Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Because they are aggressive, many nkondi with human figures are carved with their hands raised, sometimes bearing weapons. The earliest representation of an nkisi in this pose can be seen in the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Kongo, designed around 1512 and illustrated between 1528 and 1541, where a broken "idol" is shown with this gesture at the base of the shield. [5]
Nkondi are invoked to search out wrongdoing, enforce oaths, and cause or cure sicknesses. Perhaps the most common use was the locating and punishing of criminals, by hunting down wrongdoers and to avenging their crimes. An oath taker may declare him or herself vulnerable to the disease caused by an nkondi should he or
The Kongo people believed in the Creator God Nzambi Mpungu, his female counterpart Nzambici, and a host of nature spirits that were referred to as simbi, nkisi, nkita and kilundu spirits. [63] In an attempt to convince Kongo people to convert to Catholicism, Portuguese missionaries often stressed that Nzambi was the Christian God.
Nkisi nkondi of the Bakongo.They are a subclass of nkisi, objects believed to be inhabited by spirits, common across the Congo Basin. The beliefs and practices of African people are highly diverse, and include various ethnic religions.
This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create or digitize it. If the file has been modified from its original state, some details may not fully reflect the modified file.
Nzambi is the "sovereign master"; he created the earth, then withdrew from the world. Nzambi Mpungu remains responsible for rainfall and health. [3]Aluvaiá (also Bombo Njila, Pambu Njila, Nzila, Mujilo, Mavambo, Vangira, Njila, Maviletango) is an intermediary between human beings and other Nkisi; he is additionally the protector of the houses.
These practices from the Kongo in the Americas were done to ward places from evil spirits, conjure spirits of the dead and ancestral spirits, and for spiritual protection against withcraft. The Nkisi Nkondi is made by an nganga and the spirit of the Nkondi is used to hunt and punish evil witches. [29] [30] [31]
For example, archeologists found the remains of an nkisi nkondi with iron wedges driven into the figure to activate its spirit in one of the cabins called the "curer's cabin." Researchers also found a Kongo bilongo , which enslaved African Americans created using materials from white porcelain to make a doll figure.