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Current Features | Previous Features VI:4/ Spring 2001 by Louis Perrois

The Kwele: Witchcraft and Magic as Instruments of Power Fig. 2: Pipibudze Mask According to Siroto's informants, the term "Bakwele" (conventionally rendered as Kwele today) is a Lingala (the language used throughout the Congo) designation given by neighboring peoples to a subgroup of Makaa-Nyem (also Djem, Ndjem, or Nzem) origin in southern Cameroon. The name commonly used in the region itself is "Bekwyel" (Siroto) or "Bekwil" (Lehuard). According to the Gabonese linguist J. Kwenzi-Mikala (L'Esprit de la forêt, 1997), the Kwele are related not only to the Makaa and the Nyem, but also to the Duma, Njabi, and Tsangi peoples of Gabon, within an ethnic group called Metye. Guthrie (1953) classified the Kwele in the Akele-Kota group. In any case, the term "Bakwele" is not a plural form, as the prefix "ba" might lead us first to believe. According to Siroto, prefixal usage would be rendered as moo-bekwyel in the singular-that is "child of Bekwyel"-and be-bekwyel in the plural. However, for the sake of convenience and to be consistent with the references I have quoted, I will use the terms familiar to art enthusiasts, namely Bakwele or Kwele. According to oral tradition recorded by various researchers (Siroto, Deschamps, Perrois), the Kwele, whose lives are closely linked to those of the people of the Ogooué River, once lived along the Ivindo River and its tributaries in northeastern Gabon, beyond present-day Makokou and southwest of their current concentration. There are still a few villages there today, north of Bélinga and Mvahdi, the colonial outpost of the Gabonese Kwele in the 1930s. Tragically, the ebola virus is now endemic in the area. The oldest village is called Ekuk-Mbol-Nè-Begel. It is located on the upper Ivindo, in a remote region of barren mountains rising above the forest. According to legend, the pressures of incoming migration drove the inhabitants across a broad river with the aid of a mythical snake, a tradition similar to that of the Beti-Fang. In earlier times, groups of Kwele had been displaced by the Fang, either toward Gabon or the Congo. Kwele, Mahongwe, and Kota traditions all have their own versions of a great war that involved them all and left severe scars. This is known as the "Poupou" war, which probably took place in the early nineteenth century. In Kota and Mahongwe tradition, Poupou was the name of a legendary Kwele war chief; among the Kwele, it is believed to have been the name of a Nyem warrior (Deschamps, 1962). Related to the Makaa in Yokadouma region in southeastern Cameroon, the Nyem were displaced by the great migration of the Fang (Bulu, Beti, Ntumu, Betsi, etc.), and in turn forced the Kwele groups southward into a marshy, forested region then only sparsely inhabited by Bakola Pygmies. As they fled, some groups of Kwele headed towards the Dja River (which becomes the Ngoko River downstream), others towards the Sangha (via Souanké, Sembé, and, finally, Ouesso), and still others toward the Aïna (which becomes the Ivindo downstream) and east Gabon along the Djoué and Djaddié rivers. Thus, in the nineteenth century, the Kwele split into two subgroups that have become almost separate entities: the western Kwele in Gabon and the eastern Kwele in the Congo. The latter seems to have kept its ancient traditions alive longer than the former, especially the art of mask carving. The Kwele population numbers about 15,000. Like the Kota and Fang, they are organized in a patrilineal kinship system and are divided into about thirty exogamous clans. Their political system emphasizes the power of the war chiefs (who are often also village chiefs), probably because of continual warring with their neighbors. It depends less than most other traditions upon elders of the lineage or clan. These warriors, who are called ngeng, play a vital role in protecting the community against incessant attacks. For the last two centuries, the Kwele have lived in the equatorial rain forest. It is primary forest in some areas and secondary in the vicinity of the paths that cross it. Countless water courses in the region cluttered with raffia palms and the interminable marshes are the haunt of snakes and crocodiles. It is also a land of high crystalline hills dominated by the ferruginous mountain masses of Bélinga and Boka-Boka, whose peaks rise to over 1,000 meters. Historically the Kwele had a subsistence economy based on hunting monkeys, warthogs, antelope, and other animals, as well as a relatively rudimentary slash and burn farming system emphasizing plantain bananas, taros, yams, and cassava. Population density was variable and villages were easily moved as required for farming or ritual reasons (in the event of an epidemic or suspicious death, for example). The proximity of iron ore deposits in the Boka-Boka range-an ore with a particularly high metal content-gave rise to an important iron-working industry, practiced only by men. Kwele blacksmiths made bracelets and iron balls, dowry currency resembling ships' anchors, throwing weapons (knives, spears, and harpoons), and hand-to-hand combat weapons (knives and short swords). They also made hunting accessories such as dog bells, as well as a few farming tools, including machetes and trowels. Unlike their close neighbors, the Mahongwe, the Kwele do not seem to have been interested in copper. Vegetable salt, which was an important trade item in the nineteenth century, was obtained from the ashes of various marsh plants, which were boiled in large pottery vessels and then filtered and left to evaporate. Fig. 4: Pipibudze Mask. In the context of the civilizations of the Ogooué basin (which include the Fang, Kota, Tsogo, etc.) and assuming reasonable contact with these peoples, it is difficult to believe that the Kwele would not similarly have venerated ancestors and kept the relics of the dead of the lineage. Indeed, each lineage kept the skulls (edim) of important deceased members of the group in baskets, a practice similar to that of the Kota and the Mahongwe from Mékambo. These reliquary baskets were apparently decorated with "carved wooden heads" and were placed in the living hut behind the bed of the head of the family (Deschamps, 1962). In this proximity the ancestors could advise the head of the family in his dreams and reveal the future. The "Mademoiselle"* cult, an iconoclastic movement in the 1950s led by an inspired Kwele prophet from the Souanké region, encouraged the destruction of all ancient ritual objects likely to be used for witchcraft throughout the Ogooué-Ivindo regions and northern Gabon. With one exception that I will discuss below, none of these Kwele carved heads seems to have reached Western museums or private collections. Why Kwele reliquary figurines were not collected before the advent of "Madamoiselle" remains a mystery. The Kwele were overtly polygamous, and wealth and social prestige were measured by a man's accumulated number of women and children, because these represented potential for the labor required for the communities to survive. The major functionaries in the villages were the traditional medical practitioners, or healers and diviners, who officiated in religious ceremonies (gaa, pl. begaa-see nganga among the Kota and ngengang among the Fang), judge-mediators who moderated the many palavers (tepep), and the war chiefs (ngeng, pl. bengeng). The latter, a sort of war lord, imposed his "protection" on a village or even over several neighboring groups by physical force and magical practices. Poupou, the ferocious warrior who once terrorized the Kota and the Mahongwe, was a ngeng. Given the political instability prevalent throughout the region, it is easy to understand how these war chiefs were able to play such a crucial role in Kwele society. "The political power exercised over the village was vague and transitory" (Siroto, 1972). There was considerable latent conflict between rival communities among the Kwele, with the submissive groups attempting to free themselves and the dominant groups striving to maintain their leadership. Even when there seemed to be no issue, groups who wanted to break free would leave to try their luck elsewhere, sometimes settling among neighboring peoples. As among the Fang and the Kota, the segmentation of Kwele family lineages has been almost continuous since at least the nineteenth century. As a result, the outward signs of their identity-the relics of the dead-were gradually dispersed. These bones were charged with symbolic meaning and were required for religious rites as well as the successful practice of witchcraft. There were powerful socio-religious tensions in Kwele society that sometimes erupted into conflict and violence. Thus the role of the tepep was central in that it served as a guarantee of the groups' survival. The main concern of all nobles, including village and clan chiefs, was to keep the communities united and at peace. The beete, a ritual that served this end, was performed at more or less regular intervals and was a valuable tool in the process of social regulation.

Fig. 5: Pipibudze Mask Each serious event-the illness of a dignitary, an epidemic, lasting famine, a fruitless hunt, an accidental death, an attack on the village, etc.-had to be ritually contained, if not exactly explained. The beete rites were a way of mobilizing the group's supernatural forces to solve a crisis, ward off danger, or simply give fresh impetus to village life. The practice of these rites required a sufficient number of ancestral skulls, and when there were not enough, they would be borrowed from neighboring groups. These rites were similar in some ways to the bwete rites practiced by the Mahongwe and the Shamaye in Gabon (Perrois, 1968). According to Siroto, "The main magic substances used in the beete rites were meat and the content of antelope intestines, along with rare bark and plants." These highly charged ingredients were used to make a ritual "stew." The rites had to be carefully prepared and were preceded by a hunting expedition that brought together all the men of the village (as was the case among the Mahongwe in Mékambo during satsi initiation rites). The antelopes hunted were mainly the small black duiker, the yellow-backed duiker, Peter's duiker with a reddish coat, and sometimes large bongos, sitatungas, or bushbucks, which live in marshy forest areas (Dorst and Dandelot, 1972). The hunters used nets made of plaited fiber, as well as harpoons and spears. Buffalo and forest elephants were hunted by the Bakola Pygmies, who often served as guides for the Kwele and Kota. Monkeys-including anthropoids, apparently-were hunted with spears or crossbows, as were snakes. Panthers and crocodiles, although plentiful in the region, were not hunted. The beete festival kept the entire village and the people in the surrounding area busy for several days. It involved a combination of secret rites, always performed in the forest, and public events, with a performance dimension of varying intensity intended to awe the villagers. Solo dances, group dances, and masked dances took place in the village. At intervals during the beete ceremonies the ancestors and bush spirits (kuk, pl. ekuk) made an appearance, personified by dancers wearing masks, their chests hidden by grass fiber and the rest of their bodies smeared with kaolin and powdered red wood. Several ekuk appeared alternately during the two or three days of rituals, similar to the bwiti rites among the Mitsogho in central Gabon. Siroto tells us that a special mask, gon (Siroto, 1972), pronounced and conventionally spelled "gong," was used during some beete celebrations. Made to inspire fear and respect, this mask is black with smooth surfaces shaped like the skull of an adult male gorilla. The aggressive head has a pronounced sagittal crest above an overhanging brow, eyes sunk in their sockets, and an undershot jaw from which two enormous canines protrude. Fig.6: Mask with Encircling Horns. The gorilla referenced by the gong is a dangerous forest animal both admired and feared for its prodigious strength. Among the neighboring Kota people, the emboli mask is likewise the half-human, half-gorilla avatar of a bush spirit. Though quite stylized, the Kwele rendition of this mask is much more realistic. The dancer was hidden under a black fiber garment and brandished hunting spears. He was leashed by ropes held by his acolytes. Raging like a wild beast, the gong threatened the onlookers, and even its own assistants. It always managed to escape, careering through the village, trying to wound or kill anything it could catch: goats and kids, hens, or dogs, but seldom humans because they all hid from the rampaging mask. Finally, it would be recaptured by its acolytes, who took it away from the village into the bush. The final phase in the beete ritual was important: everyone ceremonially partook of the specially seasoned antelope stew prepared under the supervision of the officiating gaa-beete. According to Siroto, the beete was transmitted to the Kwele by the Yesa-Ngwyes (also known as the Kele, Bungom, and Ndambomo in the Ivindo basin). The intervention of the gong mask is very similar to that of the Fang's ngil mask, as described by R.P.H. Trilles (1912), and that of the mungunda, a mythical animal in the Mungala secret society among the Kota (Perrois, 1968 and 1979). In both cases, the mask is terrifying and tries to kill the villagers, either by itself using a throwing knife shaped like a bird's beak, or with the help of its henchmen. Like the ngil or the mungunda, the Kwele gong was gradually perverted and became a means of pressure and extortion, devoid of any real link with supernatural or religious needs. The gong became a convenient means for unscrupulous individuals with superior power-usually the bengeng-to terrorize and rob the local villagers under the pretext of hunting for witches. This was one of the main reasons why the colonial administration banned these rites throughout the French Congo, as early as 1910-1920. The gong's activities outside the normal beete rites required retaliation and vengeance. Thus, in addition to other forms of political instability, a vendetta atmosphere was prevalent throughout the region in the nineteenth century. At best this was an armed peace, during which each community stayed on the defensive. This led to the villages being fortified, not with walls but with a system of traps and thorn hedges. Guard huts were located at each end of the village, where warriors kept watch in turns. Groups possessing the gong did not necessarily need to mount bloodthirsty expeditions. By playing on fear of the mask and its power, they forced their neighbors to pay tribute in the form of game or iron tools. This interpretation was developed by Siroto, who saw this mask as one of the tools of economic expansion used by the eastern Kwele around Souanké and Ouesso in the early twentieth century. Direct contact with Europeans looking for wild rubber and ivory reinforced the existing struggle for power, which now provided a rapid source of wealth through control of the new economic currents (Siroto, 1972). The gong masks were still active until the 1920s, and it was hardly by chance that shortly after this time and until 1935 or 1940, many of these by-then obsolete objects of terror were sold to European travellers.

Next >> Spirits of the Dead and Bush Spirits: the Various Kinds of Kwele Masks

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