Mask

Description

The Fangs are a black African ethnic group found in Central Africa today. There are about 500 000 Gabon, 30% of the population, and 600,000 in Equatorial Guinea, 70% of the population. There are also minorities Fang in Cameroon, Congo – Brazzaville, and Sao Tome and Principe. Languages ??fangs come in several dialects and creoles. In Gabon, the Fang group is a large segment of the 60 ethnic groups that make up the nation. Its range extends from northern Gabon (Woleu-Ntem province) center (Middle Ogooué province), to the north-east (province of Ogooue-Ivindo) and the Northwest (province of the Estuary). Many versions of the origin of the Fang group have been developed in recent years. Two hypotheses can be identified: * The assumption is a historic Migration that would have continued until the early twentieth century. In 1840, the contractors Mpongwe on the coast of Gabon scattered signal their presence in the hinterland. The fangs are reached in the Middle Ogooué in the early nineteenth century, and their arrival in the estuary of the Komo would range around 1850. In 1885, the Germans are known by various names in Cameroon: Bulu Ewondo, etc.. All these people were running towards the coast at an average speed estimated at 10 km per year. This hypothesis is also the origin of fangs in Upper Egypt. * The hypothesis drawn from the traditional mythology speaks Fang, in turn, zone to the east, in an elevated region, where there were lakes surrounded by a fauna quite different from Gabon. This hypothesis refers to a myth called March of the children of Kara-Afire, which recounts the perilous march of a people advanced in its migration. Fleeing war and conflict with other peoples, this group will gradually sink into the forest towards so if it equates to the group’s producer Fang myth of equatorial Africa.  This type of mask was used by the male society that no longer exists Ngil today. This secret society was responsible for initiations and she struggled against witchcraft. The Ngil is a rite of cleansing fire symbolized by the gorilla. The holders of these masks were appearing overnight in the villages, lit by torches, and were always in large numbers. The face is covered with kaolin (white color evokes the power of the ancestors). This type of white mask embodies the spirit of a deceased. He also had a judicial function and identified the perpetrators of evil deeds in the village then it gave rise to ritual murders. French colonial authorities banned this type of mask 1910. The eye slits are barely marked and are not open. The voice of the wearer of the mask was not to be identified, that there is no breakthrough in the mouth helps to distort the voice of one in the mask. The ngil was according to the ethnologist Philippe Laburthe-Tolra, the local form of the Inquisition, with its threats and atrocities to extract confessions by torture, cruel, in a terrifying at all unhappy suspects of witchcraft. If ngil, which were awarded all white face masks in blood drawn, is mentioned by various authors before his death in 1910, no clearly evokes the great masks, which have never actually been seen in situ by Westerners. Compared to figures of the reliquary beer, great white masks are very few. Despite the lack of ethnographic information, it is possible to comment on two aspects of large singular masks passed to the kaolin. One is their whiteness, the other face very stretched. White being the color of mourning and death in Fang and people of this region, this feature can be likened to the function of inquisitorial ngil, who not only hunted and tortured those he suspected of witchcraft, but could also execute them. In addition, where the controller was operating Ngil, would cover his body with kaolin. The face can be elongated opposite to the figures of reliquary. The latter often have a round head that is reminiscent of a small child.