Africa

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48. Central Africa

Receptacles for the Powers from the Hereafter

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Of all the ritual objects in the Kongo cultural area, the mikondi "nail fetishes" perhaps most deeply marked the Europeans when they discovered Africa. Considered to be violent figures used in witchcraft, they fanned fantasies of an Africa of deep forests, plunged in obscurantism. Literally inhabited by a spirit, these anthropomorphic or zoomorphic "power objects" are made and handled by nganga ritual specialists. The agglomerated bilongo clinging to the wooden sculptures give the objects magical powers and they are invoked whenever a person or a community feels afflicted or threatened.

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