African Arts Gallery

These African statuettes , ritual charms belonging to the lineages and ensuring protection against enemies, were made following the instructions of Nganga ngoombu and the sponsor of the object. The traditional sculptures were then activated with rituals and incantatory formulas, and additions in the form of talismans or medicinal substances. The characteristic headdress is that of the heads of land. These sculptures were often hung in the boxes. Satin patina, abrasions.
Hierarchical and authoritarian, made up of formidable warriors, Yaka society was governed by lineage chiefs with the right to life and death over their subjects. Hunting and the resulting prestige are the opportunity nowadays for the Yaka to invoke ancestors and to evoke rituals with the help of charms linked to the "khosi" institution. The initiation society for young people is the n-khanda , which is found among the Oriental Kongo (Chokwe, Luba, etc ...), and which uses various charms and masks in order to to ensure a vigorous strain. The Suku and Yaka ethnic groups, very close geographically, benefit from the same social and political structure as well as from similar cultural practices. They can only be differentiated by their stylistic variations. Ref. : C.M.Faïk-Nzuji, "The power of the Sacred"; "Treasures of Africa" ​​ed. Tervuren Museum; "Yaka", ed. 5Continents.