Mvwala staff. Kongo (Yombe). Lower Zaïre
region. Wood, headed nails, pigments.
© Africa-Museum, Tervuren
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Myths about the foundation of the
Kongo peoples state that nine staffs (mvwala or nti amfumu) belonging to the
nine original clans were needed to help rule. Such staffs were seen as
instruments of power, symbolizing the chief's crucial role in communicating
between the world of the living and that of the dead. The staffs also
illustrate the Kongo people's views on power, and highlight the importance
of women and fertility. Some staffs depict a woman as the founder or
ancestral mother of the clan; a child on her lap or at her breast
representing the clan as a unified entity. Geometric patterns on the shaft
of the staff are more than decorations: they contain coded messages about
relations between the living and the dead.
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