TRIBAL
AFRICAN ART

HEMBA
(BAHEMBA)

Democratic
Republic of the Congo

In
southeast DRC, the 90,000 Hemba people inhabit the right bank of the Lualaba
River. This region presents vast plains surrounded by high hills and bordered
by streams, rocks, and marshes. They are primarily subsistence
agriculturalists whose main staples include manioc, maize, peanuts, beans and
yams. These crops are supplemented by small scale hunting and fishing done
mostly by the men. Some alluvial copper is panned from the river and sold to
outside markets. Their social organization is founded on a system of clans
that brings together several families sharing a common ancestor. They
recognize a creator god Vidiye Mukulu and a supreme
being ShimuGabo. The
Hemba practice ancestor worship, not only to keep the memory of their great
chiefs alive, but also to justify the present authority and power of the chief
of the clan; the latter has absolute authority over clan members and is in
charge of several ancestor figures he keeps in his own hut or in a smaller,
funerary hut. The chief of the clan renders justice and his status as clan head
means that he has the privilege of receiving numerous gifts. As celebrant of
the ancestral cult, the chief of the clan, surrounded by the people,
communicates with the ancestor, recalling his great deeds and summoning his
good will. He renders justice in his own home, and collects tributes for it.
Along with medicine, law, and sacrifices, the ancestral cult penetrates all
social, political, and religious domains. To possess numerous effigies is a
sign of nobility. Secret societies such as Bukazanzi for the men and Bukibilo
for the women counterbalance the chief of the clan’s power. Diviners
play an important role in society, often requiring that certain ancestors be
appeased in order to establish balance in the community.

The
Hemba are a matrilineal people with a sculptural tradition devoted mainly to
representation of male ancestors. The sculptures of the Hemba include singiti male
ancestor figures and two types of masks. Although every figure is the portrait
of a specific person, the artist portrays generalized , not particular,
individual traits. The figures express equilibrium, symmetry and refinement.
The sculptural beauty reveals the highest moral qualities. The Hemba see the
serenely closed eyes and the rounded face as reflecting the ancestor’s interior
calm. A four-lobed hairdo typical for many Hemba figures, evokes the four directions
of the universe and the crossroad where spirits assemble. Hands on each side of
the swelling belly indicate the ancestor embracing and watching over
descendants. They are called upon by the chief of the clan who is in charge of
them, in a dialogue recalling the valiant deeds of the ancestor in return for
his benevolence. The Hemba honor the kabeja, a Janus-shaped
statuette, with a single body and two faces, male and female, on one neck.
The kabeja is topped with a receptacle for magic ingredients. Each
clan possesses a single kabeja, which is dangerous to handle, and
which receives sacrifices intended for the spirits, a magico-religious practice
that is of the essence to the family.

The
first type of masks that are rare presents a symmetrical human face with a
small mouth and a linear nose set between two slanted eyes. The second type is
used in So’o, a semi-secret society. It represents a strange
were-chimpanzee with a large, pierced, crescent-shaped mouth and a pointed
nose. The function and meaning of these masks remains obscure.