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Background information
Made by: Unknown carver and nganga ritual expert Nkisi figures are made by the Kongo people of central Africa. Their power comes from magical substances stored inside their bodies and heads. They are used by ritual experts known as nganga as witnesses to oaths taken at the end of war or judicial proceedings. For example, representatives from each side involved in a conflict would hammer an iron wedge or knife into the nikisi figure and fire a salute to signal a peaceful agreement. In judicial disputes over land, swearing an oath, sealed by hammering a nail, would be sufficient to secure the land for generations. Personal vows could also be sealed through the figures. They could protect a person from envy, identify thieves and be used for predicting the future. A carver made the nkisi and a nganga prepared the sacred medicines that are attached to them or put inside them. It is these magical substances which persuade the spirit to take up residence in the nkisi. Many of the figures were named after chiefs and were paid similar forms of respect. A typical introduction might begin 'sir, open your ears, be attentive, so and so is coming to make an oath on you, may your eyes be clear, your ears open'. The spirit that the minkisi (plural of nkisi) was believed to embody however, was that of a hunter, returned from the land of the dead. The magic substances contain a great variety of material. One Kongo writer, described the contents of a medicine bundle attached to one nkisi as including 'teeth of vipers and all snakes that bite with especial viciousness. Also the claws of mongoose and jackal'. X-ray analysis of two of the figures on display at the Horniman showed earth, beads, animal teeth, and in one case a cartridge case. Throughout the world societies value things that are rare and difficult to acquire. In many cases, rare material from other societies is considered exotic and endowed with special properties. This may explain the presence of mirrors, beads and cartridges in the medicine or magical bundles. The behaviour of the Kongo peoples, was regulated by minkisi (plural of nkisi). In a similar way to swearing on a Bible, a person's word was sealed by attaching a personal item, usually drawn from their body - a piece of cloth, hair or even saliva - to the nail or blade before it was hammered into the figure. In cases of wrongful accusation, the nail could be extracted, but any attempt at deception would inevitably lead to the nkisi spirit taking their revenge. Nevertheless, from the 19th century, European colonisers and missionaries thought the figures and their attendants were evil, connected with pagan beliefs and witchcraft. Most serious of all, they saw them as evidence of organised resistance to their rule. No objects were reviled more than minkisi as embodying all that was distasteful to Europeans. The powerful Kingdom of the Kongo had early diplomatic ties with Europe. As early as the 15th century the Kongo king had an ambassador to the Portuguese court and formal diplomatic relations with Rio de Janeiro. Missionaries arrived in 1490. Within a year the King was converted to Christianity and baptised Alfonso 1st, with many of his chiefs. The Portuguese soon started to interfere in the Kongo's domestic policies. Outright war began in 1660, finally resulting not only in undermining the Kingdom, but Kongo Christianity as well. Sixteenth century Christianity had its own local practices and rituals within Europe. This included hammering nails into crucifixes and the figures of saints in what today is northern Belgium and the south of Holland. I has been suggested that this may have been linked with minkisi in Kongo. |