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67 At the Back of the Black Man's Mind By R. E. Dennett
CHAPTER VIII. NDONGOISM
Fetishism and Religion.-The Zinkici. -Putting Life into the Image.-The Mpumbu. -Rites.-
Ximbuka and other Zinkici. -Amulets. -Nail Fetishes. - How they are made.
IT is commonly assumed by writers on Africa that fetishism (the worship of tutelary
images) is the religion of the African. It is true that images (so-called gods of Africa) of
this description are very common in the Kongo, and if religion be defined as the relation
conceived to exist between man and an invisible world, the term religion may perhaps
be applied without inaccuracy to this cult, which is essentially not unlike the occultism
of more civilised regions with its familiar bottle imps and witches' sabbaths.
Whether this fetishism (or NDONGOISM) is, properly speaking, religion or not is of
small importance. There is at any rate side by side with this cult what few observers
appear to have noticed, a higher religion, which I call NKICI-ISM, connected with
NZAMBI and the powers which as his attributes symbolise him under the name of
BAKICI BACI.
The ZINKICI are of two classes, ZINKICI ZINZO or ZINKONDI (home-protecting figures,
charms, and talismans), and ZINKICI ZIMBOWU (figures into which nails are driven).
Specimens of both kinds are to be found in the British Museum and also in the Museum
in Exeter, and illustrations of some of these can be seen in Plates V and VII from an
article in theQuiver entitled "The Gods of Africa," 35 by Mr. F. M. Holmes.
In this article there is an interesting passage referring to the late Rev. Thomas Comber, a
missionary in the Congo, whom all loved very much, which, if correct, points to a
difference in the way these fetishes are supposed to act in the Congo and in Luango.
"Could this image hurt me?" asked Mr. Comber.
"Oh, yes; it would strike you dead."
Mr. Comber took it in his hand, and turned it about and looked at it meditatively. It was
a funny little object, an image of wood, with a large protuberance on its back and a
similar protuberance on its chest, looking as though it were both hump-backed and
pigeon-breasted at the same time.
"What would happen if I were to cut it?" asked Mr. Comber.
"Oh, it would strike you dead!" they exclaimed in alarm.
"May I try?" he asked.
"Oh, it will kill white man," they asserted.
35 Many people talk of the gods of the BAVILI, as they call the "powers" and fetishes, but the BAVILI themselves
say NZAMBI U VANGA BANTU I U VANGA BAKICI BACI, or God made man and he made the "powers" on earth
also
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