Ritual Messengers

The Peoples of Central Africa


| The Peoples of the Kongo | Kongo Masks | Maternity Statues | Chief's staffs | Nkisi nkondi Statues |

Mvwala figure. Kongo (Vili). Lower Zaïre region. Wood, metal, pigments, mirror, leopard claw.
© Africa-Museum, Tervuren

  Nkisi nkondi Statues

Nkondi are representations of the nkisi spirits who try to deter witches, evil-doers and others whose aim is to upset social harmony. In this role, the nkisi nkondi assist the chief, whose first duty is to maintain justice. They are usually anthropomorphic or zoomorphic figures (dogs), and are made by a sculptor and a nganga (ritual specialist). The nkondi receives the nganga's supernatural potential when a receptacle containing magical substances and sealed with a shell or mirror is attached to its head or belly. Nails are driven into the figure to validate each oath or appeal for retaliation, and they gradually transform the nkondi's appearance. As a result, they were seen as malevolent, savage instruments (inappropriately called "nail fetishes") that were used indiscriminately, whereas in fact this aggressive "decorating" was carried out to right specific injustices.


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