Luluwa Spirituality

8/12/2019 Luluwa Spirituality

1/24

A Figurefor Cibola:Art, Politics,andAestheticsamong theu l u w a P e o p l e o t h emocratic R e p u b l i c o t h o n g o

CONSTANTINE PETRIDISPostdoctoralFellow,Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders, Ghent University,Belgium

APARAGON of female beauty, the maternityfigure at The Metropolitan Museum of Artexemplifies a well-known sculpture type of theLuluwa people of the Democratic Republic of the

Congo (Figures 1, 2). Luluwa figures that depict apregnant woman or a mother and her child are gen-erallyrelated to the cult of BwangabwaCibola,he goalsof which are to prevent infertility and infant mortalityand to foster the reincarnation of a deceased ances-tor.' The Metropolitan Museum's figure offers anopportunity to explore Luluwa notions of fertility andaesthetics, and to investigate the formal and stylisticvariety of the Luluwa's figurative carvings in the con-text of their history and sociopolitical organization.A few yearsago, I contributed an essayon a verysim-ilar Luluwa maternity figure at the Art Institute ofChicago.2On the basis of the complementary researchthat I have conducted since, the present article offerssome additional data and new interpretations. After abrief introduction to the Luluwa and the core con-cepts of their traditional religion, I will analyze theBwangabwa Cibolacult and compare it with a posses-sion ritual of the neighboring Mongo. In passing, Iwill also shed some light on a cult called BwangabwaBwimpe.I will then focus attention on the strikingbody decorations that grace both male and femalefigures and discuss the different regional substylesthat characterize Luluwa figurative sculpture. In con-clusion, I will address the so-called hemp cult, popu-larized in the last quarter of the nineteenth century,and the iconoclasm it allegedly entailed.3

THE LULUWA PEOPLEThe Luluwa, or Beena Luluwa, live in a vast regionbetween the Lubudi and Kasai Rivers in West KasaiProvince in the southern central part of the Democra-tic Republic of the Congo (formerly the Republic of? The Metropolitan Museum of Art 2001METROPOLITAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 36The notes for this article begin on page 253.

Zaire;Figure 3).4 Together with the Luntu, the Konji,and the Luba-Lubilanji, the Luluwa, who comprise anumber of subgroups, form what might be termed theLuba-Kasai cluster. These peoples all speak Chilubadialects and share many cultural traits, and they alltrace their origins to Nsanga a Lubangu, a mythicalplace said to be located in Katanga Province in south-eastern Congo. There are also many overlappings inthese peoples' social and political organization, econ-omy, and religion. The general consensus is that Lubaemigrants from Katanga Province settled in theirpresent-day environment in successive waves betweenthe seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They assim-ilated with the local population of their new habitat,which consisted of peoples identified as Bindji (orBindi) and Kete and different pygmoid groups.Although hunting is still considered a prestigiousactivity by the male population, today the Luluwa aremainly farmers. They have alwaysbeen active traders,but it was especially their involvement in the long-distance trade at the end of the nineteenth centurythat had a profound impact on their culture.About 1875 Chokwe traders from Angola immi-grated to Luluwa country; some of them founded vil-lages amid the Luluwa, the traces of which can still beseen today. The traders introduced the Luluwa toproducts previously unknown in the region and lefttheir mark on the local culture. Body decoration,architecture, and masking are among the aspects ofmaterial culture that clearly show Chokwe influence.Elsewhere, I have discussed the diffusion of theChokwe boys' mukandapuberty ritual and associatedmasks among a number of Luluwa subgroups.5Chokwe immigrants also inspired the Luluwa's politi-cal organization and social structure. KalambaMukenge, of the Luluwa Bakwa Katawasubgroup, andother power-hungryLuluwa chiefs became close alliesof the Chokwe chiefs who led the northward migra-tions. These Luluwa chiefs emulated the Chokwe'smore centralized state formation, overruled neighbor-ing Luluwa chiefs, and gradually created a socialdivide between chiefs and commoners. As we shall

235


2/24

Figure i. Maternity figure (Bwanga bwa Cibola).Luluwa (Bakwa Mushilu subgroup), Democratic Republic of the Congo, midto late igth century. Wrood,metal ring; H. 24.7 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Michael C. Rockefeller MemorialCollection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979 (1979.206.282)236


3/24

Figure 2. Rear view of Figure 1

PYAANG

K-WE3IE LWEBO

L-JR.

NDEMBA''*-,B' , 1

~AKv AN?KANANGA

LUNTJL* KCNj. .

LLULUWALUBA

BA < ;;WA"D " ODIBAYA

Figure 3. TheLlwand neighboring p s in

Figure 3. The Luluwa and neighboring peoples in West KasaiProvince in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (map:Charles Meur and Marc Felix, Brussels)

see, this class distinction also had an effect on theLuluwa'sartisticproduction in that a number of ritualobjects evolved into symbols of status.The Luluwa and their Luba neighbors believe thatboth the spiritual and the physical world are perme-ated with a life-force (mooyo). The ritual specialist(mpaka manga or mupaki wa manga) evokes the life-force's powers by using charms (manga; sing. bwanga).The term bwangarefers to an object that serves as acontainer or support of power substances or ingredi-ents (bishimba). t also refers to the cult associated withthis object and the rituals that define the cult. If thecontainer has the shape of an anthropomorphic fig-ure, it may be regarded as a "real"power figure, inwhich case the term lupingu (plural, mpingu), ageneric name for man-made figures, is also applicable.6The above-mentioned ingredients assure the effi-cacy of both mangaand mpingu.They are composed ofmineral, plant, animal, and human substances and actas mediators or conductors. The ritual specialist deter-mines the composition of the ingredients and the waythey are to be introduced into the container. Thepower of both the mangaand the ingredients is sus-tained by recharging the mixture at regular intervals,particularly with the appearance of the new moon.The most powerful substance used to effect thisrecharging or revitalization is kaolin (lupemba).

Manga are diverse in both form and function.Although a distinction is sometimes made betweenpositive and negative manga,all may be used both toheal and to harm. There is also a distinction between"large" (or collective) and "small" (or individual)manga.They can be of a permanent nature and have alasting power or be used periodically and have merelya temporary effect. The manipulation of these charmsresembles the worship of ancestors in that charmsincite the ancestral spirits (bakishi, bashangi, or ban-kambwa).7 People placate and make sacrifices to theancestral spirits in exchange for their help and pro-tection. Some forms of ancestor worship involve theexplicit manipulation of charms.

BW4NGA B W4 CIBOLAThe Bwangabwa Cibolafertility cult and the accompa-nying charms are popular among the Luluwa andtheir Luntu, Konji, and Luba neighbors.8 There aremany regional and even local differences regardingcertain details of the cult. Sometimes, it is calledMbombo nstead of Cibola. Several of the Luluwa'snumerous mangaare concerned with issues of fertilityand the protection of pregnant women, newborns,and small children. The Cibolacult deals specifically

237

3 < a ..ANK _ S -IL

"- ..w,


4/24

with women who have had a succession of miscar-riages or whose newborn children have died shortlyafter birth. The cult must ensure a successful outcomeof the pregnancy and a safe delivery and see to it thatthe child grows up without problems. Its ultimategoal, however, is to provoke the reincarnation of adeceased ancestor in the newborn child.

Like other manga,Bwanga bwa Cibola n many waysrelates to the veneration of so-called spirit-trees, treesthat are believed to inhabit or shelter spirits and arethe focus of prayers and offerings.9 Indeed, as in theCibolacult, a tree altar called Mulopo is addressedwhen a woman's children die after birth. The Mulopoalso promotes the reincarnation of the deceasedchild's spirit in a newborn infant. A female and a malespirit-tree, respectively called mumbu and kasam-bankusu,are planted to ensure that the ancestors ofboth lineages watch over the pregnancy and the deliv-ery. A small conical clay mound is erected betweenthem. The whole is consecrated with a mixture ofpalm wine, rainwater, and water from a pond. Thismixture is kept in a bowl, which is later placed on themound. Another spirit-tree, the kapulwayi(Jatrophacurcas), ulfills a function similar to that of the Mulopoand BwangabwaCibola.This spirit-treeis planted whena woman suffers from sterility or experiences difficul-ties during pregnancy, or when a child dies after birth.As a rule, initiation into the Cibola ult follows uponconsultation with a diviner. This religious specialist iscalled in by the unfortunate woman or by her relativeswhen traditional medical treatments with plant andother vegetal extracts are not effective. Initiation intothe Cibola cult is the sole effective remedy to thewoman's problem. Many potential causes are takeninto consideration. Most often, sorcery is thought tobe the determining factor in calamities and badfortune. Sometimes, the diviner will reveal that thewoman is the victim of a fickle ancestral spirit or amalevolent manga maker. Occasionally, it is believedthat the woman is possessed by a metaphysical forceidentified as cibola.However, this kind of possession isoften perceived as the result of the transgression ofcertain behavioral rules and norms. Thus, women whohave had premarital sexual relationships are especiallyvulnerable.

Possession by the cibolaleads to a relationship ofreciprocity and mutual dependence. The relationshipof the patient to the cibola orce is one of ambivalence,ambiguity,and reversibility.Those who do not respectthe imposed rules and prohibitions run the risk ofbeing severely punished. Bwanga bwa Cibola s there-fore sometimes characterized as a double-edgedsword (mwelewa nkanza).As I have noted elsewhere,Bwanga bwa Cibola s clearly related to other healing238

and fertility cults shared by various Bantu-speakingpeoples in central and southern Africa.'?At least in some respects, the initiation process intoBwangabwaCibola esembles a possession ritual calledZebola,ebola,or Yebola, hich is widespread among thepeoples of the Mongo complex living north of theLuluwa.l Zebola-note the homophony with Cibola-is a female healing ritual for either purely physical ormental health problems thought to be caused byancestral spirits that are also called Zebola.Throughdivination the spirit inhabits the woman's body andthus reveals the source of the disease. The ensuinghealing ritual entails taking various kinds of medicineand learning the Zebolasongs and dances. As we shallsee, as in Cibola,emphasis is placed on the beautifica-tion of the patient'sbody.Unlike Cibola, owever,Zebolahas a communal and public character,and choreogra-phy and music play a much more important role.Zebola lso addresses a much wider range of problems.After having determined the cause of the woman'smisfortune, the Luluwa diviner will direct her to amupaki wa manga (ritual specialist). A mupaki wamangawho specializes in Bwanga bwa Cibola s often awoman. It is the mupakiwho organizes the initiationinto the cult and determines the proscriptions to berespected by the woman. Although the initiationprocess as such allows for many variations and oftenreflects the personal preferences of the ritual special-ist, it always ollows the same basic pattern and consistsof a number of essential phases. The prohibitions,which are shared by the ritual specialist, concern boththe woman's diet and her behavior. Thus, certaingame animals are forbidden to her, and sometimes herfood is even restricted to the consumption of maniocporridge. Most often she will be secluded in a specialfenced-in house at the edge of the village. The initia-tion always nvolves the learning of ritual cult songs, aconfession of past sins or crimes, and the sacrifice ofchickens. Although intense sexual activity at thebeginning of a new pregnancy is believed to stimulatethe fetus's growth, a mother-to-be will soon have toabstain completely from sexual intercourse. In thepast, the mother had to wait until the child born afterher initiation into the Cibola ult had reached the ageof three before she was allowed to resume intimaterelations with her husband.

After the birth of the child, the diviner will be askedto identify which deceased ancestor is reincarnated inthe newborn. In order to do so, he-or she-will lookcarefully for possible congenital signs or handicaps(misangu;sing. musangu).2 The identity of the ances-tor will later become clearly evident through thechild's way of walking and manner of speaking. Thefirst child, boy or girl, born after a successful initiation


5/24

Figure4. Mothersof "specialchildren"(mapanga)performinga ceremonial dance on marketdaynear the cityof Kananga(formerly Luluabourg), ca. 1900.Luluwa,DemocraticRepublicofthe Congo. Unknownphotogra-pher.Frobenius-Institut nderJohann WolfgangGoethe-Universitat,Frankfurtam Main,L1/2360 (photo:Frobenius-Institut)

into the cult is alwaysnamed Tshibola. Usually, whenshe-or he-is three months old, the child will beofficially presented to the community in a solemncoming-out ceremony called dyala,scheduled to takeplace during the new moon. Prior to the dyalacere-mony the child may only be approached by other ini-tiates into the Cibolacult. As a way of giving thanks tothe ancestors, a meal is shared by the ritual specialistand the families of both spouses, and a plantaintree-for a boy-or a banana tree-for a girl-isplanted near the parents' house in the village.The mother and her child will continue to live apartfrom the village until the child starts to walk. Duringthis postnatal seclusion period, the newborn infant,like its mother, must regularly be rubbed with a mix-ture of red clay and palm oil. At the rising of each newmoon the mother must sing ritual songs in her baby'shonor and sacrifice a chicken for her manga.Blood ofthe chicken is poured over her manga,and her Cibolafigure is "fed"a piece of chicken liver or some maniocporridge. At the end of the seclusion period, the ritualspecialist will shave the heads of both mother andchild, neither of whose hair has been cut since thechild wasborn, and lift the ban on the mother's sexualactivity.In exchange for her or his services, the happycouple will present the mupakiwith money or goods. Afinal communal meal signals the end of the ritualcycle. Like the birth of other "special children," gen-erally called mapanga,that of a Cibolachild is alwaysaccompanied by a public closing ceremony (Figure 4).Mothers of such children will continue to performceremonial dances on market days, Sundays,and other

holidays.'3 The parents of such a child usually remaincult members until their fifth child is born, after whichthey are allowed to lead Cibola nitiations themselves.

POWER OBJECTS AND SYMBOLS OF STATUS

Bwanga bwa Ciboladoes not often involve the use ofcarved figurative manga.Instead, as is the case in manyother cults, horns, snail shells, leather or cloth bags,pouches, or bundles serve as containers for ingredients.Some of the cult accessories are depicted on relatedfigurative Bwanga bwa Cibolasculptures, at least onthose carved in a naturalistic style. The figure at theMetropolitan Museum bears on its back the carvedimitation of a snail shell stuffed with all kinds of ingre-dients (Figure 2). A snail shell (nyonga;Achatina mar-ginata swains) is the central object of the BwangabwaCibawu,one of the most popular types of bwanga.14Bwanga bwa Cibawu is a general term that encom-passes different important mangawith multiple func-tions, combining defensive and offensive powers. It isthe most important collective protection of both thecommunity (ditunga) and the family's yard (lubanza)and is therefore sometimes called BwangabwaDitungaor Bwanga bwaLubanza. Its main function is to offerprotection against sorcerers in general and so-calledlightning senders in particular.'5Because several pri-marysources have explicitly linked the cult with prob-lems of infant mortality, there is a direct relationshipbetween the Bwanga bwa Cibolaand the Bwanga bwaCibawu.

239


6/24

Figure5. Ceramicvessel filled with dirt,medicinalingredients,and two snail shells (BwangabwaCibawu).Luba, Luluwa,orKete,DemocraticRepublicof the Congo. igth-early 20th cen-tury.H. 11 cm, Diam. 17 cm. Field-collectedbyFrederickStarrin the villageof Tshimbundu n 1906. American Museum ofNatural History, New York, 1910, 90.0/6215 (photo: CraigChesek,courtesy Departmentof LibraryServices,AmericanMuseum of NaturalHistory)

Figure7. Wooden peglike half-figurines nsertedin a wrappedfiber ring (Bwanga bwaDitunga or Bwanga bwaLubanza). Luba,Luluwa,or Kete,DemocraticRepublicof the Congo, 19th-early20th century.Field-collectedbyFrederickStarr n 1906.American Museum of NaturalHistory,NewYork,191o,90.1/9033 (photo: CraigChesek,courtesy DepartmentofLibraryServices,AmericanMuseumof NaturalHistory)

The shell's surface is normally divided into twohalves,one red and one white. The white mostlyderivesfrom kaolin (lupemba)and has essentially positive con-notations. The red is obtained either from camwoodpowder (kakula)or from red clay-earth (mpisha,cilaabu,kamuma,or budinda). This color signals the punish-ment, even the destruction, of sorcerers.'6 The

Figure6. Twowrappedsnail shells attachedto a twigframe-work(BwangabwaCibawu).Luba, Luluwa,or Kete,DemocraticRepublicof the Congo, 19th-early 20th century.H. 24.5 cm,W.22 cm. Field-collectedbyFrederickStarr n or near thetown of Lweboin 1906. American Museum of NaturalHistory,New York, 1910, 90.0/9003 (photo: Craig Chesek, courtesyDepartmentof LibraryServices,American Museum of NaturalHistory)

bichromy of many power objects connotes the combi-nation of defensive and offensive powers. The fewknown figurative Cibawuobjects usually also combinethis partition of the body surface in two opposing col-ors with a Janus face or multiple heads on a singlebody.'7 Two singular objects at the American Museumof Natural History,New York,which were collected byFrederick Starr, a professor of anthropology at theUniversity of Chicago from 1892 to 1923, in themixed area around Lwebo in 1906, are rare examplesof Cibawu nail shells (Figures 5, 6). Another type ofobject, identified as a Bwanga bwa Lubanzaor BwangabwaDitunga, of which Starr also collected examples,consists of a ring made of fibers and twigsinto which anumber of schematically carved half-figures areinserted (Figure 7).

Contrary to the cleaned and polished surface ofmany Luluwafigures in Western collections, the origi-nal powderlike red surface of the figure in the Metro-politan Museum is almost intact and closely resemblesthe waypeople beautified their bodies in various ritu-als and ceremonies. Indeed, the figure's appearance isstrikinglysimilar to that of the conservative elders whoopposed the reforms of chief Kalamba Mukenge,described in earlytravelaccounts (see below,p. 248). Itis clothed in a small loincloth that imitates those madeof red-dyed fiber or banana leaves that constituted aLuluwa woman's only covering. Like the Metropoli-tan's figure, Luluwawomen also typicallywore a metalring or a bamboo stick through the septum. Although

240

-'--.~--'7. ~ ~ _t~ ~ L.~I?-


7/24

Figure 8. A twelve-year-old girl in the village of Katendewearing beads woven into her hair and bamboo sticksthrough her earlobes and septum, 1905. Luluwa (BakwaMwanza subgroup), Democratic Republic of the Congo.Frobenius-Institut an derJohann Wolfgang Goethe-Universitat, Frankfurt am Main, SkB XI 3 (after drawingby Hans Martin Lemme, in Leo Frobenius, EthnographischeNotizen aus denJahren 1905 und 90o6, Hildegard Klein,ed., vol. 3, Luluwa, Siid-Kete,Bena Mai, Pende, Cokwe,Stu-dien zur Kulturkunde 87 [Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 1988],p. 83, fig. 6)

women undergoing initiation into the Cibola cultsometimes had to shave their heads, most relatedfigures are shown with elaborate hairstyles. The exampledepicted here wears a three-lobed coiffure (makata)that resembles the wigs made of vegetable fibers andhuman hair and adorned with cowrie shells (mibela;Cypraeamoneta)that were woven into the hair (Figure 8).This type of headdress was also smeared with palm oil,red camwood powder, and clay. The central pointedextension on the skull depicts a headdress called dis-unga or disungu.i8 The attention devoted to the con-struction of the hair also recalls the aesthetics of theabove-mentioned Mongo Zebolapossession rituals.

Usually, a woman receives a number of protectivemanga from the ritual specialist, including one ormore carved figures and other cult accessories, whenshe enters seclusion. According to some sources, thefigurative carvings are given to the mother-to-be in thecourse of the eighth month of pregnancy. This month,generally called cizaba, constitutes a crucial time in thewoman's initiation process. At this time, the many pro-

Figure 9. Half-figure of a woman holding a child(Bwanga bwa Cibola).Luluwa (Beena Tshikulu sub-group), Democratic Republic of the Congo, midto late 1 th century. Wood (Balanites wilsoniana),metal tack, glass beads; H. 33 cm. Field-collectedby Henri Morlighem in 1934. Royal Museum forCentral Africa, Tervuren, 1935, RG 35964 (photo:Hughes Dubois, Brussels-Paris)

hibitions enter into force and the manga start to work.The cizaba month is, accordingly, sometimes alsoreferred to as "the month of the manga." The term ciz-aba also refers to a clay container, filled with water andvarious other ingredients, that the future motherreceives from the ritual specialist. Placed at theentrance of her house and, later, near the newborn,this object is meant to offer protection against evilforces. The woman will wash herself daily with the ciz-aba's contents and drink them regularly to stimulatethe growth of the unborn child and ensure a safedelivery.In times past, it seems that a woman always receivedtwo figures. Albert Maesen reported that, traditionally,

241


8/24

Figure o. Half-figure(Bwanga bwa Cibola).Luluwa, DemocraticRepublicof the Congo,lgth-2oth century.Wood; H. 35-7 cm.Ex coll. Henri Pareyn,Antwerp. EtnografischMuseum, Antwerp,1920, AE 758 (photo:Etnografisch Museum)

she would receive the same number of figures as thenumber of children she had lost.19 The figures weresometimes identical, but more often one was a replicaof the other in miniature. The larger figure was keptat home; the smaller replica was carried around. Thematernity figure at the Art Institute of Chicago is per-haps the only standing full-figure with a short woodenpeg under the feet that has been preserved. It thusrelates formally to some pointed-base half-figuresholding a child (Figure 9). However, I have found thatat least one other mother-and-child figure at the RoyalMuseum for Central Africa, Tervuren, shows theremains of a similar peglike extension.20 This formalcharacteristic indicates how these carvings were actu-ally used. Both types of Cibola figures seem to havebeen kept in a corner of the house in a clay pot or abasket filled with dirt and several ingredients, intowhich the pointed base was inserted. The face of thefigure was oriented toward the door in order to preventevildoers and negative forces from entering the house.As mentioned earlier, true-to-life and elaboratelydetailed statues like the one at the MetropolitanMuseum are rare. The majority of Luluwa carvings,

Figure 11. Half-figure.Luba, Luluwa,or Kete,IBM_ DemocraticRepublicofthe Congo, g1th-early20th century.Wood,fibers; H. 37.5 cm. Field-

4^B|B|- ~ collected by Frederick4 ~i^|H _ Starr in the village of

-3iN_4 TshikomaPinda in 1906._:,'y^ American Museum ofNatural History, NewYork, 1910, 90.0/8958(photo: Craig Chesek,

jU^Bl ~ courtesy Departmentof LibraryServices,American Museum ofNatural History)

including those related to the Bwanga bwa Cibola, arerough-hewn, even to the point of male figures beingindistinguishable from female figures (Figure io).Luluwa figurative sculpture can thus be classifiedaccording to two styles, one realistic, or even naturalis-tic, the other schematic, or even abstract. This classifi-cation would point specifically to the sociopoliticalcontext of the second half of the nineteenth century.Naturalistic images are as much symbols of status asritual objects. They are related to the development insome parts of Luluwa territory of a class distinctionthat reached its culmination in the last quarter of thenineteenth century.This development is strongly reminiscent of theevolution from "process art" to "statement art" thatAlien Roberts has described with regard to the Tabwapeople of Lake Tanganyika in eastern Congo.21 Anunderstanding of the distinction between the two maybe useful to our discussion of the schematic and thenaturalistic styles of Luluwa art. Like ritual, process artis "transformatory" and meant to provoke change orto solve problems connected with change. Statementart, on the other hand, is "confirmatory" and con-

242


9/24

cerned with the celebration of authority and the safe-guarding of an existing order.

Among the Luluwa, the contact with Chokwetradesmen from Angola and the influence of the slavetrade gradually led to the formation of a small elite ofnoblemen. Some Luluwa chiefs tried to imitate themore centralized political organization of theChokwe. They attempted to overrule neighboringlesser chiefs, a goal they achieved at least in partthanks to the accumulation of imported Chokwefirearms. Not every Luluwa chief benefited from thenewly developed long-distance trade. And becauseexploration of the region was not extensive, only afew chiefs appear in the travel accounts written byGerman explorers at the end of the nineteenth cen-tury.Among the best-known headmen are Mfwamba,Tshinkenke, and Kalamba Mukenge, all of themreigning in the central Luluwa region.The sociopolitical evolution must have occurredconcurrently with the development of workshopsunder the direction of master sculptors. It seems obvi-ous that refined sculptures, such as the one at theMetropolitan Museum, were produced by profes-sional carvers in a workshop environment, whereasrudimentary carvings in the schematic style are thework of ritual specialists or even their clients.22 Fig-ures in the naturalistic style are thus not only less com-mon than those in the schematic style; they are alsomore recent, since they are the result of the above-mentioned class distinction. A case in point is thatsome of the oldest Western collections, such as that inthe Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, holdmany more Luluwa carvings in the schematic stylethan in the naturalistic style. Also, some schematicallycarved figures at the American Museum of NaturalHistory, New York,which Starr collected as "Baluba"around Lwebo in 1906, may in fact originate from theLuluwa, whom Starr, like many other early travelers,considered to be a subgroup of the Luba (Figure

1).23Female figures in the naturalistic style were proba-bly the exclusive property of an elite group of womenin positions of authority.Along with the stratificationof Luluwa society sketched above, women close topowerful male leaders possibly also gained sociopoliti-cal prominence. Traditionally, a polygynous man'sfirst wife already held control over the other womenof her husband's harem in domestic matters, andchiefs turned to their sisters, mothers, and/or wivesfor political council. When several villages are collec-tively struck by repeated misfortune or adversity,thechiefs call in the help of elderly women and widowsto perform the Lwendu Iwa Mucipu ritual as a lastresource. At night, these women, wearing only a small

Figure12. Femalefigureholding a cup and aN.C' pounder (Bwanga bwaBwimpe).Luluwa,? A DemocraticRepublic{ ii X ii iof the Congo, mid tolate 9gth entury.Wood;H. 28.4 cm. The

MetropolitanMuseumof Art,The Michael C.Rockefeller MemorialCollection,BequestofNelson A. Rockefeller,1979 (1979.206-37)

loincloth, their bodies painted white with kaolin,march through the village and secretly sacrifice a dogat a crossroads on the village border. In imitation ofthe Chokwe example, the advisory role of the femalepopulation in public matters must have acquired anew dimension with the emergence of a nobility at theend of the nineteenth century. It is very likely thatsmall rudimentary figures were meant for private useand could be owned by any woman, whereas refinedand elaborately carved larger statues in the possessionof a select group of wealthy and powerful women wereput to the service of the whole community.24BWIMPE, OR THE MORAL BASIS OF BEAUTY

Although their appearance testifies to the fact thatnaturalistic female Cibolafigures portray high-rankingwomen with ritual and political authority, the figures'iconography also reflects the initiation process dis-cussed above. Ultimately, maternity figures and repre-sentations of pregnant women are meant to glorifyand celebrate fertility and motherhood. It is here that

243


10/24

Figure 13. Female figure holding a cup and a walking cane(Bwanga bwaBwimpe). Luluwa (Bakwa Mbusha subgroup),Democratic Republic of the Congo, mid to late igth century.Wood; H. 51 cm. Field-collected by Leo Frobenius betweenthe town of Lwebo and the Luluwa River in 1905. Ex coll.:Museum fir Volkerkunde, Hamburg, 5854:06; Charles Ratton,Paris; Helena Rubinstein, New York; ComteJean-Jacques deLaunoit, Brussels; Jay C. Leff, Uniontown, Pa. Detroit Instituteof Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Ralph Harman BoothBequest Fund, Abraham Borman Family Fund, Joseph H.Boyer Memorial Fund, Joseph M. DeGrimme Memorial Fund,General Endowment Fund, New Endowment Fund, Mr. andMrs. Benson Ford Fund, K. T. Keller Fund, Laura H. MurphyFund, Mary Martin Semmes Fund, Barbara L. Scripps Fund,Edna Burian Skelton Fund, Mr. and Mrs. Conrad H. SmithMemorial Fund, Henry E. and Consuelo S. Wenger Founda-tion Fund, and Matilda R. Wilson Fund, 1982, 82.49 (photo:Detroit Institute of Arts)

the Luluwa's notions of aesthetics and ethics comeinto play. Beauty, especially female beauty, is at thecore of both the Cibolacult and the naturalistic carv-ings it relies on. The term bwimpe,ometimes replacedby bulenga, s generally used by the Luluwa and theirChiluba-speaking neighbors to denote beauty, whichrefers to both physical and moral beauty and thuscombines the Western terms "beautiful" and "good."Indeed, physical beauty is a sign of moral integrity.Moreover,emphasis is placed on cultural, or "human,"beauty-that is, beauty created by human hands.This union of aesthetics and ethics also lies at thebasis of the production and use of yet another cate-gory of female carvings.Female figures holding a littlecup filled with white chalk in one hand, a fine exampleof which can be found in the Metropolitan Museum'scollection (Figure 12), are generally related to a cultcalled Bwanga bwa Bwimpe.Accordingly, the figuresthemselves are called LupinguIwaBwimpe,BwangabwaBwimpe,or simply Bulenga, although the latter nameseems to be proper to the neighboring Luba-Lubilanji, who would have imported their sculpturesfrom the Luluwa. The Detroit Institute of Arts has anexample of a special subcategory of Bwimpefiguresmeasuring some fortycentimeters in height and carry-ing a cup in one hand and a walking cane or stick inthe other (Figure 13).25 The Bwimpecult was meantfirst and foremost to safeguard and foster the fertilityof a young mother and the beauty and health of anewborn. It was specifically concerned with the well-being of those mothers who had given birth to a childwith a pale skin, called mwana mukunse(literally, "redchild"). Such a child was deemed exceptionally beau-tiful by the Luluwa and required special protectionagainst sorcerers and envious people. Usually, thebirth of a pale-skinned child was also accompanied bythe planting of a white-barkedspirit-tree called mwabi(Sterculia quinqueloba) next to the mother's house(Figure 14).The ideal combination of morality and physicalbeauty, as expressed by the Chiluba terms bwimpe ndbulenga, s widespread in sub-Saharan Africa.26Amongthe Luluwa, it is clearly reflected in the style andiconography of the naturalistic Cibolacarvings. It isalso evident from the time and attention the Luluwaaccord to skin care and skin beautification. As men-tioned before, the face and body of a woman under-going initiation into Bwanga bwa Cibolaare coveredwith a mixture of palm oil and red clay, sometimesalso red camwood powder and white kaolin. The sametreatment will be applied to her Cibolafigure and,later, to her newborn child. Similar concerns of beautywere the basis of the intricate scarification marks onthe face and body of both women and carved female

244


11/24

Figure 14.A mwabiree (Steruliaquinqueloba)n the villageof Kamembele,1996. Luluwa,DemocraticRepublicof the Congo.(photo: ConstantinePetridis)

figures. In the past, a woman's body had to be per-fected and "humanized" through the application ofgeometric and curvilinear scarifications, true "marksof civilization,"in order to be fully appreciated.27

Among the Luluwa, cicatrizations are generallyknown as nsalu, a term also applied to decorations inrelief on carved objects, such as drums and drinkinghorns. It seems that the Luluwa practiced two types ofcicatrization, one characterized by raised designs inlow relief, the other by graphic color patterns that arecloser to tattoos in the strict sense of the word. Some-times the term ndundu-referring to the rubbersmeared into cuts to cause black lines in the skin,which tend to fade with the passage of time-is usedfor the latter types;but it is also used to refer to facialscars as opposed to body marks. It is very likely thatthe two types of scars were used in different parts ofLuluwaland, but, as we shall see, like headdresses andother body decoration, scarifications also changedover time.28

According to the Luluwa, children with a spotless

and healthy skin run the least risk of falling victim tosorcery, while children with skin disorders and physi-cal handicaps are seen as potential sorcerers. Ofcourse, the value accorded to the smoothness of theskin can only be applied to the unscarified body ofsmall children. It is significant in this regard that theabove-mentioned Bwanga bwa Bwimpe also dealtspecifically with the beauty and health of newbornsand infants. Research byAlbert Maesen indicates that,as signs of bwimpe r bulengaand as emanations of theideal combination of physical beauty and moralvirtue, scarification marks and other skin treatmentswere also thought of as the best protection against sor-cery.29 This is one of the reasons that some of thefinest Cibolafigures, like the one at the Metropolitan,are distinguished by such a careful and naturalisticrendering of these body marks and other physicalsigns of beauty.As power objects and mediators between the ances-tral spirits and men, designed to protect against mis-fortune and adversity,the ultimate function of Cibola

245


12/24

Figure 15. An elder, 188os. Luluwa, DemocraticRepublic of the Congo. Unknown photographer(after Hermann von Wissmann et al., Im InnernAfrikas,3rd ed. [Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus, 1891],p. 166)

figures is to seek out and disarm sorcerers. As men-tioned earlier, the Cibola ult basically serves the samepurpose. Other anatomical details also serve toobstruct sorcery. The Luluwa and neighboringChiluba-speaking peoples in KasaiProvince, for exam-ple, attribute special meaning to the anterior and pos-terior fontanels. Like the bichromy of the Cibawudiscussed above, these body parts signify "doublesight"-that is, clairvoyance and the ability to discernthe invisible in the visible and the past and future inthe present.30Often, as is the case with the Metropoli-tan Museum's figure, the fontanels are visuallymarked in Luluwa figurative sculpture by means of apointed hairstyle and usually harbor one or more cav-ities that are filled with magical substances.In addition to the realistic depiction of scarification246

Figure 16. Scarifications on a woman's body, 1913-14. Bokala,Democratic Republic of the Congo. Postcard published byErn. Thill, Brussels, after a photograph byJoseph Maes. TheMetropolitan Museum of Art, Department of the Arts of Africa,Oceania, and the Americas, Photograph Study Collection

designs, beauty was also expressed in the Luluwafigures' long necks, large heads, and high foreheads.A woman's strong calves were highly esteemed bymen, since they indicate her capacityfor hard labor inthe fields and in the domestic environment. The samepositive aesthetic values were expressed by elaboratecoiffures and jewelry. Wealthy women wore severalblue-and-white-beaded necklaces in parallel rows, asrepresented in relief in the Metropolitan Museum'sfigure. Another important sign of beauty and perfec-tion was the naturalistic imitation of an umbilical her-nia, at once a symbol of the close relationship betweenthe ancestors and their descendants and of the succes-sion of the generations.The idealized beauty embodied by female carvingswas also meant to invite ancestral spirits to inhabit

afflMti^ft

r .

I I


13/24

Figure 17. Female figure (Bwanga bwa Cibola).Luluwa (BakwaNdoolo subgroup), Democratic Republic of the Congo, midto late igth century. Wood (Crossopterixfebrifuga);H. 46.5 cm.Field-collected byJules-Auguste "Tiarko"Fourche, M.D.,between 1933 and 1936. Royal Museum for Central Africa,Tervuren, 1946, RG 43850 (photo: Hughes Dubois, Brussels-Paris)

them. In this regard, Lucien Stephan speaks of an"esth6tique des esprits"in relation to these art forms,which have the realm of the spirits as their main audi-ence and addressee.31 Judging from extensiveresearch by MaryNooter Roberts, a similar motivationseems to lie at the heart of the representation of beau-tiful women in the ritual art of the Luba of KatangaProvince.32 Like carved female figures, Luluwawomen themselves are seen as mediators between thenatural world of humans and the supernatural worldof the spirits. As among the Luba-Katanga, manyLuluwadiviners and ritual healers are indeed women.

It is at this point that the parallels with the MongoZebolanitiation become especially apparent. Upon aninitial divination session, during which the womangoes into a trance, the Zebolahealer transforms the

Figure 18. Maternity figure (Bwanga bwa Cibola).Luluwa(Bakwa Mushilu subgroup), Democratic Republic of theCongo, mid to late 19th century. Wood (Crossopterixfebrifuga),fiber; H. 41 cm. Field-collected by Father Constant De Dekenca. 1893. Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, 1914,RG 18805 (photo: Hughes Dubois, Brussels-Paris)

patient's body into a kind of shrine for the spirit. Withthe aim to please and seduce the spirit, her body willbe cared for and embellished day after day. Anoint-ment with a red paste signals the bond between thewoman and the spirit and advertises her special posi-tion. The beautiful dances for the zebolaspirits, whichdemand great flexibility, serve the same purpose ofspirit seduction. According to Ellen Corin, "the workdone on the body during initiation may be inter-preted as reshaping several corporal and sensoryenvelopes and as participating in the recreation of asense of self; its reconstructive value should beenhanced by its symbolic reference to loving and pro-tective spirits who are the real recipients of what isdone to the body."33In fact, judging from field pho-tographs, the coiffure, makeup, clothes, and other

247


14/24

attributes of the Mongo Zebola nitiate are strikinglysimilar to those of a woman undergoing initiation intothe Cibola ult among the Luluwa.

LULUWA SCARIFICATION AND FIGURATIVESCULPTURE IN REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Scarification, both on people and on figurative carv-ings in wood, shows a large variety of techniques,forms, and designs. Today, the practice of scarifyingone's body is almost extinct. Elderly women occasion-allybear traces of small, geometric blackened scarsontheir face, chest, or abdomen. But in general, thesehave little in common with the complex curvilinearmotifs depicted on naturalistic Luluwa figures such asthe Metropolitan's sculpture. Available sources, how-ever, reveal that scarification practices were linked tolocal fashion trends and foreign influences and havenever been equally distributed throughout the vastLuluwa region. Leo Frobenius, for example, writingabout his visit in 1905, mentioned that some sub-groups in the western part of Luluwa territoryadopted scarification patterns from their Chokweneighbors.34 As we shall see, certain internal religiousreformation movements also had an influence onscarification practices.Historical field photographs of Luluwa people arescarce, and pictures showing men or women whosebodies are graced with scarification patterns are evenmore rare. One of the most notable exceptions is aphotograph from the 188os showing a man whoseelaborately scarified body seems to indicate that hebelonged to the conservative elders who opposed thereligious reforms of chief Kalamba Mukenge and hisfollowers (Figure 15). However, the scarified bodies ofthe male and female carvings in the naturalisticLuluwa style also show some similarity with those ofpeople belonging to the Mongo complex in early fieldphotographs (Figure 16).35 The parallels are clear inthe curvilinear motifs, with a predominance of con-centric circles, but also in the fact that Mongoscarifications are usually raised in high relief. Thus, inaddition to the affinity between the Luluwa Cibola ndthe Nkundo and other Mongo peoples' Zebola, herealso seems to be a relationship between the two cul-tures in terms of their characteristic scarifications.36

With the exception of a group of female figures col-lected in the 193os by the colonial official and med-ical doctorJules-Auguste "Tiarko"Fourche among theBakwa Ndoolo subgroup near the southern town ofDibaya (Figure 17), naturalistic Luluwa figures appearmainly to have been collected and probably also pro-duced in the northern area of Luluwa territory,close

Figure 19. Femalefigure holding a cup(BwangabwaBwimpe).Luluwa(BakwaMbushasubgroup),Democratic epublic f theCongo,mid to late lgth century.Wood;H. 28 cm.Field-collectedbyLeo Frobenius n 1905.Museum furVolkerkunde,Hamburg,5858:06(afterdrawingbyHansMartinLemme,courtesyMuseum furVolkerkunde)

to the lands inhabited by the peoples of the Kuba con-federation. In fact, the naturalistic style encompasses anumber of regional substyles, some of which havebeen identified with particular northern Luluwa sub-groups. Along with a number of stylistically relatedfigures at the Art Institute of Chicago, the BrooklynMuseum of Art, and the Royal Museum for CentralAfrica, Tervuren, the figure at the MetropolitanMuseum can be attributed to the Bakwa Mushilusubgroup of the area around the town of Ndemba(Figure 18).37Frobenius's data, however, indicate that naturalisticand schematic figures existed side by side in the samevillage among the same subgroup at the same time.Indeed, as shown in the accompanying illustrations,he collected stylistically distinct carvings among the

248


15/24

Figure20. Half-figurine.LuluwaBakwaMbushasubgroup),DemocraticRepublic f theCongo,midtolate i thcentury.Wood;H. 13 cm. Field-collectedbyLeo Frobenius n 1905.Museum urVolkerkunde,Hamburg, 5921 :06 (afterdrawing yHansMartinLemme, ourtesyMuseumfirVolkerkunde)

Figure21. Femalefigureholding a cup (BwangabwaBwimpe).Luluwa(BakwaMbushasubgroup),DemocraticRepublicofthe Congo, mid to late i9th century.Wood;H. 31.5 cm. Field-collected byLeo Frobenius n 1905. Museum furV6lkerkunde,Hamburg,5870:06 (afterdrawingbyHans MartinLemme,courtesyMuseum ffirV6lkerkunde)

same Bakwa Mbusha (Baqua Mbuscha) subgroup(Figures 19-21).38 This reinforces the hypothesis thatthe two Luluwa figure styles were linked to differentclasses of people. The fact that Frobenius collected farmore figures in the schematic style than in the natu-ralistic style also reinforces the idea that the origin ofthe naturalistic style is related to the stratification ofLuluwa society in the last quarter of the nineteenthcentury.Frobenius also collected many refined figures in thenaturalistic Luluwa style among neighbors of theLuluwa,such as the Northern Kete and BakwaMputu(Beena N'Putu) (Figures 22-27) and the Ngeende(Bangende), Pyaang (Pianga), and Byeeng (BiengeNdumbi).39 In this respect, attention should be drawnto the fact that, according to Jan Vansina, smallfigurines on a pointed end, called nnoon,were possi-bly introduced along with charms among the Pyaangby the neighboring Luluwa.40 Moreover, the Kubaterm for "statue,"iping, is borrowed from the Luluwaor the Kete, who, as we have seen, use the wordlupingu. It is also significant that some northernLuluwa subgroups share the Kuba's belief in naturespirits, which are unknown in the southern Luluwaregion. Among these northern Luluwa they arereferred to as mingici,a term that clearly derives fromthe Kuba word (mi)ngesh.41The above-mentioned peoples-Northern Kete,(Bakwa)Mputu,Ngeende, Pyaang,and Byeeng-seemto have acted as mediators between the Luluwa andthe Kuba.At the end of the nineteenth century, thereexisted numerous trade contacts between the Luluwaand the Luba in the south and the Kuba in the north.The Mongo peoples do not typically carve anthropo-morphic figures, but the Ndengesh, who are generallyviewed as "Kubaized"Mongo, have produced a specialtype of human statue that is intricately covered withimitations of Mongo-like scarification marks. As such,they show a stylistic kinship with certain Luluwacarvings.42At the beginning of the twentieth century, both theLuluwaand the Luba also intermingled with the Kubain the area around Lwebo.43 Frans Olbrechts, whoapplied Giovanni Morelli's method of morphologicalanalysisto the figure sculpture of Congo, believed thatLuluwa art was related to the so-called court art of theneighboring Kuba.44And in fact certain scarificationdesigns on Luluwafigurative carvings can also be seenon the remarkable drinking cups in buffalo horn ortheir wooden replicas that occur among severalpeoplesin southern Congo but are mainly preserved underthe name "Kuba"n Western collections (Figure 28).45Contraryto what Olbrechts seems to suggest, however,it is the Luluwa and the Kete who influenced Kuba art

249


16/24

Figure 22. Half-figure(Bwanga bwa Cibola).Northern Kete,Democratic Republicof the Congo, mid tolate gth century.Wood; H. 30 cm.Field-collected byLeo Frobenius in thevillage of KapunguKalamba in 1905.Museum fur Volker-kunde, Hamburg,5141:07 (afterdrawing by HansMartin Lemme,courtesy Museumfur Volkerkunde)

Figure 23. Half-figure(Bwanga bwa Cibola).Northern Kete, Demo-cratic Republic of theCongo, mid to late

gth century. Wood;H. 24 cm. Field-collected by LeoFrobenius in thevillage of KapunguKalamba in 1905.Museum ffr Volk-erkunde, Hamburg,5150:07 (afterdrawing by HansMartin Lemme, cour-tesy Museum furVolkerkunde)

Figure 24. Femalefigure holding a cup(Bwanga bwaBwimpe).Northern Kete,Democratic Republicof the Congo, mid tolate 19th century.Wood; H. 23.8 cm.rj(^O,^ ~ Field-collected byLeo Frobenius in the

5 3f l ^^jvillage of KapunguKalamba in 1905.Museum fur V6lk-erkunde, Hamburg,5138:07 (after draw-ing by Hans MartinLemme, courtesyMuseum furVolkerkunde)

rather than the other way around. Indeed, freestand-ing anthropomorphic Kuba figures in wood are veryrare and practically limited to the famous ndop kingstatues.46 In the end, the naturalistic Luluwa style con-stitutes an autonomous entity and shows little if anyrelationship to the sculptural production of the Kubaand their neighbors.

THE HEMP CULT AND THE ALLEGED END OFLULUWA ARTIn the literature, the decline of figurative sculptureamong the Luluwa has often been linked to chiefKalamba Mukenge's propagation of a new bwangaknown as the "hemp cult."47 As a new bwanga, thiscult, or religion, was initially aimed at establishingpeace, happiness, and friendship. The followers ofKalamba Mukenge's new hemp religion, the beenadyamba or "people of the hemp," also expected theirnew bwanga to bring them longevity and even immor-tality.48 At the end of the nineteenth century, theexplorer Hermann von Wissmann reported how Ka-

1r

250


17/24

Figure 25. Female figure holding a cup(Bwanga bwaBwimpe). Bakwa Mputu, Democ-ratic Republic of the Congo, mid to late gthcentury. Wood; H. 32.2 cm. Field-collectedby Leo Frobenius in 1905. Museum ffir Volk-erkunde, Hamburg, 5284:07 (after drawingby Hans Martin Lemme, courtesy MuseumfiurVolkerkunde)

lamba Mukenge seized power figures from subjectedchiefs and destroyed them publicly in a bonfire.49Wissmann believed that figures covered withscarification patterns were produced by past genera-tions as a result of the ban issued by KalambaMukenge on their application. At the time of theexplorer's visit to the area, the younger generationhad indeed abandoned elaborate marks in favor ofsimpler motifs, and the beenadyambahad copied theforehead scarification marks of the Imbangala.50 Asmentioned above, the scarification of body and facehas always been strongly influenced by fashion andforeign influences. Frobenius points out that whilecertain southern Luluwa subgroups showed theinfluence of Chokwe scarifications, northern Luluwasubgroups such as the Bakwa Mputu continued to

Figure 26. Half-figure.Bakwa Mputu, DemocraticRepublic of the Congo, midto late i gth century. Wood;H. 11 cm. Field-collected byLeo Frobenius in 1905.Museum ffir Volkerkunde,Hamburg, 5314:07 (afterdrawing by Hans MartinLemme, courtesy Museumfir V6lkerkunde)

Figure 27. Femalefigure holding acup (Bwanga bwaBwimpe). BakwaMputu, Democra-tic Republic ofthe Congo, mid tolate 1gth century.Wood; H. 30 cm.Field-collected byLeo Frobenius in1905. MuseumfiurVolkerkunde,Hamburg, 5285:07(afterdrawingby Hans MartinLemme, courtesyMuseum furV6lkerkunde)

251

I

11,

I


18/24

Figure28. Drinkinghorn. Kuba(?), DemocraticRepublicofthe Congo, mid to late igth century.Buffalohorn, metalwire;L. 50.8 cm. Ex coll.Jeanne Walschot,Brussels.BuffaloMuseumof Science, 1938, C12696 (photo: BuffaloMuseum)

apply "old" nsalu scarifications (Figures 29, 30).51Consequently, the presence of carved scarificationmarks on the body of a figure cannot be used as a ter-minus ante quem.

Although Kalamba Mukenge's privileged relation-ship with European travelers and explorers gave himwealth and prestige, as well as preeminence over hisrivals, his power was limited both geographically andhistorically, and his religious reform did not affectthe entire Luluwa region. Apparently, KalambaMukenge's influence did not reach the northern areasof Luluwa country, north of Ndemba, where most ofthe naturalistic figures seem to have been produced.Nor do the primary sources indicate that his hempcult actually led to the massive destruction of figura-tive manga.One should not overlook the fact that basicallyLuluwa art had an ephemeral status and Luluwapractitioners did not as a rule preserve their cultaccessories. They were supposed to relinquish andsometimes even destroy their manga statuettes andother cult objects after they retired from the cult-inthe case of the Bwanga bwa Cibola,after the birth oftheir fifth child.52 Perhaps connotations of prestigeand status associated with figures in the naturalisticstyle prevented them from being abandoned ordestroyed by their owners, but many figures were252

Figure29. A fourteen-year-old irlwith aChokwe-likecross-shaped carificationmotifon her forehead, 1905. BakwaMputu,Demo-craticRepublicof the Congo. Frobenius-Institut an derJohann WolfgangGoethe-Universitat,Frankfurtam Main,SkBX 4 (afterdrawingbyHans MartinLemme, in Frobenius,Ethnographischeotizen, ol. 3, p. 87, fig. 20)

acquired by Westerners before they underwent thisirreversible fate.Kalamba Mukenge's reform, one of many religiousrenewals, may have entailed the prohibition of exist-

ing beliefs and practices, including the use of manga,in a limited part of Luluwa territory,but it surely neveraffected the entire Luluwa region. Moreover, the carv-ing of schematic, rudimentary figures as manga hasbeen kept alive up to this day,at least in some villages.It therefore seems more likely that the end of the nat-uralistic figure style is related to the abolishment ofthe new stratification of Luluwa society by the colonialpowers in the beginning of the twentieth century.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThis article is in part derived from my Ph.D. disserta-tion on the arts of the Luluwa people of the Democra-tic Republic of the Congo, which I defended at GhentUniversity, Belgium, in 1997. Library, archival,museum, and field research for my dissertation wassponsored by a predoctoral fellowship from the Fundfor Scientific Research-Flanders (F.W.O.-Vlaan-deren). The complementary research on which theinterpretations and hypotheses proposed in the pre-


19/24

Figure 30. Scarified abdomen of an eighteen-year-old woman, 1905. Bakwa Mputu, DemocraticRepublic of the Congo. Frobenius-Institut an derJohann Wolfgang Goethe-Universitat, Frankfurtam Main, SkB X S (after drawing by Hans MartinLemme, in Frobenius, EthnographischeNotizen,vol. 3, p. 85, fig. 11)

sent article rest was carried out during two fellowshipterms at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, from 1997to 1999. I am grateful for the Metropolitan Museum'sJane and Morgan Whitney Fellowship, and to the Bel-gian American Educational Foundation (B.A.E.F.),and the Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders fortheir support. An earlier version of this article wasread at the University Seminar on the Art of Africa,Oceania, and the Americas at Columbia University,New York, on April 15, 1998. Finally, I owe specialthanks to Rik Ceyssens for his invaluable suggestionsand trenchant critiques of my research.

ABBREVIATIONSAfrika

Afrika:Kunst und Kultur.MeisterwerkeafrikanischerKunst.Hans-Joachim Koloss, ed. Exh. cat. Munich:Prestel;Berlin: Museum ffirVolkerkunde-StaatlicheMuseen zu Berlin, 1999.Denolf, Aan de randProsper Denolf. Aan de rand van de Dibese.Moreleen Politieke Wetenschappen, Verhandelingen 34.Brussels:KoninklijkBelgisch Koloniaal Instituut,1954.

Fourche and Morlighem, CommunicationsJules-Auguste Fourche and Henri Morlighem. LesCommunicationsesindiginesdu Kasaiavec es dmesdesmorts.Sciences Morales et Politiques, Memoires 9,no. 2. Brussels: Institut Royal Colonial Belge, 1939.LF 2, 3,4Leo Frobenius. Ethnographischeotizenaus denJahren I905 und I906. Hildegard Klein, ed. Vol. 2,Kuba,Leele,Nord-Kete. ol. 3, Luluwa,Siid-Kete,BenaMai, Pende,Cokwe.Vol. 4, Kanyok,Songye,Tetela,SongoMeno/Nkutu.Studien zur Kulturkunde 84,87, 97. Stuttgart:Franz Steiner, 1987, 1988, 1990.Maesen, "Statuaireet culte"Albert Maesen. "Statuaire et culte de feconditechez les Luluwa du Kasai (Zaire)." QuaderniPoro3(1982), pp. 49-58.Maesen, UmbanguAlbert Maesen. Umbangu:Kunst uit Kongo n hetMuseumvan Belgisch-Kongo.unst in Belgie 3. Brus-sels: Cultura, 1960.Petridis, "OfMothers and Sorcerers"Constantine Petridis. "Of Mothers and Sorcerers:A Luluwa MaternityFigure."In AfricanArt at theArtInstituteof Chicago,pp. 183-95, 198-200. MuseumStudies 23, no. 2. Chicago: Art Institute, 1997.RMCARoyalMuseum for CentralAfrica, Tervuren,BelgiumSamain, "Geestenbomen"Alidoor Samain "Geestenbomen bij de Baluba's."Congo , no. 1 (1923), pp. 43-49; i, no. 2 (1924),pp. 218-29.TreasuresTreasuresromtheAfrica-Museum, ervuren.GustaafVerswijveret al., eds. Exh. cat. Tervuren:RoyalMuseum for Central Africa, 1995.Wissmann et al., ImInnernAfrikasHermann von Wissmann et al. Im InnernAfrikas:DieErforschung es Kassai wdhrendderJahre1883, 1884,und i885. 3rd ed. Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus, 1891.

NOTES1. In accordance with the phonetic African alphabet, the "c" initalicized vernacular terms like Cibolashould be pronounced"ch" as in "cheese." Although I have used the common Angli-cized spellings of Chokwe and Chiluba, in toponyms and propernames the sound is spelled "tsh."2. Petridis, "Of Mothers and Sorcerers." The Art Institute of

Chicago's maternity figure also featured in the MetropolitanMuseum's recent exhibition "Art and Oracle: Spirit Voices ofAfrica"; ee Alisa LaGamma,cat. no. 42, in LaGammaandJohnPemberton III, Art and Oracle:AfricanArt and Rituals ofDivina-tion,exh. cat. (New York:MMA,2000), pp. 66-67.

253


20/24

3. In passing, I would like to draw attention to the many erroneousdata provided in the German edition of a catalogue that wasrecently published in conjunction with a traveling exhibitionorganized by the RMCA;see Boris Wastiau, cat. nos. 62-68, inAfrikanischeKunst: Verborgenechdtzeaus dem Museum Tervuren,Gustaaf Verswijver et al., eds., exh. cat., KunstsammlungNordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf (Munich: Prestel; Tervuren:RMCA,1999), pp. 166-69. The term makishiiscommon amongthe Luvale and related peoples of Zambia but is not used amongthe Luluwa (p. 167); bakulumerely points to seniority and elder-ship but cannot be used to refer to the ancestors or ancestralspirits (p. 167); bijinga is clearly a misspelling of the termbishimba nd certainly not a synonym for bwanga(p. 168); thereis no field-based proof that wood of the Hymenocardiacida s fre-quently used in connection with Luluwa fertility rituals andmedicines (p. 169), and so forth.

4. Rik Ceyssens (personal communication, February i, 1998)informed me that Luluwapeople are also among the Congoleseminorities who immigrated to northeastern Angola. It seemsthat some of these Luluwa immigrants in Angola are calledBeena Maayi, or "People of the Water";see Jose Redinha, OsBena-Maida Lunda (Luanda: Fundo de Turismo e Publicidade,1974). However, according to Ceyssens, the pseudo-ethnonymBeena Maayi is very common in the Kasai region, and theLuluwa themselves use it to denote all their western neighbors.

5. Petridis, "Luluwa Masks," African Arts 32, no. 3 (1998), pp.32-47, 91-94; see also Frobenius, "Bena Lulua," LF 3, pp. 5,26. Rik Ceyssens (personal communication, September 30,2000), however, points out that aside from the Chokwe manyother influences must be taken into account in order to explainthe diversity of Luluwa culture. These various influences havealso given shape to Luluwa sociopolitical organization. Thus, itshould not be overlooked that several central Luluwa sub-groups, such as the Beena Kashiya,Bashila Kasanga,and BakwaMwanza,immigrated from the east. Some 18th-century sourcesalso attest that contacts with other than Chokwe peoples livingwest of the Luluwa'spresent habitat are much older than schol-ars generally assume. Moreover, Chokwe immigration occurredsporadically rather than in one monolithic movement.6. Hermann von Wissmann recorded the terms bwanga,bishimba,and lupingu in the 188os; Wissmann, UnterdeutscherFlaggequerdurchAfrikavon WestnachOst von 1880 bis 1883 (Berlin: Globus,1889), p. 1o6; and Wissmann et al., Im Innern Afrikas,facingpp. 258, 265. According toJules-Auguste "Tiarko"Fourche andHenri Morlighem, both makers and users of manga had anagreement with the ancestral spirits who lie at the basis of thepowers of mangaand their ingredients (Communications, . 61).Leo Stappers rightfully questions the translation of the termbwangaas "fetish"because of its emphasis on aspects of formrather than content; Stappers, "Priires luba-kasaayidatant de1912," CahiersdesReligionsAfricaines3, no. 5 (1969), p. 114. Inreferring to the Bwanga bwa Cibolaas a "cult," it should beemphasized that this translation cannot be equated with thenarrow Christian meaning of the term derived from the Latinverb colere see also note 47).

7. The ancestral spirits are ranked in a hierarchy and are seen asambassadors of the Supreme Being Mfidi Mukulu, who is firstaddressed in prayersto the ancestors; seeJules-Auguste Fourcheand Henri Morlighem, "Conceptions des indigenes du Kasaisurl'homme et la mort,"Journalde la Societedesafricanistes , no. 2(1937), pp- 197-98; and David A. McLean, "The Sons of

Muntu: An Ethnological Study of the Bena Lulua Tribe in SouthCentral Congo," M.A. thesis, University of the Witwatersrand,Johannesburg, 1962, pp. 156-58. Frobenius-who noted thatthe southern Luluwasubgroups also called their wooden figuresbashangi-thought that the term mukishiwas prevalent amongthe Luba-Lubilanjibut that the neighboring Luluwa preferredthe term mushangi nstead ("Bena Lulua,"LF 3, p. 23).8. According to Albert Maesen (Umbangu,pl. 27), an art historianwho did some fieldwork among these peoples in 1954-55 dur-ing a collecting expedition in southern Congo for the RMCA,the Songye also knew this particular cult. However, otherresearchers have not been able to confirm this.

9. On spirit-trees and tree altars, see Samain, "Geestenbomen";Jules-Auguste Fourche and Henri Morlighem, "Mitshiya m'vidi:Les Arbres-a-esprits au Kasai," Bulletin des Seancesde lInstitutRoyalColonialBelge8, no. 2 (1937), pp. 347-77; and Petridis,"TreeAltars, Spirit-Trees,and 'Ghost-Posts' among the Luluwaand Neighboring Peoples," Baessler-Archiv 7, no. 1 (1999),pp. 115-50.

1o. Petridis, "Of Mothers and Sorcerers," p. 199, n. 7. However,whereas spirit possession used to occur quite frequently in vari-ous ritual contexts among the Luluwa, only Maesen andTshisanda Ntabala-Mwenyhave mentioned it explicitly in rela-tion to the Cibola ult: Maesen, Umbangu,pl. 27; and Tshisanda,"LeTheme de la maternite dans l'art luluwa du Kasai,"memoirede licence M.A. thesis), Universite Nationale du Zaire, Lubum-bashi, 1973-74, pp. 64-65.11. See Edmond Boelaert, 'Yebola,"Kongo-Overzee, no. 1 (1934),pp. 16-19; Piet Korse, Mondjulu Lonkongo, and BongondoBonje wa Mpay,Jebola:Textes, iteset signification.Therapie radi-tionnellemongo,Etudes Aequatoria 6 (Bamanya and Mbandaka:Centre Aequatoria, 1990); and esp. Ellen Corin, "Refiguringthe Person: The Dynamics of Affects and Symbols in an AfricanSpirit Possession Cult,"in Bodiesand Persons:Comparativeerspec-tivesfrom Africa and Melanesia, Michael Lambek and AndrewStrathern, eds. (Cambridge:Cambridge UniversityPress, 1998),pp. 80-102. The Mongo complex comprises about forty peoplesor groups, the Ekonda, Tetela, Nkutshu, and Mbole amongthem. Although they have their own languages and customs, theforty groups share certain linguistic and cultural traits.Amongthe Mongo-Ekonda, the Zebola ealing ritual is known as Njondo;see Daniel Vangroenweghe, "Njondo: Therapie voor geestes-zieken door muziek en dans bij de Ekondastam," in De Mongo:Bewoners an hetEvenaarswoudn Zaire, xh. cat., Stadszalen, Sint-Niklaas (Brussels: Gemeentekrediet van Belgie, 1984), pp. 49-50. Considering the other affinities with Mongo culture, whichare discussed later in this article, it seems reasonable to assumethat possession by the Cibola orce as a condition for initiationinto the Cibola ult was especially prevalent in the northern partof Luluwa territory. For some general information on Mongoculture, see also Gustaaf Hulstaert, Les Mongo: Apercugeneral,Archives d'Ethnographie 5 (Tervuren: RMCA, 1961); and Lucde Heusch, "La Beaute est ailleurs: Pour en finir avec lesmasques tetela. Notices d'histoire et d'ethnographie nkutshu,"in Objets-signes'Afrique, e Heusch, ed. (Ghent: Snoeck-Ducaju& Zoon, 1995), pp. 175-206.12. See also Fourche and Morlighem, "Conceptions des indigenes,"p. 201; Maesen, "Statuaireet culte," p. 57; and Clementine M.Faik-Nzuji,"LesDifferentes categories de noms propres des per-sonnes dans la societe luba," Zaire-Afrique4 (1984), pp. 562-63. Often, children who are born with a physical handicap are

254


21/24

also considered special and are called mapanga.The birth ofsuch children is usually accompanied by the planting of amumbu ree; see also Samain, "Geestenbomen," p. 222; HenriBogaerts, "Onomasticonvan 'tLuntuvolk,"Congo2, no. 2 (1937),pp. 176-81; and Muteba Nzambi Mushipula, "'Mukiya','Tshibau' et 'Tshibindi': Sanction sociale et morale chez lesLuba du Kasai," Zaire-Aftique7 (1987), pp. 277-79.

13 See also McLean, "The Sons of Muntu," pp. xxviii-xxxii; Faik-Nzuji, "Les Differentes categories," p. 562; and DiambilaLuboya, "La Sage-femme et le couple mere-enfant chez lesBeena Luluwa," Journal de la Societe des africanistes60, no. 2(1990), p. 164. Some sources, however, firmly distinguishmapangachildren from mangachildren; see Samain, "Geesten-bomen," pp. 219-21; Bogaerts, "Onomasticon," pp. 176, 181-85; Rafael Van Caeneghem, "Godsgebeden bij de Baluba,"Aequatoria 7, no. 1 (1944), p. 33; and Mukangala DibweKalombo and Bangi Makombo, "Les Noms circonstancielscomme source diffuse des relations interpersonnelles chez lesLuluwa du Kasai,"Le Mois en Afrique22, nos. 253-54 (1987),pp. 122-23. In "Of Mothers and Sorcerers" (p. 189, fig. 6),I published a photograph showing mothers dancing in honor ofa son born after three girls or a daughter born after three boys,which Amaat Burssens, a professor of African languages and lin-guistics at Ghent University from 1926 to 1967, made duringfieldwork among the Luluwa in 1937.

14. See also Fourche and Morlighem, Communications, p. 59-60;and Maesen, "Statuaire et culte," pp. 51-52. Frobenius alreadymentioned that a tschiboas made for protection against sorcer-ers ("Baluba," LF 4, p. 59). Rafael Van Caeneghem discussesprayers to the Supreme Being near the Bwanga bwa Cibawu ncase of emergency and distress, but also prior to traveling orembarking on a hunt; Van Caeneghem, "Godsgebeden,"pp. 28-29; idem, "Gebeden der Baluba II,"Aequatoria 1, no. 1(1947), pp. 8, 13-14; and idem, "Het godsbegrip bij de Balubavan Kasai,"Zaire3, no. 7 (1949), pp. 758-59.

15. For information on sorcery among the Luluwa and the neigh-boring Luba-Lubilanji, see esp. August De Clercq, "Mupongo,Buloji," Congo i, no. 1 (1936), pp. 1-10; Rafael Van Caene-ghem, Hekserij bij de Baluba van Kasai, Morele en PolitiekeWetenschappen, Verhandelingen 3, no. 1 (Brussels:KoninklijkeAcademie voor Koloniale Wetenschappen, 1955); and MulondaKadiebwe et al., "Le Mupongo," Le Mois en Afrique 21, nos.239-40 (1985-86), pp. 106-9. For information on the associa-tion of "lightning senders" (beenankuba),see Louis De Brandt,"Het heelal van den Muluba," Congo2, no. 2 (1921), pp. 258-60; Amaat Burssens, Wako-Moyo: Zuidoost-Kongo n de lens(Antwerp:de Sikkel, 1943), pp. 108-1 1;Marcel Peeters, "Sectedes foudroyeurs: Bena Nkuba," typescript, [1946], Ethno-graphic file E.D. 1096, RMCA,Ethnography Section; and Kabu-lampuka Kanyinda, "La Secte Nkuba 1936-1958," in Symboliqueverbale t rituellechez esSakata, Lele,Wongo,Kuba,Lulua, MboleetVira,Publications du CEEBA93 (Bandundu: Centre d'EtudesEthnologiques, 1984), pp. 11-28. The Cibawuoften is kept by awoman whose initiation into the cult is characterized by apossession-trance. These women usually become powerful divin-ers who specialize in the pursuit of lightning senders andsorcerers.

16. See also Van Caeneghem, "Gebeden," p. 6; Albert Maesen, fieldnotebook no. 30 [1954], RMCA,Ethnography Section, pp. 11-12; and David A. McLean and Ted J. Solomon, "Divinationamong the Bena Lulua," Journal of Religion in Africa 4, no. 1

(1971), pp. 35-36, n. 11. For some general information on thesymbolism of the colors red, black, and white among Bantu-speaking peoples, see esp. Anita Jacobson-Widding, Red-White-Black as a Modeof Thought:A Studyof TriadicClassificationby Colours n the Ritual Thoughtof thePeoplesof the LowerCongo,Uppsala Studies in CulturalAnthropology 1 (Uppsala:Acta Uni-versitatis Upsaliensis, 1979); and Allen F. Roberts, "Insight, orNot Seeing is Believing," in Secrecy: fricanArt that ConcealsandReveals,Mary H. Nooter, ed., exh. cat. (New York:Museum forAfrican Art and Prestel, 1993), pp. 65-79.

17. For information on Janus-faced Cibawu figures, see AmaatBurssens, field notebook, 1937, University Library,ManuscriptRoom, Ghent University, nos. 16, 24, 25; Rafael Van Caene-ghem, letter of September 13, 1938, Ethnographic file E.D.678, RMCA, Ethnography Section; and Fourche, typescript,[1946], Ethnographic file E.D. 929, RMCA,Ethnography Sec-tion, no. 167. Bichromy is also typical of carved posts that arefound among many peoples in Central Africa; see Petridis,"TreeAltars,"pp. 138-44. It is not a coincidence that the face ofthe famous male figure at the Berlin Ethnologisches Museum isalso divided into a red and a black half; see Petridis, no. 147, inAfrika,pp. 223-24.18. See Henri Morlighem, "Notes sur quelques fetiches," typescript,[1935], Ethnographic file E.D. 858, RMCA,Ethnography Sec-tion; August De Clercq, Dictionnaire uba. Premierepartie:luba-francais (Leopoldville [Kinshasa]: Procure des Missions deScheut, 1937), pp. 57 and 136; and Maesen, field notebookno. 30 (1954), pp. 52-53. The description Hermann von Wiss-mann (in Wissmann et al., ImInnernAfrikas,p. 209) gives of thebimpulumba, conservative elders who objected to KalambaMukenge's religious reforms, closely resembles the appearanceof figures in the naturalistic style, including the beads andcowries woven into the hair; see also Frobenius, "Bena Lulua,"LF 3, pp. 13-14; and L. Lietard, "Etude sommaire sur la tribudes Lulua (Kasai,Congo belge)," Bulletinde la SocieteRoyaleBelgedeGeographie 3, 1 (1929), p. 40.

19. Maesen, "Statuaire et culte," p. 56.20. See Petridis, cat. no. 111i, n Treasures, p. 331-33. Most Luluwa

figures in the naturalistic style seem to have been carved frommutociwood (Crossopterixebrifuga);see also Roger Dechamps,"L'Identification anatomique des bois utilises pour les sculp-tures en Afrique. II: La Sculpture des 'Luluwa,"'Africa-Tervuren17, no. 3 (1971), pp. 79-86. It is noteworthy that such figuresare generally in much better condition than pieces made fromother kinds of wood.

21. Allen F.Roberts, "Social and Historical Contexts of TabwaArt,"in TheRisingof a NewMoon:A Century f TabwaArt,Roberts andEvanM. Maurer, eds., exh. cat., Universityof Michigan Museumof Art, Ann Arbor (Seattle: University of Washington Press,1985), pp. 10-16, 23. However, contrary to what AnnieVandewiele-Lannoo, a student in art history at Ghent Universityin the early 1940s, suggested, there is no evidence to identifynaturalistic figures as protective charms, on the one hand,and schematically carved pieces as "fetishes," on the other;Vandewiele-Lannoo, "De plastiek der Bena-Lulua,"licentiaatsver-handeling (M.A. thesis), Rijksuniversiteit te Gent, 1945-46,pp. 12, 36. For general information on the Luluwa's involve-ment in the long-distance trade, see esp. Ntambwe Luadia-Luadia, "Les Luluwa et le commerce luso-africain (1870-1895)," Etudesd'Histoireafricaine6 (1974), pp. 55-104.

22. This distinction between large and carefully carved figures255


22/24

made by professional master sculptors for the benefit of thewhole community versus small and often rough-hewn figuresmade by the ritual specialist or the client himself for privatepur-poses, has also been recorded among the neighboring Songye,whose mankishi figures are very similar to the mpingu of theLuluwa and who also use the terms bwangaand bishimba; eeDunja Hersak, Songye Masks and Figure Sculpture (London:Ethnographica, 1986), pp. 118-22; see also Fourche andMorlighem, Communications,p. 57-60.23. It is notable, however, that a small elite was able to develop acarving tradition of such a high degree of refinement in a rela-tively short time span. Unlike the case of the Tabwa of south-eastern Congo, there is no indication whatsoever that theLuluwa imported their elite arts from one of their neighbors,nor that they relied on sculptors of foreign origin or that localsculptors imitated the work of others. Curiously enough, in theavailable sources there is also no mention in relation to theabove-cited famous central Luluwa chiefs of their role aspatrons of a state art or of the existence of a real court with a dis-tinguished class of professional sculptors.

24. On the Lwendu Iwa Mucipu ritual, see also Badibanga Kant-shiama and Tshishimbi Katumumonyi, "Le R6le de la femmedans la soci&et uluwa,"Les Cahiersdu CEREKA, no. 1 (1988),pp. 93-94. Rik Ceyssens (personal communication, February i,1998) questions the social stratification of Luluwa society.Rather, he views the brief and local equation of the power ofmen and women at the end of the 19th century as resultingfrom the immigration of traders on traditional matrimonialexchanges. Furthermore, he confirms that some nouveauxriches benefited from the long-distance trade and indeedaggrandized their political status but suggests that the interestof the new bourgeoisie in baubles of foreign origin rather con-tributed to the degradation of "classical"Luluwa sculpture; seealso Ceyssens, Balungu: Constructeurs t destructeursde I'tat enAfrique centrale (Paris: L'Harmattan, 1998), pp. 58 n. 54,155-57.

25. These carvings not only attest to the political power certainwomen held by the end of the 9th century; they also shed lighton a form of spirit-possession not entirely dissimilar to the onethat sometimes leads to initiation into the Bwanga bwa Cibola.When the eldest daughter of an important chief fell ill and reg-ular treatment brought no relief, a diviner would determinethat the woman was being possessed by an illness-inflictingspirit. Initiation into a special cult would free her from posses-sion and lead to her recovery,after which she received the hon-orary title of inabanzaand was invested with the highest politicalpower. See Samain, "Geestenbomen," pp. 223-25; and MarcelLecomte, "Le Rituel de feminisation des sorciers dans la magiede l'accablement lulua et basonge," typescript, n.d., Archives ofJean WillyMestach, Brussels.26. Many African languages have a single word that means bothbeautiful and good. Among the Lega the term busoga s close tothe classical Greek concept of kalokagathia:t denotes the insep-arable combination of goodness and beauty that is the ultimategoal of initiation into the Bwami association; see DanielBiebuyck, LegaCulture:Art,Initiation,andMoralPhilosophy monga CentralAfricanPeople(Berkeley: Regents of the University ofCalifornia, 1973), p. 129; and idem, La SculpturedesLega,trans.Brunhilde Biebuyck and Mihaela Bacou, exh. cat. (Paris:Galerie Helene et Philippe Leloup, 1994), p. 32. For generalinformation on the moral basis of African aesthetics, see also

Susan Mullin Vogel, AfricanAesthetics:The CarloMonzino Collec-tion,exh. cat. (NewYork:Center for African Art, 1986), pp. xiii-xiv; and Wilfried Van Damme, A Comparative nalysis ConcerningBeautyand Ugliness n Sub-SaharanAfrica,Africana Gandensia 4(Ghent: Rijksuniversiteit,1987), pp. 11-19, 53-57.

27. The expression is borrowed from Susan Mullin Vogel, "BauleScarification: The Mark of Civilization,"in Marksof Civilization:Artistic Transformationsof the Human Body,Arnold Rubin, ed.(Los Angeles: Museum of Cultural History,Universityof Califor-nia, 1988), pp. 97-105. The same ideas of body perfection andhumanization through scarification are also reflected in thefigure sculpture of the Luba-Katanga; ee MaryNooter Robertsand Allen F. Roberts, "Body Memory," n Memory:LubaArt andtheMaking of History,Roberts and Roberts, eds., exh. cat. (NewYork: Museum for African Art and Prestel, 1996), p. 98. Rubin,who rightfully remarks that even cicatrizations tend to flattenand are thus not really permanent, draws attention to the factthat the darkpigmentation of many sub-SaharanAfricanpeopleslends itself better to the sculptural quality of cicatrizations thanto the graphic quality of tattoos;Rubin, "GeneralIntroduction,"in Marksof Civilization,pp. 13 and 15.28. See also Wissmann et al., ImInnernAfrikas,p. 167; Denolf, Aanderand,pp. 121-23; and Albert Maesen, field notebook no. 54[1955], RMCA, Ethnography Section, pp. 11-12. The termndundu is also used for a specific scarification motif; see LeoStappers, "'Arbeidsvitaminen' der Bena Luluwa-vrouwen,"Africa-Tervureno, no. 4 (1964), p. 98, n. 30; and Tshisanda, "LeTheme de la maternite,"p. 60.

29. Maesen, "Statuaire et culte," pp. 53-54. It seems very likely,however, that, as in the case of the Mongo Zebolahealing ritual,scarificationswere also applied for medical purposes in the con-text of the Bwangabwa Cibola nitiation; see also Diambila, "LaSage-femme,"pp. 165, 169.

30. When the anterior fontanel (kapoba r kabankoshi) f a newbornis sunken, the mother will smear a mixture of red camwoodpowder, palm oil, and other ingredients on the fontanel inorder to prevent the baby's life-force from escaping through it;see KathrynW. Nelson, "Child Rearing Patterns in a Lulua Vil-lage of South Central Congo," Ph.D. diss., University of Michi-gan, Ann Arbor, 1968, p. 258. On the symbolic significance ofthe posterior and anterior fontanels and their relationship tothe navel, see also Fourche and Morlighem, Communications,pp. 62-63; Marcel Lecomte, "Le Theme de l'esoterisme lulua,"JeuneAfrique o, no. 26 (1957), pp. 10-12; Clementine M. Faik-Nzuji, Symboles raphiquesen Afriquenoire (Paris: Karthala andCiltade, 1992), p. 46; and idem, La Puissancedu sacre:L'Homme,la nature et l'art en Afriquenoire (Brussels: La Renaissance duLivre, 1993), pp. 46, 57.

31. Stephan, "LaSculpture africaine: Essaid'esthetique comparee,"in Jacques Kerchache et al., L'Artafricain,L'Art et les GrandesCivilisations 18 (Paris:Mazenod, 1987), pp. 246-47.32. See Roberts and Roberts, "Body Memory," pp. 111-12. As

among the Luba-Katanga,Luluwa scarifications also had eroticconnotations and were meant to heighten a woman's appeal;see also Van Caeneghem, letter of September 13, 1938; andTshisanda, "Le Theme de la maternite," p. 75. Thus, a lozengemotif on the breasts is called tunkinda,meaning "littlerat traps,"referring to the female genitals which seek to "devour" he maleorgan, metaphorically called cya mutu bu mpuku,"having thehead of a rat";see Clementine M. Faik-Nzuji, "L'Artplastiqueafricain comme extension de l'art corporel," in De l'art negred

256


23/24

I'art africain: L'Evolutionde la connaissance de l'art africain desannies trente d aujourd'hui (Arnouville: Arts d'Afrique Noire,1990), pp. 61-62.

33. Corin, "Refiguring the Person," p. 92. The author also noteshow the healer traces white marks around the woman's eyes "torepresent the 'second look' she will acquire, while entranced, asto what really caused her disease and triggered the spirit's inter-vention"; ibid., p. 93. Some Luluwa figures, especially thosecarved in the naturalistic style proper to the Bakwa Ndoolo sub-group, show the same white circles around the eyes (see Figure17).

34. Frobenius, "Bena Lulua," LF 3, pp. 13-14. One of theseChokwe-inspired motifs is the crosslike mark on the foreheadcalled kartoza; ee also Tshisanda, "Le Theme de la maternite,"p. 60; and compare with Marie-Louise Bastin, Art dicoratiftshokwe, ubsidios para a Hist6ria, Arqueologia e Etnografia dosPovos da Lunda Publicacoes Culturais 55 (Lisbon: Companhiade Diamantes de Angola and Museu do Dundo, 1961), vol. 1,pp. 137-39. Prosper Denolf (Aan de rand, p. 121) also recog-nizes the regional variations in patterns and designs and notesthat certain Luluwa and Luba-Lubilanji subgroups shared thepractice of raised scars with the Kuba.

35. The same body decorations can be seen in Norman Hardy's1908 watercolors and sketches of women of the Tetela Sungusubgroup; see Emil Torday and Thomas A. Joyce, Notesethno-graphiquessur despopulations habitant les bassins du Kasai et duKwangooriental,Ethnographie, Anthropologie, Annales 2, no. 2(Tervuren: Musee du Congo Belge, 1922), chap. 2. Inspired by

Jules-Auguste Fourche and Henri Morlighem's book UneBiblenoire Brussels:MaxArnold, 1973), Mubumbila Mfika reads oneof Hardy's drawings of a Sungu woman in the light of Luba cos-mogony; Mubumbila, Sur le sentiermysterieuxdes nombresnoirs(Paris: L'Harmattan, 1988), p. 138, fig. 30. The field photo-graph byJoseph Maes, on which the postcard reproduced inthis article is based, was made during a collecting expedition forthe RMCA n 1913-14; see also Maes, Notes ur lespopulationsdesbassins du Kasai, de la Lukenie,et du Lac LiopoldII, Miscellanees,Annales 1, no. 1 (Tervuren: Musee du Congo Belge, 1924),chap. 5.

36. Denolf (Aan derand, pp. 321-23) discusses the political and cul-tural affinities between the Luluwa and neighboring Kasaipeo-ples, on the one hand, and the Mongo, on the other. JanVansina also points to the mediating role that Luluwa and Luiba-Lubilanji peoples played in the Mongo influence on cults andreligious associations among the Kuba; Vansina, "Miko mi Yool,une association religieuse kuba," Aequatoria22, no. 3 (1959),pp. 84-88; and idem, "Les Mouvements religieux kuba (Kasai)a l'epoque coloniale," Etudesd'Histoireafricaine2 (1971), p. 170.

37. On the Bakwa Mushilu and Bakwa Ndoolo substyles, see PaulTimmermans, "Essai de typologie de la sculpture des BenaLuluwa du Kasai,"Africa-Tervuren2, no. 1 (1966), pp. 20-22.Although this author equates the substyle of the Bakwa Mushiluwith that of the neighboring Beena Tshikulu, the only objectcollected among the latter, reproduced here as Figure 9, is styl-istically quite distinct from the typical Bakwa Mushilu figures.Many of the well-known Luluwa figures collected by Wissmannand his traveling companions in the last quarter of the 19th cen-tury, which are now mainly at the Ethnologisches Museum inBerlin, also originate from northern Luluwa subgroups such asthe Bakwa Mpika and the Beena Mba(a)la; see Petridis, cat.nos. 147, 148, in Afrika,pp. 223-24. Rik Ceyssens (personal

communication, February i, 1998), however, wonders whethermost naturalistic Luluwafigures originated in the northern partof the Luluwa region because until May 25, 1891, the firstexplorers did not travel south of the 6th parallel, being thesouthern border of the Congo Free State.

38. Frobenius also collected the above-mentioned (see note 25 andFigure 13) cup-bearing Bwanga bwaBwimpe igure now at theDetroit Institute of Arts among the Bakwa Mbusha (BaquaMbuscha) in the area between Lwebo and the Luluwa River.Karel Timmermans (personal communication, October 17,1996), a Belgian art collector and former resident of Kananga(formerly Luluabourg), acquired an almost identical piece inthe same Luluwa region north of Ndemba; for illustrations, seeRiceptacles,exh. cat., Musee Dapper (Paris: Editions Dapper,1997), pp. 1oo-o11.

39. The Byeeng belong to the Southern Kuba;it was in one of theirchiefdoms, Ndombe, which also encompassed a number ofNorthern Kete villages, that Starr made some interesting fieldphotographs; see Frederick Starr,CongoNatives:An EthnographicAlbum(Chicago: Lakeside Press, 1912), pp. 16-17, pls. 10-12;andJan Vansina, The Childrenof Woot:A HistoryoftheKubaPeoples(Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1978), p. 358, n. 4.Frobenius refers to these Kete villages of the Byeeng chiefdomas "Bakete Ndumbis" ("Nord-Bakete," LF 2, pp. 39-45). Fro-benius also writes that the Luluwa produced figures for neigh-boring peoples such as the Luba and the Songye, as well as forcertain Tetela enclaves ("Bena Lulua,"LF 3, p. 23).

40. Vansina, The Childrenof Woot,pp. 212, 359-60 n. 21; and idem,"Ndop: Royal Statues among the Kuba," n AfricanArtand Lead-ership,Douglas Fraserand Herbert M. Cole, eds. (Madison: Uni-versityof Wisconsin Press, 1972), pp. 47-48.

41. See Denolf, Aan derand,pp. 197-98; and Vansina, "Les Mouve-ments religieux," p. 170.42. See Maesen, Umbangu,pl. 20;Joseph Comet, "Apropos des stat-ues ndengese," Arts d'AfriqueNoire 17 (1976), pp. 6-16; and

Faik-Nzuji, cat. no. 142, in Treasures,pp. 344-45. The eth-nonyms Songo Meno, Yaelima, and Ohindo are believed to besynonyms for Ndengesh. For field-based data on other Mongovisual art forms, see Gustaaf Hulstaert, "Les Cercueils desEleku,"Aequatoria 2, no. 1 (1959), pp. 10-15; idem, "Les Cer-cueils anthropomorphes," Aequatoria 3, no. 4 (1960), pp. 121-29; and esp. de Heusch, "LaBeaute est ailleurs,"pp. 188-204.

43. SeeJan Vansina, "DuRoyaume kuba au 'territoire des Bakuba,'"Etudescongolaises12, no. 2 (1969), pp. 26-27, 32-33, 39. It isinteresting to note that the sculptures that Starrcollected in themixed ethnic area around the town of Lwebo for the AmericanMuseum of Natural History consist of a large number of rudi-mentary half- and full-figures but not a single refined and elabo-rately carved Luluwa figure. These figurative carvings aregenerally labeled as "Kete"and "Luba"-referring to Luba emi-grants from along the Lubilanji River-but their style makesthem indistinguishable from schematically carved Luluwafigures. It should be mentioned that many of the objects whichFrederick Starr brought back from the Congo were field-collected by Reverend Samuel P.Verner; see Enid Schildkrout,"Personal Styles and Disciplinary Paradigms: Frederick Starrand Herbert Lang," in The Scramblefor Art in CentralAfrica,Schildkrout and Curtis A. Keim, eds. (Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press, 1998), p. 172.

44. Frans Olbrechts, Plastiekvan Kongo,with assistance from AlbertMaesen (Antwerp: Standaard-Boekhandel, 1946), pp. 52-63;257


24/24

see also Ivan Lermolieff [Giovanni Morelli], Die Werke talien-ischerMeister n den Galerien on Miinchen,Dresdenund Berlin:EinKritischerVersuch,rans.Johannes Schwarze (Leipzig: E. A. See-mann, 1880). However,Vansina ("Ndop,"p. 50) writes that "tospeak of a court style obliterates the major stylistic distinctionsobservable in Kuba art: those between the various geographicalareas and, even more important, that separating masks andother ritual objects ... from purely secular work"; ee also idem,"KubaArts and Its Cultural Context,"AfricanForum3, no. 4, and4, no. 1 (1968), p. 22. Elsewhere, the author emphasizes theimportant cultural, sociopolitical, and religious differencesbetween the Luba and the Luluwa peoples, on the one hand,and the Kuba, on the other; Jan Vansina, "L'Etatkuba dans lecadre des institutions politiques africaines," Zaire 11, no. 5(1957), p. 488; and idem, "Miko mi Yool,"p. 92. Not only wasthere little contact between these peoples until relativelyrecently, the Kuba even disdained the Luba and the Luluwa,who in turn feared the Kuba.

45. Such drinking horns are also depicted hanging from the shoul-der on Luluwa figures that represent high-ranking chiefs; seePetridis, cat. no. 108, in Treasures, p. 330-31; and idem, cat.no. 147, in Afrika, pp. 223-24. It remains uncertain whetherthese objects were made by the Luluwa themselves or wereimported from the neighboring Kuba. Among the Kuba, theyalso serve as status symbols and are used for the consumption ofpalm wine; see Jan Vansina, cat. nos. 146, 147, in KingsofAfrica:Art and Authorityin CentralAfrica. CollectionMuseum ur Vilk-erkundeBerlin, Erna Beumers and Hans-Joachim Koloss, eds.,exh. cat., MECC, Maastricht (Maastricht:Foundation Kings ofAfrica, 1992), pp. 319-20; and DavidA. Binkley,cat. no. 132, inTreasures,p. 341. Curiously, Albert Maesen was told that thepiece he collected in the Luluwa village of Mutefu, now at theRMCA(inv. no. RG 53.74.4445), had been carved by a Chokwesculptor from Tshikapa;Maesen, field notebook no. 30 (1954),p. 57. This drinking horn, which was used for palm wine, wasthe property of a so-called leopard chief (mukalenga wankashaama), he highest rank of chieftainship.

46. For a discussion of a well-known Kuba ndop igure at the Brook-lyn Museum of Art, see David A. Binkley, cat. no. 54, in Africa:The Art of a Continent.ioo WorksofPowerand Beauty,exh. cat.,Guggenheim Museum, New York (New York: Solomon R.Guggenheim Foundation, 1996), p. 113. Following Olbrechts,scholars have grouped Luluwaart with the Luba-Katangaratherthan the Kuba; see esp. Herman Burssens, "Congo Belga," inEnciclopedia niversaledell'arte, ol. 3 (Venice and Rome: Istitutoper la Collaborazione Culturale, 1958), pp. 777-78; and AlbertMaesen, "Styleset experience esth6tique dans la plastique co

Documents

Luluwa Spirituality