Tribal Art

The polychrome mask is surmounted by a basketwork structure draped in textile painted with geometric patterns. This headdress ends in four lobes arranged in a corolla. A handle, concealed by the thick raffia adornment, allows you to carry everything.
Neighbors of the Yaka and the Kongo in the west of the former Zaire, the Zombo fear, like the Kongo clans, the god named Nzambi. Their diviners use fetishes similar to those of the Kongo, the ceremonies associated with the initiation rites, however, stem from Yaka traditions. Hierarchical and authoritarian, made up of formidable warriors, Yaka society was governed by lineage leaders with the right to life and death over their subjects. Hunting and the prestige that results from it are nowadays an opportunity for the Yaka to invoke the ancestors and to resort to rituals using charms linked to the "khosi" institution. The youth initiation society is the n-khanda, which is found among the eastern Kongo (Chokwe, Luba, etc.), and which uses various charms and masks for the purpose to ensure a vigorous lineage. (C.M.Faïk-Nzuji, "The Power of the Sacred") ( "Treasures of Africa" ​​ed. Tervuren Museum)