Product Details
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- Lega Female Iginga Figure, Congo
- The figures used in the cult of the Bwami are generically called Kaginga. Collective, sacred properties, they are kept in secret, generally in closed wicker baskets. Their use is reserved at passages to the upper (Yananio) and supreme (Kindi) levels.
- The figure is inseparable from the aphorism associated with it.
- The Bwami is a hierarchical association by ranks which organizes the social structure and ensures the stability of the Lega community
- Each change of level is accompanied with initiation rites where people talk, sing, dance, mime and exhibit. A multitude of aphorisms are used in stories and songs
- The aim is to formulate and to interpret in multiple symbolic ways principles, moral and philosophical values and rules of Bwami, to each and inculcate them, and to bestow upon the initiates the paraphernalia pertinent to their grade level together with their symbolic references, and to convey the resulting power, prestige and privileges. (Biebuyk, Sculptures don not speak 2010)
- The Lega are a Bantu forest people of Central Africa, established in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in the provinces of South Kivu and Maniema.
- Measurements: About 10 3/4 inches high,11 3/4 " with the base
- Condition: Excellent
- Sold on Base
- Circa 1920-40's
