Anthropomorphic mask ·  D. R. Congo / Angola (Northern), Zombo · ID: 3049773

Description

wood, pigment, grass fibre, rest., base

Most of the Zombo live on Angolan territory, on the banks of the Inkissi. Their neighbours to the north are the Nkanu and to the east their homeland reaches the territory of the Yaka.

A comparable mask collected in the early 1930s by a missionary in the Uige region, published in M. L. Felix, 2018, p. 93, Cat.012 (AHDRC 0016290). Both masks wear the same crested hairstyle and are painted with bright indigo blue pigment.

Masks of the Zombo are closely linked to the male initiation society “nlongo”. They were worn by the young initiates at dances that probably took place towards the end of the seclusion period, when the young men finally left the camp to tour the surrounding villages.

Comparing literature

Felix, Marc Leo, Congo Masks, New Haven, London, Hong Kong 2018, p. 93, Cat.012 Herreman, Frank & Constantijn Petridis (ed.), Face of the Spirits, Tervuren 1993, p. 32 f.