"nkisi" fetish "mbwanza minka uda mvula"
Description
bundle of magical loading attached to the tip of a bird beak, wrapped with strips of cloth and equipped with magical attachments (iron bell, pieces of wood, shells and seed capsules); additional: small pouch from tightly knotted plant fibre weave with magical contents;
according to handwritten note by the missionary Carl Niklas Börrisson this fetish was called “mbwanza minka uda mvula” and was used to make rain as well as to make the sky clear up. The fetish belonged to Kapita Kodila(e) from Hatsa(u).
The range of possible forms of a “nkisi” was indefinite. Besides the impressive anthropomorphic and zoomorphic forms, many “minkisi” took the shape of a bag, a basket, a box, a bottle, a pot, a small chest or any other type of container that could hold the “medicines”. Ritual experts “banganga” regularly impressed thier clients with innovations