History Of Head Elongation In The Mangbetu Tribe

At the beginning of the century, “Lipombo,” which involved making the skull longer, was a sign of status among the upper classes of the Mangbetu Tribe. Later, it became a beauty ideal among the people of northeastern Congo. Later, people in the area started doing the same thing. Schildkrout and Keim both say that it lost popularity over time and was finally banned by the Belgian government in the middle of the 20th century.

Their long heads were a big part of what made the Mangbetu Tribe look different. From the time they were born, babies’ heads were tightly wrapped in cloth to make them look slim. In the 1950s, this tradition started to fade as more Europeans moved to the area and Westernization took hold. Still, Mangbetu figures in African art are easy to tell apart because they have long heads that give them a unique look.

Cranial deformation has been seen in many different cultures, like the ancient Egyptians, the Mayans, and Vanuatu. Some pictures of Queen Nefertiti and King Tutankhamen show them with what look like long skulls.

Georg Schweinfurth, a German botanist, met the Mangbetu for the first time in 1870. They live in the northeastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Schweinfurth said that the Mangbetu were aristocratic and elegant in his report of his exploration. During the first half of the 20th century, Western photographers and, later, filmmakers were fascinated by their royal courts, court dances, royal buildings, and artistic expressions.

This was especially true of the way their hairstyles were designed to make their long heads stand out. Profiles of Mangbetu women with their distinctive hairstyles became well-known pictures in the West. They were used on postcards, trade cards, postage stamps, sculptures, jewelry, bookends, and car hood ornaments, among other things. Since the late 1800s, people in the West have been interested in the haircuts of high-status Mangbetu women.

The text emphasizes that these different hairstyles come from Africa and talks about their beauty and how African folklore has influenced them. These hairstyles must have been made after a lot of study of African art and a little bit of magic.

Safety Concerns Of The Head Elongation In The Mangbetu Tribe

Even though European colonialists who moved into the area in the 1950s made it illegal, some members of the Mangbetu tribe still do it today. Keeping to the custom has led to debates and different points of view among different groups.

People who are against the practice worry about how it might affect a child’s brain growth. They fear that changing the shape of the skull could hurt the brain or stop it from growing and working as it should. But experts say that these worries are unfounded because the brain is a very flexible organ that can adapt to different head shapes without getting hurt or deformed. They say that the brain’s flexibility lets it grow and change in the room it has, making it fit the shape of the skull.

It’s important to remember, though, that while the brain can adapt to the changed shape of the skull, the changes to the skull’s appearance are lasting. Once the practice of Lipombo has made the head longer, it can’t be changed back to its original shape.

In addition to having their skulls stretched, Mangbetu tribe women also wear a unique hairstyle that makes their stretched skulls stand out even more. This hairdo shows the world who they are and how much they follow their culture’s traditions. It shows how proud they are of their heritage and makes them stand out in their neighborhood.

The fact that the Mangbetu people still lengthen their skulls and wear long hair shows how important it is to them to keep their culture alive. Even though outside forces and social norms are changing, they choose to keep their customs and show who they are through these unique physical traits.

History Of The Mangbetu Tribe

The Mangbetu were one of many small groups that moved to the northern edge of the Zaire jungle at the start of the 19th century. During this time, their leader, Nabiembali, gathered a group of fighters and led them north across the upper Bomokandi River to conquer the communities of the Mangbele and Mabisanga.

In time, Nabiembali grew the power of the Mangbetu by taking over nearby tribes like the Madi, Bangba, Mayogo, Mayvu, Makango, and Barambo. These victories were important because they brought people who didn’t speak Kere into the Mangbetu country. This was the first-time territorial power was used.

At its core, the Mangbetu society was based on a patrilineal framework, but maternal uncles were very important. It wasn’t unusual for a smart nephew to become the leader of his mother’s family, and his son would then take over his father’s position. Along with these customs, there was also the habit of giving women to different groups or trading with them.

This practice was common in the area as a way to build peace and alliances, but Nabiembali and his followers changed it into a way to control the different ethnic groups that made up their subjects. This was helpful because it gave weaker groups more power through maternal ties. But Nabiembali used this technique in the opposite way.

He chose to marry more than one woman in order to increase his output, show off his wealth, have many sons, and give his conquests more legitimacy, which helped him expand his rule. This plan worked, and some of his children were seen as leaders by their mothers.

Still, as Nabiembali’s sons tried to grow their own power and the impact of their mothers’ clans, they questioned their father’s authority. This made centralized power and Mangbetu rule weaken over time.

Two ideas, nataate and nakira, gave the Mangbetu the right to be in charge. “Nataate” meant that a person could act and have good social skills, while “nakira” meant knowledge, technical skill, and mental acuity, especially in dancing, singing, and speaking in public. The way the Mangbetu decided who would rule next was based on both family history and an individual’s ability.

The king’s superiors, Nataate and Nakira, were very important in choosing the next ruler. So, an eldest son who wasn’t very good could be passed over in favor of a younger brother who was better. In real life, this vague way of transferring power causes a lot of problems.

Early European travelers noticed that the Mangbetu were very advanced in both technology and material goods. In 1870, Georg Schweinfurth, the first European to reach the area, met a Mangbetu leader named Mbunza. Schweinfurth talked about Mbunza’s court, which was made up of hundreds of nobles and courtiers and thousands of people who were his followers.

The capital had big buildings, smaller huts with animal skins, feathered headdresses, and necklaces, and an armory with iron spears, lots of knives, and many shiny copper lances. There were musicians, eunuchs, jesters, ballad singers, dancers, and bodyguards in Mbunza’s home. Large fields and orchards with oil palms and other trees were farmed around the capital (Schweinfurth, 1874).

Even though many parts of the Mangbetu’s material culture were likely taken from the cultures they conquered, the Mangbetu tribe actively supported the artistic growth of all the groups they ruled. Their work included intricately forged chains and knives with carved ivory handles, geometric designs on bodies, pottery, mats, and homes, hairstyles that made heads look longer than they were, finely carved stools, dishes, gongs, trumpets, and canoes, and intricately made clay and wood human heads.

Religion Of The Mangbetu Tribe

The Mangbetu people believe that a god named Kilima or Noro made them. Within the framework of their religion, they also believe in other spirits. Ara was a god of water, and people knew that he could change into a scary animal. The Mangbetu also thought that human souls could come back to life as animals.

In Mangbetu culture, ancestors were very important, and the royal family expected respect for their ancestors. If you didn’t pay attention to what evil powers called Likundu told you to do, you would get sick and have bad luck. Witches could send these spirits to people, and Mangbetu tribe diviners were very important in figuring out what these witches were doing and stopping them.

The Mangbetu’s religious views are also shown in the things they make and use. The “great rulers” had a lot of money, and it included special things that showed how close they were to God. The king was the only one who could use sacred things like leopard skins, tails, teeth, and claws.

The king was also the only one who could use the nekire (a whistle) and the bangbwa (a war drum), which were used to protect the people, bring good luck, and keep control. Also, people thought the king had the power to control the rain, which he didn’t do to help farmers but to make outdoor meetings easier and as a weapon in times of war.

In the 19th century, a magical force called nebeli made its way into Mangbetu culture. People think that this force came from a secret group that was against colonialism and may have started as early as the 1850s. At first, people thought that nebeli was a medicine that lured animals into traps and tamed scary ones.

Later, people started to use it to beat enemies as well. Eventually, Nebeli traditions became part of a secret society with the same name. This society’s goal was to protect the community as a whole and its cultural history. In the 20th century, most Mangbetu tribe chiefs were members of the Nebeli. They used this group to strengthen their control over their people.

At the start of the 20th century, Belgian colonialism caused big changes in Mangbetu culture. Even though the Mangbetu mostly accepted Belgian rule, they did not fully work with the Belgian government or take part in its governance system. The Mangbetu slowly became Christians, and they only sent a few of their children to schools in Europe.

Their cash crops were not as good as those in other parts of the Belgian colony, and it was harder to get them out of the ground. As governmental and business centers grew, fewer Mangbetu took part than other ethnic groups, like the Budu, who worked as clerks, servants, drivers, laborers, vendors, and students.

One of the most common reasons why the Budu did better than the Mangbetu (in comparison) is that the Mangbetu were attacking the Budu at the time of colonial contact, which made them want to follow European rules in order to stay safe. On the other hand, the proud Mangbetu retreated in rebellion. They remembered their past glory and hoped to get back in charge. Mangbetu status was hurt by the loss of slaves, the end of raiding, the shame of being defeated, and other humiliations.

Also, colonial policies slowed the growth of the Mangbetu tribe by making it illegal for lineages to start businesses, lowering the status of the Mangbetu court, regulating succession, and giving the “great rulers” more power to keep their people under control. So, the colonizers were able to put an end to the Mangbetu tribe society.

Art Of The Mangbetu Tribe

The Mangbetu people had their own style of art. Most of their art was kept for the ruling class and was mostly not religious. Wooden figures, which people thought were images of their ancestors, were a form of art that stood out.

These figures looked like important ancestors and were very important to the culture and religion of the people. Also, harps and trumpets used by court singers had human heads sculpted on them. This showed how good the Mangbetu tribe craftsmen were at art and how much they paid attention to detail.

The Mangbetu tribe had highly decorated thrones and knives that were used by their kings. Not only were these things useful, but they were also signs of power and status. The skill of Mangbetu artists was shown by how well these things were made and how intricately they were designed.

Craftsmanship was highly respected when making household items, and it is said that the careful attention to how they looked was meant to show off their beauty and the intelligence of the people who made them. Even everyday things like tools and dishes were made with care and an eye for beauty.

In Mangbetu culture, many utilitarian items were both useful tools and pretty decorations. For example, brooms were first used as props in dances, where they were held in the air like wands, before they were used to sweep. People would show off their wealth and social status by decorating their useful things with beautiful designs.

The fact that spears, knives, and even shields were worn or used as decorations shows how skilled the Mangbetu tribe were at making things and making them look good. Copper wire was sometimes used to decorate toothbrushes and drinking straws, giving them a bit of elegance and sophistication. Flying whisks were usually used by people of high rank. They had handles made of carved wood or ivory and were decorated with copper, brass, or iron wire, showing how important beauty and artistic expression were.

The Mangbetu tribe didn’t just make art for looks; they also made useful things that were beautiful and had cultural meaning. The high quality of their work showed how much they cared about making things that were both beautiful and useful. This reflected the rich cultural history and artistic sensibilities of the Mangbetu community.

Also Read: Who Are The Unknown Indian Diaspora Living in East Africa And How did They get there?

Who Are The Mandé People?

Mandé People is a family of ethnic groups in Western Africa who speak any of the many related Mande languages of the region. Various Mandé groups are found in:

• Benin
• Burkina Faso
• Côte d’Ivoire
• Gambia
• Ghana
• Guinea
• Guinea-Bissau
• Liberia
• Mali
• Mauritania
• Niger
• Nigeria
• Senegal
• Sierra Leone.

The Mande are comprised of a number of different ethnic groups:

• The Bamana (or Bambara), Maninka (or Malinke), and Dyula, who constitute the linguistic and cultural nucleus
• The Somono, Bozo, and Wasuluka, who are close to the nucleus
• The Kagoro, Khasonke, Mandinko, Marka, and Soninke, who are savanna groups
• The Kuranko, Kono, Vai, Susu, and Yalunka, who are forest groups.

The Bamana are the most numerous ethnic group, with a population of around 1.6 million. The Bozo and the Yalunka are two of the smallest groups, with populations of fewer than 50,000 people apiece.

The Mandé people may be found anywhere, from dense coastal rainforests to the dry, dusty Sahel. They are divided mostly by language but share a broad variety of cuisines, cultural practices, and religious tenets. In the modern era, Islam and the caste system have become the main religions.

The religion of Islam has been pivotal in classifying the Mandé as a transnational ethnic group with ties that go beyond the boundaries of specific tribes. Historically, the Mandé had an impact far beyond their own region, reaching the Sahel and Savanna and the Muslim populations that lived there. The Mandé expanded their trading routes down the Niger River and inland, and their military might caused the rise of new nations, including Ghana, Mali, Kaabu, and Wassoulou.

To differing degrees, the Fula, Songhai, Wolof, Hausa, and Voltaic people all share the same written script, architecture, food, and social customs as the Mandé.

The Mande are very fragmented culturally and linguistically. Mande is spoken in several different dialects, some of which are incomprehensible to one another. Some cultural features, such as Islamic observance, also show substantial regional and local variation.

All Mande are farmers at heart, with the vast majority working as subsistence farmers all year. Women’s garden plots and bigger family fields surround many urban centers. Rice is a major food source in many countries.

Many hours are spent in the fields throughout the growing and harvesting seasons. Some farmers augment their income from harvests by engaging in side ventures during the offseason.

Similar social structures may be seen in all Mande communities. The Mande were traditionally stratified among farmers and aristocrats, specialized professions, and slaves prior to the arrival of colonization in the nineteenth century.

The establishment of the Mali Empire in the thirteenth century is often credited with the establishment of this particular social order. Ethnic groups’ definitions of membership and interactions among themselves shifted swiftly throughout time and differed greatly from one another. At the turn of the 20th century, European colonialists outlawed slavery, but the position of slave is still prevalent in Mande society due to the recently established caste system.

The oldest man in a Mande family assumes the role of patriarch. Traditionally, a man’s immediate family’s residences have been considered his “minor lineage” in terms of land ownership. The homes of ancestry-linked brothers and their families form a large lineage. The next bigger unit is a hamlet, which is made up of the homes of males who have a common clan name.

The males of a hamlet gather regularly for ceremonial gatherings, when they are often ranked in an approximate order of seniority based on age. The hamlet also characterizes a form of exogamy in which the males of one hamlet marry males from another.

Men do most of the physical labor on farms, while women do both that and housework. Women are primarily responsible for time-consuming tasks like cooking, cleaning, and childrearing. Women in a village frequently have their own organization with a leader who corresponds to the male religious leader, whereas males often have village-based leadership roles like headman and imam. The girls go to this “circumcision queen,” as she is frequently called, since she is regarded as an authority on health, medicine, and childrearing.

Culture Of The Mandé People

The majority Muslim Mandé people use a patrilineal kinship structure and live in a patriarchal culture. Few of them dress like Arabs, but they generally wash their hands before meals and pray five times a day. In public, their female citizens are covered by veils. The sanankuya, or “joking relationship,” between clans is one of the most well-known customs in Mandé culture.

Secret societies Of The Mandé People

Poro, Sande, or Bundu, their secret fraternal societies and sororities, are founded on ancient traditions said to have arisen about the year 1000 CE. As boys and girls reach puberty, they participate in significant rites of passage and enter gender societies, and these rituals determine the social order within their community.

Caste system Of The Mandé People

Mandé society has always been organized along “caste” lines, with nobles and their vassals. Serfs (Jonw/Jong(o)) were also common and consisted of prisoners or captives seized from rivals during conflict. The nomads and the settlers alike looked up to the descendants of kings and generals.

This discrepancy in social standing has shrunk over time, mirroring the improving economic situations of both groups. The Mandé first settled in many of their current areas as raiders or traders, but they quickly became at home there. Most people in modern times are farmers or nomad fishermen. Some of them are accomplished musicians, griots, or cow herders.

Oral tradition Of The Mandé People

The epic of Sundiata, in particular, plays a significant role in transmitting the Mandé tradition. Oral histories and practices are passed down from nyamankala, the traditional knowledge keepers, to students at Kumayoro. These nyamankala play a significant role in Mandé culture by recording and passing along the oral history of the people.

The most prominent of these schools is Kela, and it plays a crucial role in keeping oral history alive. The versions of the Sundiata epic are very similar because of the high quality of the authors’ work. The epic is performed once every seven years, and the Kela version is the one that counts. The Kela adaptation features a written text known as a tariku. The Mandé are the only people in the world who combine written and oral histories in this way.

There are two main types of epic performances: one for educational or rehearsal purposes, and the other for public dissemination of the story’s key points. Gifts from the many clans featured in the epic are presented as part of the instructional performance. The canonical rendition permits the use of musical instruments and prohibits applause breaks. When performing the epic, the Mandé clans each use their own set of instruments.

The Kandasi also established a school dedicated to teaching their culture’s oral history.

Literature Of The Mandé People

Mandé literature includes the Epic of Sundiata, an epic poem recounting the rise of Sundiata Keita, the founder of the Mali Empire. Ethnomusicologist Eric Charry notes that these tales “for a vast body of oral and written literature” ranging from Ibn Khaldun’s 14th-century Arabic-language account to French colonial anthologies collecting local oral histories to modern recordings, transcriptions, translations, and performance. 

Tarikh al-Fattash and Tarikh al-Sudan are two important Timbuktu chronicles. By the late 1990s, there were reportedly 64 published versions of the Epic of Sunjata. Although traditionally attributed to Mahmud Kati, Tarikh al-Fattash was written by at least three different authors. Among the Mandé, griots are a group, traditionally a specialized caste who are bards, storytellers, and oral historians.

Religion Of The Mandé People

Since at least the 13th century, most Mandé communities in western West Africa have been mostly Muslim. The Bambara are one such group that converted to Islam in the nineteenth century. Traditional beliefs among Muslim Manden include the efficacy of Juju and participation in initiation organizations like the Chiwara and Dwo. The Bobo are only one of several tiny Manden communities that adhere wholly to pre-Islamic religious systems.

Oral histories suggest that the Mandé and the Soninke in particular played a role in the Islamization of non-Mandé Gur tribes living on the Sahel’s periphery through commerce and colonization.

Also Read: The Bamileke Tribe In Cameroon: A Complete History system of Governance Of An Amazing People

Who Are The Bamileke Tribe In Cameroon?

The Bamileke Tribe in Cameroon are a Grassfields people. They are the biggest ethnic group in Cameroon and dominate the country’s West and Northwest Regions. The Bamileke are organized into numerous groupings, each under the supervision of a chief, or fon. They speak several dialects of the GrassField language family that are all closely related to one another.

However, there is a tight relationship between these languages, and seventeen or more varieties are recognized as constituting a Bamileke Tribe dialect continuum by certain classifications. The Bamileke are famed for their elaborately beaded masks, particularly the remarkable elephant mask.

History Of The Bamileke Tribe

The Bamileke Tribe, whose ancestry may be traced back to Egypt, arrived in modern-day northern Cameroon sometime between the 11th and 14th centuries. To avoid being compelled to convert to Islam, they moved further south and west in the 17th century. Christians now make up the majority of this population group. The Bamileke Tribe originate from the western, northern, and southwestern parts of Cameroon, respectively.

Even though the majority of Bamileke Tribe live in the West, it is believed that the majority of them live in the English-speaking North-West (there are 123 Bamileke groupings in this region, compared to 6 in the South-West and 106 in the Western region). Therefore, all of Cameroon’s western and northern western regions, as well as a portion of the southwest, fall under the Grassfields’ purview.

Other than the Bamileke Tribe, there are recently settled foreigners (Fulani, Haoussa, Igbo, etc.) and tribes that are historically more or less linked to the Bamileke, either through blood or through certain cultural intercourses (Dieudonné Toukam, “Histoire et anthropologie du peuple bamiléké”, 2016).

The Bamun and the Bamileke Tribeformerly formed a single nation. Nchare, the leader of the Bamun tribe, was the younger brother of Bafoussam’s namesake. The Bamiléké Tribeare a confederation of many tribes. There are several obvious cultural differences among the Dschang, Bafang, Bagangté, Mbouda, and Bafoussam.

The ancestors of the Bamiléké fled the North in the middle of the 17th century to avoid being converted to Islam. They moved all the way down to Foumban, in the south. Conquerors who traveled all the way there imposed Islam on the people of Foumban.When fighting broke out, many fled, while others stayed and converted to Islam. This is where the Bamun and Bamiléké cultures diverge.

The largest of these Cameroonian ethnic groups is the Bamileke; however, there are many more that make up the Cameroon-Bamileke people cluster.

To avoid being compelled to convert to Islam, they moved further south and west in the 17th century. The struggle against slavery in the Atlantic Slave Trade was another motivating factor for migration. Christians now make up the majority of this population group.

Political Structure And Agriculture Of The Bamileke Tribe

The Bamileke Tribe have established their communities in a systematic and orderly fashion. In many communities, little fields surround clusters of houses that belong to the same family. The fields are usually cleared by the men, but the majority of the labor is done by the women. Machetes and hoes are the main instruments of labor. Cocoyams, groundnuts, and maize are all examples of staple crops.

Many chiefdoms are in charge of Bamileke communities.In many societies, the chief (also known as the fon or fong) serves as the de facto head of state. The Chief also has the title of “Father” in the community. As a result, he enjoys widespread acclaim among the populace. The ‘Father’ selects a child from among his own offspring to be his successor. The identity of the fon’s successor is usually kept hidden until after the fon’s death.

Nine ministries and other councils and advisors make up the fon. The new fon will be crowned by the ministers. Kamveu is the name of the government’s advisory board, which is also known as the Council of Notables.

And for certain fons, a “queen mother” or mafo had a significant role in the past. A number of ward chiefs, each in charge of their own section of the village, report directly to the fon and his advisors. Sub-chiefs, or fonte, are also acknowledged in some Bamileke communities.

Ceramics Of The Bamileke Tribe

Fertility, majesty, and enlightenment are the traditional subjects of religious sculpture.
A chief and a group of esteemed elders provide direction to the Bamileke community. There was a time when people thought the chief could magically assume the form of an elephant, buffalo, or leopard. The welfare of the people, the administration of justice, and the success of agricultural endeavors all fall under the chief’s purview. 

The Bamileke Tribe created a lot of art for royal rituals. The chief is typically depicted in Bamileke sculptures. Objects of art were used to symbolize a person’s social standing. The materials used and the quantity of pieces varied as one moved down or up the social ladder. Ancestral figures and masks, headdresses, bracelets, beaded thrones, flutes, necklaces, swords, horns, fans, elephant tusks, leopard skins, terracotta pots, and dishware can all be found at the home of a chief. The chief utilized all of this to demonstrate his authority.

This tribe is well-known for their beadwork and masks. Beads, copper, and cowrie shells were commonly used in mask decoration. Male and female faces, a deer, a buffalo, birds, and an elephant were all depicted in their carvings. Both the elephant and buffalo masks have symbolic meanings. Traditional occasions for donning a Bamileke Tribe mask include funerals and yearly celebrations. Because of the region’s complicated migratory history, distinguishing between the grassland tribes’ artistic forms may be difficult.

Masquerade performances in Bamileke Tribe are organized by the Kuosi society, which answers directly to the monarch.  This group of strong and affluent men is descended from an ancient military civilization. At the public dance known as a Kuosi, conducted every two years to show off the kingdom’s wealth, even the monarch himself may wear a mask.  

The Kuosi masqueraders may be seen to the left, wearing elaborate feathered headdresses and beaded elephant masks.  You may also pair one of these feathery headresses with a simple outfit.  Masks in the Kuosi community are sometimes designed to look like elephants or leopards, both of which have high social status.

Although Bamileke Tribe masks and masqueraders have been known to make an appearance at royal events, they are more commonly connected with secret male clubs with links to the palace and the King.  The societies are exclusive, and only members and those with proper credentials are allowed to take part in the numerous events.  When operating on behalf of the monarch, each society’s special house employs its own masks, costumes, dances, and secret language to maintain social and religious order across the realm.

One such group is the Kwifo (meaning “night”) society, which serves as a police force while the monarch listens to grievances and gives advice to the people during the day and carries out executions and other penalties after dark.  The Kwifo acts as the King’s representative in civil and criminal matters, settles major disputes, and hands down judgment. Each Kwifo community has its own mask that acts as a spokesperson and symbol.  

This mask, known as Mabu, is used to communicate societal norms to the populace.  The villagers are warned of the Kwifo’s impending arrival and are forced to act respectfully while the group makes its way through the village.  Some masks are thought to symbolize the aggressive and menacing spirit of Kwifo civilization since they are attributed with supernatural strength created by the medicine of the community.  The wearers do not break into dancing because of the seriousness of the circumstances surrounding their arrival.

Kwifo masks are traditionally performed by groups of eight to thirty people, backed by a drum, xylophone, and rattle orchestra.  Special appearances at funerals and memorials for deceased members of the group are met with awe and respect.

The huge, helmet-shaped mask is placed on top of the head and worn at an angle; the masquerader’s eyes are covered with fabric so that he may see out of the corners of his eyes. The carved headgear evokes the style of a prestige cap used by kings and officials (see below), highlighting the society’s elevated position. The earth spider design (shown above) is often carved into the masks of the Kwifo civilization, and it represents the formidable might of the ancestors and spirits.

This kwifo mask depicts a hairdo typical of the Bamun, Bamileke, and Tikar, and may be seen on several examples of brass, bronze, and wooden sculpture. The Bamenda call this crown the Ndam Tcheu Dop, while the Bandjan call it the Tcho Dung Dung.

The majority of sculptures, including memorial statues and masks, use this hairstyle. It was first seen on a knitted or crocheted royal cap made of raffia or vegetable fibers, which served as its inspiration. It had two pronounced lobes, or lateral projections. Its distinctive tails, bumps, blades, or small rolled-up-cloth lobes each hide a thin wooden peg that stiffens or stabilizes the structure.

Marriage

Bamileke Tribe practice polygynous marriage. At a young age the boy to men will attempt to gain a title and money to be respected to buy a bride. There are wife givers and wife receivers. “In bride-price marriage, the groom gains reproductive, sexual, and domestic rights by giving gifts of palm oil, goats, blankets, firewood, and money to the family of his bride.” The bride’s father and the groom never do the bride price exchange.

The father of the bride gains rights over the marriage on the patrilineal side of his daughter. “Christian marriage can still take place with or without bride-wealth, marriage by a justice of the peace, elopement, and single parenthood.” The bride price depends on the amount of education the woman has but also on how much the groom ability to pay is.

The term for marriage is to “to cook inside” that symbolizes the women’s confidence to her kitchen. This is a literal term for the woman to cook each meal for her husband but to also “cook” or procreate children.

Inheritance patterns

The Bamiléké Tribe place significance on agnatic male lineages. All rights to the village, its land, buildings, and women are passed down through the male line, or patriline. After two generations have passed, non-heirs are no longer required to make sacrifices to patrilineal skulls. Titles, personal property, and moral and legal obligations are passed down through a family’s female line.

Interactions and conflicts between parents and offspring: Rivalry among a man’s several wives can sometimes coexist with close friendship and affection. Some of the elder spouses are tasked with “fostering” the younger ones. The mother and full siblings are often quite close, whereas half siblings may compete with one another for parental attention and inheritance.

“Social roles are modeled through one’s actions and explained through tales told around the family table,” says the proverb. According to the Bamiléké, “relations among full siblings are particularly warm, and they attribute this solidarity to hearthside conviviality and storytelling.” Mothers often take the lead in childrearing, although an older sibling or co-wife may step in to assist when necessary. The Bamiléké are exogamous, meaning they forbid marriages within their own family line beyond the fourth generation. Avoiding marriage within the maternal family.

The male parent is the heir, whereas the female parent is the heiress. In common usage, however, cousins are not simply referred to by their sibling’s name. There are specialized naming conventions for each birth order of siblings. Children born after a set of twins are also given special names, and there is a whole system of praise names that proclaim the parents’ hometowns. Kingdoms and age divisions are both designated by generational names.

Different types of inheritance (such as bilateral or matrilineal): “Male elites are singled out in discussions of how ties to one’s hometown affect one’s political standing.” Through agnatic ties, the Bamiléké place significance on the male bloodline. All rights to the village, its land, buildings, and women are passed down through the male line, or patriline.

After two generations have passed, non-heirs are no longer required to make sacrifices to patrilineal skulls. Titles, personal property, and moral and legal obligations are passed down through a family’s female line. The sons make an effort to farm the area around their father. To prepare for battle, young men formed groups called mandjo.

Political system

There were kings who owned all land then trickled down a laddered hierarchy to women of the land owning men. Bamilekè Tribe boys in their youth go out seeking jobs in return for cash to buy consumer goods, bride wealth, and to gain title.

Village and house organization: The kingdoms are divided into quarters, villages, compounds, and houses. The kingdom government and administration live in the “quarter” also referred to as the “village”. If the family were monogamous then the living arrangement would consist of a conjugal house, a kitchen, and an outhouse.

If the family were polygynous the living arrangement would consist of just “the husbands house surrounded by a semi-circle or two rectangular “quarters” of his wives’ kitchen-houses.” The wives live in their kitchen houses with their children. The children (boys and girls) will live there until they get married or go off to school. The kitchen house has one room with a hearth in the middle and a granary of raffia bamboo above the hearth.

They are most commonly made out of mud bricks and roofed with thatch or tin. The house used to be made of raffia bamboo with sliding doors and thatch with conical roofs. They would all be square. During the pre-colonial era, rural compounds commonly had a fence.

They rarely do nowadays. All of the royal houses follow a specific floor plan and are always located/built on a slope. “Below an entry gate made of spines of the raffia palm (“bamboo”) and either thatch or corrugated iron, a wide path (the “foot” of the compound) divides the two wives’ quarters, each quarter ruled by titled queens.”

Specialized village structures (mens’ houses): “A gate leads to the king’s palace, a variety of meeting houses of secret societies, a traditional court building, and a sacred water source used only for the king’s meals.” They consider the are above the gate to be “dry and infertile” while the area below the gate is considered “rich, moist, fertile, and spiritually complicated.”

Shamans and Medicine

The community had diviners and spirit medians that determine the need for a ceremony and in healing. Healers and witches use the same supernatural powers.Many healers combine divination with herbal medicine. In the past, diviners, spirit mediums, and religious specialists had higher status than herbalists. This relation is now reversing, along with a trend toward more individual and fee-for-service treatment. Contemporary Bamiléké seek medical assistance from both private and public hospitals and clinics as well as from their rich array of traditional practitioners (see “Religious Practitioners”).

Passage rituals (birth, death, puberty, seasonal): It is ritual that the mother buries the placenta and umbilical cord after birth. Baby boys are then circumcised and girls are secluded until pre puberty. For the king: “Royal rituals enact the transformation of a new king from a mere mortal to a divine being, the embodiment of the office of kingship. These rituals include capturing the new king, and enclosing him and two of his queens in a special temporary structure ( la’ kwa ) for nine weeks.

During this time they are fed medicines and taught their new duties. A ritual—complete with the symbolism of birth and feeding—marks the emergence of the king from la’ kwa. He fully becomes king only after he has sired at least one male and one female child.”

Royal Tradition and the Arts

Masquerades are an integral part of Bamileke culture and expression. They are donned at special events such as funerals, important palace festivals and other royal ceremonies. The masks are performed by men and aim to support and enforce royal authority.

The power of a Bamileke king, called a Fon, is often represented by the elephant, buffalo and leopard. Oral traditions proclaim that the Fon may transform into either an elephant or leopard whenever he chooses. An elephant mask, called a mbap mtengis a mask with protruding circular ears, a human like face, decorative panels on the front and back that hang down to the knee and are covered overall in beautiful geometric beadwork including lots of triangle imagery.

Isosceles triangles are prevalent as they are the known symbol of the leopard. Beadwork, shells, bronze and other precious embellishments on masks elevate the mask’s status. On occasion, a Fon may permit members of the community to perform an elephant mask along with a leopard skin, indicating a statement of wealth, status and power being associated with this masquerade.

Buffalo masks are also very popular and present at most functions throughout Grassland societies, including the Bamileke. They represent power, strength and bravery and may also be associated with the Fon.

Succession and kinship patterns

The Bamileke Tribe trace ancestry, inheritance and succession through the male line, and children belong to the fondom of their father. After a man’s death, all of his possessions typically go to a single, male heir. Polygamy (more specifically, polygyny) is practiced, and some important individuals may have literally hundreds of wives. Marriages typically involve a bride price to be paid to the bride’s family.

It is argued that the Bamileke Tribe inheritance customs contributed to their success in the modern world:

“Succession and inheritance rules are determined by the principle of patrilineal descent. According to custom, the eldest son is the probable heir, but a father may choose any one of his sons to succeed him. An heir takes his dead father’s name and inherits any titles held by the latter, including the right to membership in any societies to which he belonged. And, until the mid-1960s, when the law governing polygamy was changed, the heir also inherited his father’s wives–a considerable economic responsibility.

The rights in land held by the deceased were conferred upon the heir subject to the approval of the chief, and, in the event of financial inheritance, the heir was not obliged to share this with other family members. The ramifications of this are significant. First, dispossessed family members were not automatically entitled to live off the wealth of the heir. Siblings who did not share in the inheritance were, therefore, strongly encouraged to make it on their own through individual initiative and by assuming responsibility for earning their livelihood.

Second, this practice of individual responsibility in contrast to a system of strong family obligations prevented a drain on individual financial resources. Rather than spend all of the inheritance maintaining unproductive family members, the heir could, in the contemporary period, utilize his resources in more financially productive ways such as for savings and investment. […] Finally, the system of inheritance, along with the large-scale migration resulting from population density and land pressures, is one of the internal incentives that accounts for Bamileke success in the nontraditional world”.

Donald L. Horowitz also attributes the economic success of the Bamileke to their inheritance customs, arguing that it encouraged younger sons to seek their own living abroad. He wrote in Ethnic groups in conflict: “Primogeniture among the Bamileke and matrilineal inheritance among the Minangkabau of Indonesia have contributed powerfully to the propensity of males from both groups to migrate out of their home region in search of opportunity”.

Bamileke elephant masks

Elephants are the world’s most commanding land creatures, unsurpassed in grandeur and power. Thus elephant masks, while rare in Africa, are fully appropriate symbols of important leaders or, at least, their respected deputies or messengers. The societies that use these masks in fact act as agents of chiefs’ control and as formal royal emissaries.

Elephant societies that originated in Bamileke and spread elsewhere in the Grasslands consist of three graded ranks attained by wealth. These elephant masks, signifying kingship and wealth, were worn by the powerful members of the Kuosi regulatory society, which included members of royalty, wealthy title holders, and ranking warriors of the Bandjoun kingdom of western Cameroon.

In the past, payment of a slave or a leopard pelt to the chief who owns the society was necessary for entrance to the highest rank. The glass beads used on earlier masks were nineteenth-century trade beads of Venetian or Czechoslovakian manufacture, used as well in exchange for slaves. Elephant mask costumes were thus called “things of money” since their beads were both objects and symbols of wealth (Brain and Pollock 1971:100; Northern 1975:17-21).

Elephant masks comprise cloth panels and hoods woven from plantain fiber over raffia. On this background multicolored beads are stitched in geometric patterns. The basic form depicts salient features of the elephant—a long trunk and large ears. The hood fits tightly over the masker’s head, and two hanging panels, one behind and one in front, partially conceal the body.

The front panel is the elephant trunk, and the two large, stiff circles hinged to either side of the head are its ears, which flap as the masker dances. While the mask symbolizes an elephant, the face is human. Eyeholes provide visibility, and a nose and mouth with teeth are normally present.

Such masks are often worn with robes of dark woven fiber covered with small fiber knobs or indigo and white tie-dyed “royal” cloth. The robes contrast greatly with the maskers’ bright red legs, dyed with camwood. Costumes also include beaded vests with broad belts and leopard pelts attached at the back. Since a chief owns or controls the masking society, both leopards and elephants are apt metaphors for symbolic impersonation.

Maskers dance barefoot in these colorful costumes to a drum and gong, moving slowly as they wave poles with blue and white beaded tips trimmed with horsehair. They whistle “mysteriously and tunelessly,” brandishing spears and horsetails. Maskers are later joined by chiefs and princesses, parading by an elaborate tent in which high-ranking men sit to observe.

A masker hurls his horsetail to the chief, the crowd cheers, and the celebration continues with various feats performed primarily by younger maskers. When the festivities end, the favorites are rewarded with kola nuts and wine (Brain and Pollock 1971:100-104; Northern 1975:17).

The mask’s lavish use of colored beads and cowrie shells displayed the wealth of the members of the Kuosi society; and its colors and patterns expressed the society’s cosmic and political functions. Cowrie shells are also symbols of wealth and power and were used in the some examples of  these masks.

Also Read: Who are the Mandinka: The Great History Of the Mandinka/Mandingo People

Igbo People

The majority of Igbo PEople may be found in Nigeria, but they hail from other parts of West Africa. Over 70 million people belong to this culturally and linguistically varied ethnic group, making them one of Africa’s biggest and most numerous. The Igbo are recognized for their inventive spirit, resilience, and deep cultural roots.

The Igbos’ beginnings are shrouded in mystery. The Igbo believe that their ancestor, Eri, guided them from a divine origin to their current home in southern Nigeria. It has been hypothesized that the Igbo originally came from Syria in the Middle East many centuries ago. Others have hypothesized that they migrated southward from the Nile Valley.

Igbos have always been thought of as a people that value independence and pride above all else. Their commercial achievements are noteworthy, as is their pioneering spirit. The Igbo were among the earliest people in West Africa to embrace Christianity and western education. The Igbos’ early adoption of Western values contributed to their later development as an educated, literate society.

The Igbo people have a long history of peaceful coexistence with people of many different cultural backgrounds. Still, the Igbo people and other major groups, like the Hausa and the Yoruba, have had times when things were not good.The Nigerian government was overthrown in 1966 by a coup headed by an unknown number of troops. Almost thirty thousand Igbo were killed in response to the coup by the Northern Hausa. As a result of the assault, the Biafran War broke out.

Nigeria and Igbo-led separatist organizations fought each other in the Biafran War.Millions of people, primarily Igbo, were killed during the war that lasted from 1967 to 1970. Because of escalating tensions and atrocities following the coup, which Igbo soldiers had led, the Igbos desired independence from Nigeria.

During the conflict, when the Biafran separatist movement was finally put down, Igbos were forced to join the Nigerian Federation again.The war’s aftermath has influenced the Igbos’ social and political identity, and it is still a touchy subject today. The fact that the Igbo people were able to keep going through the war and its aftermath shows how tough, resourceful, and creative they are.

Even though they have had setbacks in post-coup and post-war Nigeria, the Igbo people have continued to work for economic, cultural, and political growth.Since the end of the Biafran War, the Igbo people have been working to rebuild their villages and get more political power in Nigeria.There have been many democratic administrations in the country, and some Igbos have served in those governments.

In 1999, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, an Igbo, stood for president of Nigeria and became the country’s first president from that ethnic group. Despite his failure, it showed how seriously the Igbos took their quest for political inclusion in the Nigerian federation. In the past few years, Igbos have held the presidency of the Senate and a number of other high government jobs.

While the Igbo people have coexisted peacefully with other Nigerians for decades, some still doubt their political standing.Some people’s imaginations won’t let go of the idea of a breakaway state. The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) are a new political movement that is calling for a free and independent Biafra. Some Igbos continue to push for an independent Igbo state, notwithstanding the Nigerian government’s refusal to recognize the IPOB.

Nigeria’s current federal system divides the country into states based on where they are, not on their ethnicity.Still, there are institutionalized political systems that make sure the Igbo and other minorities have a voice in government.For the sake of regional development, the 1999 Nigerian Constitution established both a North-East Development Commission and a Niger Delta Development Commission.

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was set up to improve the environment and help the region’s economy grow.Some Igbo leaders have argued for the establishment of a similar committee to deal with problems in the South and East.

The cultural history of the Igbo people is extensive and varied. The Igbo New Yam Festival, the Ikeji Festival, and the Mmanwu Festival are just a few of their lively celebrations. The latter celebrates the masquerade celebration, where many masks represent various aspects of Igbo society and history.

Jollof rice, egusi soup, and pounded yam are only a few examples of the Igbo people’s well-respected culinary contributions. Igbos’ inventiveness shines through in their cuisine, which emphasizes veggies over meat.

In conclusion, the Igbo people of southern Nigeria are a hardy, creative, and honorable race. Their importance to Nigeria’s history and culture cannot be overemphasized, and their contributions to the country’s progress cannot be forgotten. Nigerian politics continues to broach the topics of political representation and independence. The Igbo people’s struggle to establish a rich and independent state is an example of their tenacity and strength.

Also Read: Biafra War That Almost Destroyed A Country , 1967-1970