Male guardian figure "eyema byeri"
David Serra, Barcelona, Spain
Pierre Dartevelle, Brussels, Belgium
Description
wood, blackish- and reddish brown patina, in seated posture, with both hands grasping the thighs, striking slender trunk with muscular arms, strong calves, well-formed head with projecting mouth and nailheads as pupils, diadem-like headband, lobed coiffure with crest and drilled hole for attachment of feather ornament “aseng”, worked on plug-like projection, slightly dam., minor missing parts (nose, mouth, ears), larger missing part (both foot tips), fissure (plug), rest. (right side of the head), base;
comparable figures were collected in situ in 1904-09 for the Völkerkunde Sammlung in Lubeck by Günter Tessmann (Tessmann 1913:119).
The veneration of the ancestors by the Fang is always centred on the skulls of near relatives, especially the father, the mother or the fathers’ uncle. The skulls are unearthed weeks, if not months after the burial and then cleaned. Together with medicine and dry banana leaves they are placed in containers made of tree bark. A wooden figure is attached to the top of the container. These figures can be called ancestral figures according to Tessmann, even though they do not represent a particular person. The uninitiated, especially women, are forbidden to see the contents of the container. The figures come in different shapes and forms. The oldest are a simple head, later half figures and then complete figures are to be found. On the lower part of the figure is a form of peg that is inserted into the skull container so that the figure appears to sit on the edge of the container. The skull containers and figures were sometimes placed in specially prepared sacred huts, but mostly they were simply left to stand in the corner of the owners hut.
When a community decided that the time was right then a ceremony (“malan”) was held for the ancestors to request their blessings. The young men were also initiated into the cult at this time. For this, the skull was given special treatment a few days before the ceremony. This consisted of smearing it with camwood (“baphia nitida”) and the skull was also given offerings of food. The actual ceremony took place behind a screen where a type of puppet show took place with the guardian figures. At the climax of the ceremony the skulls were taken out of the container and placed on banana leaves that were laid on the floor. A village elder then makes various requests of the skull, for example better luck with hunting, better harvests, more children etc. The second day of the ceremony is accompanied by dancing and drumming, animal sacrifices, the mixing of medicines, the anointing of skulls and initiates, as well tree shaking etc.
The Ntumu Fang live in northern Gabon and extreme southern Cameroon, as well as in Equatorial Guinea (Rio Muni).
Ntumu artists, through the sometimes astonishing exaggeration of proportions, sought to give symbolic emphasis to important parts of the body: the head, as the seat of vitality, the hands, which pay homage to the spirits of the dead, the protruding navel, a reminder of the link between humans from generation to generation; sexual attributes, male or female, symbolising the fecundity of the lineage. And although these figures are associated with human family relics, there is nothing frightening or threatening about them: they show a serene, meditative vision of the ancestors. Nonetheless, the “eyema byeri” used to be feared and were handled with care.