike projections from the top of the head, and a strip of spotted feline hide between the two "horns". (17) This example has been decorated with the traditional signs of beauty: the line on the forehead and the crosses on the cheeks are tattoos, the chipped upper teeth represent dental mutilation.

[FIGURE 11 OMITTED]

My informants called the mask at the far right of Figure 10 (also Fig. 13) "Mbau" (18) but I want to identify it as a Makemba mask (in comparison with other Nkanu masks). Here again, like the Kisokolo mask, this type has been designed as a sort of panel with a human face in relief in the middle of it. The mask displays facial decoration or tattoo-marks: "tears" on the cheeks and a line running over the forehead. These wooden masks are semi-helmet masks, with a wooden "face" and a cap made of a frame of lianas covered with a piece of fabric, which fits over the head of the dancer. The basic form is very different from that of the more popular masks of the neighboring Yaka peoples. Yaka masks are supplied with a projection from the chin that serves as a grip (hidden under the bulky raffia collar); such a handle is absent from Nkanu and Mbeko masks.

[FIGURE 13 OMITTED]

Nsiabula Malundigi used the wood of the kingela tree to carve these last two mask types. In fact, as a rule, all sculptured nkanda objects have to be cut in this kind of wood, which has a low density, so it is easy to cut, and is also relatively insect resistant. The kingela tree found in the savanna is fast-growing and is therefore a symbol of fertility for the Nkanu.

The substances Nsiabula Malungidi used for coloring the masks are kaolin (mpemba), ndimba, and imported wash blue (bule). In contrast with the white kaolin clay, ndimba cannot be found as such in nature: clumps of black river clay (kala tuma) are burned in an open fire until they turn red. After pounding them in a mortar, one obtains a red powder, ndimba. The color black is produced from the carbonized roots of manioc. The sculptor mixes the pigment with resin (ngondokulu) and a dash of palm wine. The last ingredient is to give the dried paint a shiny look, the sculptors told me. Paint brushes are made of the stems of the kitundibila plant, chewed at one end, as well as chicken feathers.

Nsiabula Malungidi also showed me other sculptures he made for the nkisi nkanda and related minkisi. I filmed him while he was treating a woman with fertility problems provoked by the nkisi nluwa ki mbele. Later he would install a sort of altar--a cluster of sticks (makala, sg. (di)kala)--into the house of this patient. To give me an idea of such altars, Nsiabula Malungidi took me to neighboring villages and showed me dwellings where he had been active as a healer, describing the course of the disease of his patients.

At Kisanguna Kowa II we entered the house of Mfutila. After the death of her husband, tradition demanded that she marry one of his brothers, but she refused to do so and accepted the proposal of another man. The relatives of her departed husband accused her of adultery. She gave birth to only one child and further pregnancies were not forthcoming, so she consulted a diviner. The nganga ngombo revealed that family of her former husband had used supernatural powers (the minkisi longo and nkita) to block her fertility, so she called on Nsiabula Malungidi for treatment. At the end of the healing process, this specialist erected in her house three makala with a kala di luvumbu on the left, with a sculptured face, a raffia collar, and a great cross incised in the lower part of the stick (Fig. 14). The kala di luvumbu represents, in fact, Kisokolo. Some makala of this type exhibit all the characteristics of the Kisokolo mask--the elongated nose, the horns, the hide on the top--while others, such as this example, show only a few of these formal elements. The red pole is the kala di kitapa, also known as kala nsiabula. The two other sticks are said to be "the children" (bana). Nsiabula Malungidi told me that he always uses nyombo wood to sculpture the kala di luvumbu. The kala di kitapa is made of a stake of n'sasa wood. With a knife, he provides the stake with indentations; these are his eyes and mouth. These notches are filled up with white clay, "to open up the eyes and mouth, so that the force within can watch over the patient." Around the base of the pole Nsiabula Malungidi rolls a braid of grass that holds a "knife" made of bamboo, which symbolizes the circumciser.

[FIGURE 14 OMITTED]

Such an altar may never be removed from the dwelling where it is installed, even after there is proof that the remedy has been successful. Instead, the sticks must rot or be eaten away by insects. When the patient moves from the house, the altar remains and falls into decay, together with the house. If the healer considers it necessary, another altar will be installed in the new residence of the patient.

Batata Mutombo

Batata Mutombo, born around 1940, lives in Kimabaka. He told me that he fell ill some thirty years ago with some type of back problem. The diviner he consulted about the matter diagnosed his ailment as kambinza or kaselu wa nkanda, which seems to be a hereditary disease. His paternal grandfather was an nganga buka for the treatment of the nkisi nkanda. They consulted him and he treated Batata Mutombo by initiating him as healer and sculptor. As a compensation for this service, Batata Mutombo gave him a cock, a bottle of palm wine, and some cola nuts. He added that he had to be initiated before anyone could teach him how to carve, otherwise he would have lost a lot of blood when urinating.

He learned this handicraft by observation. He watched when his grandfather made statues for the boys' initiation. According to him, he managed to master the skills of a sculptor in only three weeks: the knowledge of the specific kinds of wood, the use of the tools, and the production of drums and different types of statues. Nevertheless, he stayed some time longer in his grandfather's village and turned over part of the money he earned by selling his own pieces to his grandfather.

The most famous and probably also the most original nkisi among the Nkanu and Mbeko (and some other neighbors) is the nkisi mpungu. These peoples believe that its force can realize all their wishes, beneficial as well as harmful to their fellow man. As a ritual object, the nkisi mpungu can take different forms. The basic form is a ring-shaped cushion of vegetable materials, a little gourd, an Achatina shell, or a wooden figurine. The biteke bimpungu (mpungu statues) carved by Batata Mutombo (Fig. 15) have fragments of a mirror fixed on their bellies to lock the little cavity containing magical ingredients. To activate the force within the power object, one needs between one and five blades of grass, a cola nut, and some nsamba-palm wine. The blades of grass are tied around the object and the mixture of chewed nut and palm wine spat on the knots in the grass or on the object itself at the niche where the magical ingredients have been inserted. Batata Mutombo also carved, in my presence, an mpungu figurine called Kokoto, difua kanda, nga mbimbi, mpungu nga mbimbi ("Stag beetle, dead as the skin of a mbimbi-snake, mpungu as mbimbi"; Fig. 16).

[FIGURES 15-16 OMITTED]

He prefers to make non-nkanda objects out of the wood of the ngonti tree (literally "leopard tree"); it does not split, is easy to cut, and the ancestors "prescribed" the use of it. Other species he uses are nsasa and yombo. Batata Mutombo himself always chooses which tree to cut, because he already has in mind an image of the figurine he will make out of it and thus seeks a tree with the right dimensions. When he has found one, he addresses himself to the ancestors. He takes a cola nut, breaks it into little particles, and throws them in different directions with the words:

   Matondo!
   Makasu ku beno bankaka.
   Nti yu mfunu yi mvuidi kisalu yi sadila
      wu.
   Lungana mpeve yi mbote,
   mukusa nde kisalu kitoma.

   Thank you!
   Cola nuts for you ancestors.
   This tree I need for the work I'll do
      with it.
   Give me a good spirit,
   So the work I do will be appreciated.

Fresh-cut wood blocks have to rest at least three days before they can be used to make a statue. He always has a stock of wood pieces stored against the outside back wall of his dwelling. The protruding eaves protect them against rain; inside the house, the wood would dry too quickly, split, and turn black from the smoke. Before he starts carving, he marks his tools with kaolin to ward off injuries and sickness. In the session that I photographed, he needed 3 hours and 44 minutes (with breaks) to finish the sculpture. (In normal conditions he usually plans three days to carve a similar piece).

Before rubbing the statue with a mixture of oil and ndimba and before inserting magical ingredients into the cavity in its belly to lend it his power, Batata Mutombo put on a headband (kibanda) and painted his face (Fig. 17). The materials he took out of his futu and put in the niche in the form of hairs, powder, or scrapings were enumerated to me: a head of a snake, a tooth of a crocodile, an eye tooth of a leopard, a piece of bone of a lion, a piece of hide of a mfuki cat and of a lunsokosoko rat, the foot of a guinea fowl, roots of an nkonki and ndolondolo tree, an ngunda leaf, a piece of bark of the poisonous nkasa tree, a mvumbu and ntondi toadstool, a particle copal (kala nzasi, literally "stone of the lightening"), and some cola nuts.

[FIGURE 17 OMITTED]

He took one cola nut, chewed it, and blew the mixture successively on the gastric region, the back, the left and right shoulder, and the forehead of the figurine. Then he rubbed the figurine's feet. When I asked him about the meaning of these acts, he referred to the treatment of the nkanda neophytes by the nganga luvumbu to give them strength or to heal them.

Nka Basola, who commissioned the mpungu statue, joined us during the work. He gave me evidence of what an important sculptor Batata Mutombo is: He testified how he had seen one of his statues, newly carved, running away from the village to the savanna. He added that some mpungu figurines contain special powers and enable the owner to fly to Kinshasa without touching the ground once.

When Batata Mutombo completed the job, I asked him if he was pleased with the result. "Yes," he said, and when I sounded him upon his criteria of judgment he replied that the formal qualities corresponded with the traditional standards: "The ancestors gave it this form."

Marcel Kahuma

Another Nkanu specialist that I observed at work was Marcel Kahuma of the Kigaba di Kongo family. I met with him at his home village of Kisoma. He combines the function of healer (nganga luvumbu) with that of carver of nkanda and non-nkanda objects. Marcel Kahuma is known within almost the entire Nkanu region as a skillful carver. Some healers and diviners even testified they prefer power objects sculpted by him. It seems that his works are valued higher than those of Batata Mutombo of Kimabaka.

Marcel Kahuma told me how he was struck by an illness, locally known as lubanzi (with symptoms such as pains in the ribs). Consultation with a diviner revealed that his deceased grandfather nkaka Vwanda--who was both a circumciser (nganga kitapa) (19) and an nganga luvumbu--had chosen him to be his successor. After he was initiated in 1960, in the neighborhood of his home village, he was trained by nka Zefu Nsitumana of Kizenda (Angola), who combined both functions too. Kahuma accompanied him in 1967 to Kinsuni, an Nkanu village in the north of Angola. Nka Nsitumana taught him to handle the circumcision knife and ordered him to finish the circumcision of the young candidates by giving a second cut into the foreskin. Driven by the nkanda force, Kahuma then jumped onto the roof of the nzo nkanda (nkanda dwelling). Thereafter, he accompanied nka Nzefu to still other circumcision rituals. The skill of carving he achieved by observation and by practice. When an nkanda session is organized in the north of Angola, he is always invited to be both circumciser and nganga luvumbu.

At a later date Kahuma showed me masks he had made himself; they included a Makemba mask carved in the form of a white-faced figure that "sits" on a wooden base that fits over the head of the wearer. The base itself has no features other than eye slits so that the wearer can see. Makemba is usually represented as a pregnant woman in labor or a mother with one child or with twins. Other mask types, such as Ndele, Mangombo, and Kinene, are elaborated as doll-like figurines on top of a trapezoidal piece of wood. The Ndele mask is a representation of a white man. Kahuma, with an eye for little details, gave him a Western outfit: a white T-shirt with a badge, trousers, and a baseball cap on the head. The other newly carved masks that he showed me represent animals: the hippopotamus (Ngufu) and the gazelle (Nsiesi). A typical feature of Nkanu masks is the bulging cap that surmounts the wooden part. This cap is always ornamented with designs (geometric, zoomorphic, and anthropomorphic) in variegated colors similar to those found on initiation panels (Fig. 19).

[FIGURE 19 OMITTED]

At the entrance of the nkanda enclosure, in which the circumcised boys must remain a certain time, always stand two statues, one male and one female (Fig. 18). The nganga luvumbu carves them and the nganga kisidika (20) installs them. According to Marcel Kahuma these nude figures represent the candidates' parents, who have to be on guard at the entrance of the initiation camp so that their children and their initiation cannot be disturbed by malevolent forces.

[FIGURE 18 OMITTED]

As already mentioned, banganga baluvumbu may do all sorts of woodwork for the villagers when an nkanda ritual is not going on or in preparation. They usually work to order. I observed Marcel Kahuma making two slit drums. A slit drum (nkoko ngombo) consists of a cylindrical "torso" surmounted by a small human head. The entire object is carved out of one piece of wood. The "torso" is hollowed out so that it forms an idiophone that can be played by beating the cylinder with a round stick. In so doing, the diviner (nganga ngombo) announces his or her presence. The cavity can also be used to prepare medicinal potions for the client to drink. During a divination session, the specialist sits upon this instrument. This particular set of slit drums forms a couple. The form of the hat or headdress can distinguish the gender.

I followed the whole production process of these slit drums; the time needed to carve them was 3 hours and 9 minutes. Marcel Kahuma's daughter Nsembo (her ngombo-name), who had been initiated as a diviner, finished them off by dying them with a mixture of oil, ndimba, the blood of a hen, a malekansanga string, some scrapings of the kigeta and mbota trees, and nine leaves from the bottom of a river. She rubbed the face of the "female" drum with kaolin and added a string of malekansanga herb around the necks of both statues. Inside her father's house she raised the nkisi ngombo (a process I recorded on video) to give the instruments the force they will need.

The Nkanu and Mkebo use figurative objects principally in the contexts of healing, fortune telling, and the initiation of boys. It is regrettable that the nkanda institution has almost disappeared in the Congolese habitat of the Nkanu and Mbeko, since it was the most fruitful context for "art" production. And there is a real chance that with the passing of the creative specialists I saw at work, traditional carving will disappear for good, since I did not meet any young people who were interested in training in the profession of sculptor or of nganga luvumbu. Perhaps the ancestors will intervene in time and call upon the youth among their relatives to continue or to reintroduce their traditional crafts.

[This article was accepted for publication in January 2002.]

(1.) Fieldwork for my Ph.D. thesis was carried out in 1990 and 1991 among the Nkanu, Mbeko, and Lula in the zone of Kimvula (Democratic Republic of Congo). This research was possible thanks to the grants of Fondation Dapper, Paris, and of the Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren. I am deeply grateful to all the Nkanu and Mbeko who agreed to furnish me information on their traditions and I am equally indebted to Emile Mbandu Konda, munkanu, who assisted me in the field as my interpreter and true friend. Also a word of gratitude goes to Dr. D. Binkley for his kindness in reading and commenting on my text.

(2.) This is rather remarkable when we consider the large number of published works on the culture of the neighbors of the Nkanu. I specifically think of the Yaka, the Teke, and the Kongo of the left bank of the Inkisi River. It should also be noted that works made by Nkanu sculptors are found in Western museums and private collections but some of these are misattributed because of incorrect or incomplete data about their place of origin. In museums where they have been stored since the beginning of the twentieth century, they were often labeled only as "Kwango." This may refer to the stream at some distance from the Nkanu region or to the Kwango district, but it is more probable that it stands for the Kwango Mission founded by Father Henxthoven in 1893, because we are indebted to the Jesuits for the presence of the greater part of the Nkanu objects in Western museums. For a long time, the Nkanu and other eastern Kongo peoples were considered to be part of the rebellious Yaka people (the neighbors of the Nkanu on the right bank of the Kwango). More recently, this information has been in part rectified by ascribing many of the objects to the Nkanu, while others are still mislabeled, even though stylistic characteristics point to an Nkanu origin.

(3.) Mpemba is the Kikongo word for "kaolin" and for "white," the color that is linked to death, to human bones, and to the ancestors.

(4.) The nkisi does not necessarily render a member of the family ill immediately; it can take several generations to manifest itself. The mpongo then perceives a latent presence within the family, During the ngombo initiation rite at Kikolokolo that I attended (July 18-20, 1991), the nkisi declared, through the mouth of the person who entered in a trance (ntu nkisi), that it had been introduced into the family "mu ngulu, mu mpumbu ngani," "by the pig, by the slave of someone else." It thus became clear that the theft of a pig and inflictions on a slave by an ancestor of the family attracted this mpongo.

(5.) The nkanda ritual is known, under this name or some phonetic variant, by many other ethnic peoples. The area of distribution of this rite is, according to Mudiji-Malamba (1989:55, n. 67), enclosed by the Kwango (W), the Kasai (E), and the Upper Zambezi (S). This terrain is the habitat of the Ndembu, Tshokwe, Yaka, Lunda, Lwena, and Mbala. In a footnote, the same author adds, "This area descends further towards southern Africa and ascends very high in the axis of the Lower Congo, Rep. of Congo, Gabon, etc." (Cette aire descend plus bas vers l'Afrique australe et monte plus haut darts l'axe Bas-Zaire, Rep. du Congo, Gabon, etc.) None of the peoples practicing this tradition claim to have created this institution. On the contrary, they always refer to their neighbors, from whom they borrowed it.

(6.) In literature kimpasi normally is translated as "the place of suffering (mpasi)." I, however, want to endorse the etymological explanation by the Belgian father Fr. Bontinck (personal communication) as "the dwelling place (ki-) of the spirits (mp(u)asi, (e)mbasi)."

(7.) Nkanu objects used within the nkanda are usually abundantly painted, a striking aspect that also characterizes the art of their eastern neighbors, the Yaka. This has contributed to the confusion in attributing the artistic productions of both peoples.

(8.) There seems to be a specific term--mbawa or mbau--for the first category, while nkisi or kiteke are general terms for the other sculptural works.

(9.) Luvumbu is, for that matter, a derivation of the verb kuvumbula, "to erect." His mission is illustrated in the statement, "Nganga luvumbu ukuvumbula, ukuga lunkonso, ukuga lungola"; "The nganga luvumbu raised you, he has given you the force to procreate, he has given you the power." And further, "Kitapa katapa, luvumbu kavumbula," or, "the circumciser cuts, the one who raises, raises."

(10.) Domingiele Mvwaka of Kingemba-Kinga told me that his paternal uncle worked as an nganga luvumbu at the nkanda at Kimaganga. When the organizers forgot to invite him for the closing ceremony he was so incensed that he threatened to render infertile the leaders among the initiates. One of the boys did indeed the childless. When an nganga wants to make a person barren, he takes a needle, breaks it, and at the same time utters the name of his victim. Repairing clothes with the needle of a nganga luvumbu can also lead to similar problems.

(11.) The colonial authorities appointed medaled chiefs at the head of different villages. The administrative and political entity they installed in that way is known as a groupement.

(12.) Luyani and Nsebani were two famous banganga baluvumbu of the Nkanu, living in the early twentieth century. In the contribution I wrote for the colloquium "Ni anonyme, ni impersonnel," organized by Arts d'Afrique Noire, I discuss the life and the career of Nsebani of Kipindi in detail. I assume that this nganga has been responsible for many of carvings that are now in Western collections.

(13.) A mulari is a person of the Lari people, a subdivision of the well-known Teke people.

(14.) A futu is a bag containing all the paraphernalia a healer or a diviner needs for his practice.

(15.) The feathers of the following wild birds are used for this purpose: mbudi nkoko (turaco), mbulu komba (?), ngumbi-ngumbi (black stork), mbanzia (sparrowhawk), nduwa (redtail parrot), mbemba (fishing eagle), nkelele (guinea fowl) and nkanga (quail).

(16.) This stylistic form seems to be typical for the masks found in the southeast of the Congolese Nkanu region (and probably also in their habitat in the north of Angola).

(17.) Several Central African peoples produce similar masks, with two projections on top of it. According to M. L. Bastin (1994:28, fig. 9; 34, Fig. 13) this aspect refers to the headdresses of chiefs of the ancient kingdoms Angola and Matamba. Today Yaka and Luwa chiefs have similar headwear. The relation between the chief and the buffalo has been demonstrated by Bourgeois (1991:19-32). As to the Kisokolo mask, Nsiabula Malungidi stated that, "In fact these projections are not horns, they 'replace' the arms of the dancer extended above his head to express his joy, as the real limbs go concealed under the long raffia collar of the mask."

(18.) I collected the name "Mbau" for this mask. I learned however that mbau or mbawa is not a name of a particular type of mask. It simply means "mask" or "ritual object."

(19.) Kitapa (or ki(n)taba) is a derivation of the verb kutapa, "to cut". A synonym is nsiabula, a word from the Yaka or Luwa dialect, also used by the eastern Nkanu.

(20.) Kisidika is a derivation of the verb kusidika, which means "to protect".

References cited

Bastin, M. L. 1994. Sculpture Angolaise: Memorial de cultures. Lisbon: Museu Nacional de Etnologia.

Bourgeois, A. M. 1991. "Mbawa-pakasa, l'image du buffie chez les Yaka et leurs voisins." Arts d'Afrique Noire 77:19-32.

Mudiji-Malamba, G. 1989. Le language des masques Africains: Etude des formes et fonctions symboliques des Mbuya des Phende. Kinshasa: Facultes Catholiques de Kinshasa.

Van Damme, A. M. 1998. Beelden, maskers, en initiatiepanelen bij de Nkanu en hun buren, de Mbeko en de Lula. Socio-culturele context en stilistische analyse (Zone Kimvula, Congo). University of Ghent, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation.

--1999. "Portrait d'un sculpteur Nkanu du de'but du siecle." In Ni anonyme, ni impersonnel, edited by Raoul Lehuard, 55-64. Arnouville: Arts d'Afrique Noire.