Item: Buyu Dance Rattle. Specifications: 29.5 x 5 x 5 cm Origin: Democratic Republic of Congo (see cultural & contextual n notes below) Medium: Timber Carving, Seed Pods & Pigment. (Sale does not include display stand.)

Shipping
 
For international shipping, we offer Registered Airmail (6 to ten days) For domestic shipping, we use Ordinary Parcel Post or Express Post both with Tracking. Purchases will be shipped no later than one business day following receipt of payment. We can provide quotes for insurance, please ask for a quote at time of purchase. For international customers who want a tracking service, we offer International Express with tracking, please request a quote prior to purchase.
 
 
Returns

African Origins sells tribal objects which have been used, in some cases, for many, many years. We ask that you carefully study the photographs relating to each object prior to committing to purchase. In the event that you are unhappy with your purchase for any reason, we accept refunds within seven days of purchase. We offer a full refund or a credit note valid for twelve months, which ever you prefer. Return postage is paid by the purchaser in all cases.

 
 
About African Origins
 
African Origins has been trading online since 2007. We are constantly on the look out for interesting objects to add to our collection. Our tribal collection is sourced from tribal dealers,auction houses, private collections the world over and also collected in the field.. Where possible, we will specify the provenance of important individual tribal objects.
 
Feedback
 

The success of African Origins depends on positive feedback. If you are happy with your purchase, please leave positive feedback and we will do the same for you. If you are not happy, please contact us first before leaving negative feedback and we will do all within our power to rectify the problem.



The Buyu occupy a small area between the Lualaba River and the northwestern end of Lake Tanganyika, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. In this region overrun by innumerable shifts in population, groups of diverse origins coexisted in the same village: Lega, Bembe, Buyu, Bangubangu, and Binji, all of whose primary activity would be the hunt. This occasioned numerous rituals, and it also was an important factor in cultural exchanges and in the mobility of the population.  

The Buyu population is declining and their culture disintegrating due to the expansion of the Bembe over the past 70 years into their territory. Among the six clans that form the Buyu ethnic group, three are known predominantly for their male and female ancestor figures. These venerated chiefs of the Buyu led migrations, founded villages, or provided exceptional leadership.

 The Buyu worship to nature spirits and to ancestors. When bad luck arrives, they try to understand the will of the ancestors either through dream interpretation or divination. The Buyu immortalized their chiefs and ancestors in vigorous figures characterized by a massive head, long, cylindrical torsos, square shoulders, and bulging trunk. The face is triangular in shape. The forehead is marked by circularly arched eyebrows and the eyes have a coffee-bean shape. The jaw dominates the mouth, and the chin is angular. A hatched motif simulates a stylized beard. 

These statues are stylistically so close to those by neighboring ethnic groups who also live on the west banks of the lake – such as the Holoholo, the Binji, and the Bangubangu – that it is sometimes difficult to tell the styles apart. These figures are kept in small huts and are displayed in series of five to seven, and have either a beneficial or a malefic influence on everyday life, so they require a cult and associated offerings. Before leaving for the hunt, the men go there to rub their weapons with white clay; if the hunt has been good, they offer a few trophies upon their return. Sometimes bust figures were also left outside the ancestor shrine, either in the village or in the forest.