Within and on the borders of the Congo Rain Forest live a
number of Bantu-speaking peoples, including the BaKongo, the
Vili, and the Yombe.
Their ancestors were both Bantuphones who migrated from the
north and the hunter-gatherer societies of the rain forests, and
they share a number of rituals, traditions, and historical trends of
transformation. The nkisi nkonde figure is one of these. This
particular figure is probably Yombe.
Size about 3ft tall
Yombe social organization is based upon an ancestral/mythical
figure, Mbaangala, whose nine daughters are the cultural
heroines with which the nine Yombe clans identify. Each
Yombe individual understands his/her place in the clan and their
relationship with other clans based, but the major day-to-day
socio-political unit is the village, which may have members of
several clans, and the major economic unity is the extended
family, a smaller sub-division of the clan.
Within the village-community setting, the nkisi nkonde figure is
used collectively, although ownership by individuals is not
uncommon. These figures generally are characterized by a
raised right arm, usually with a spear indicating power, some
type of nails or iron blades, a mirrored belly, and some type of
‘medicine’ behind the belly. Mirrors, of course, do not predate
Europeans in this region but iron does, and the use of iron in
these figures, the only substance that allows clearing of the rain
forest for crop cultivation, is significant. The impaling of the
object, which is often takes place a variety of different times, is a
ritual that signifies some event of importance.
The nkisi nkonde play four or five principal roles in the
community. The first is contractual. Individuals seal an
agreement by driving a blade or other object into the figure,
usually after moistening the iron object with saliva. This act
identifies the signatories to the figure and enables it to punish
the agreement breaker. Similarly, oaths are taken over the
statue.
This power figure from the BaKongo of lower Congo (Zaire) was
a public figure, whose magical power was activated by driving
sharp points, tacks, nails, or blades of iron into its surface. Such
objects (nkisi-nkonde) were used for healing and for punishing
one¹s enemies and for oath-taking. Two people might seal an
agreement between them by moistening two nails with saliva
African Antiques > Yombe Nkisi Nkonde figure
Yombe Nkisi Nkonde figure
and driving them into the figure side by side, at the same time
praying to the nkisi to punish whoever broke the agreement.
The agreement was made binding by wrapping the nails with
cord or even with tiny model slave manacles. The figure stands
with one arm raised (the hand once grasped a spear or knife)
with the thumb pointing toward the realm of God, Nzambi.
The figure also plays a role in judicial-legal proceedings.
Judgements, made by community leaders, are generally
consensual settlements, and the nkisi nkonde is invoked to
insure the parties abide by the settlement.
Finally, the nkisi nkonde is useful for health concerns.
Religious-medical specialists invoke the spirit within the figure to
identify the cause of ill-health in an individual, in some cases
utilizing the glass or mirror to scry or see the person or people
who may be choosing to harm their patient.