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The Bembe are an ethnic and linguistic group based in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and western Tanzania. In 1991 the Bembe population of the DRC was estimated to number 252,000, with no estimate available for the number of Bembe in Tanzania [1]
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The Bembe (Babembe, Beembe, Cuabembe, Wabembe) originate from the northwest forests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They are representative of numerous ethnic traditions including Lega, pre-Lega, Boyo-Kunda, and Bemba. They are a tough and proud people who absorbed other populations and their systems of thought in the process of carving out their current homeland in a time of widespread conflict and under economic pressure from European invaders and slave traders during the 19th century.
The Bembe number 60 to 80,000, mostly living on the plateaus situated to the north of the Congo River, as well as on the shores of Stanley Pool and in the cities of Brazzaville, Dolisie, and Pointe-Noire. The Bembe traditionally had close contacts with their neighbors the Teke, but influence from the Kongo kingdom was essential to their culture and traditions.
Their social organisation was based on the matrimonial clan, whose members could live in several villages. The family unit generally included three generations. The chief in charge of the village, the nga-bula, mediated with the ancestors.
Hunting was the main activity; before leaving on a hunt, the leader would invoke the ancestral spirits, using as intermediaries statuettes kneeling in the position of a hunter waiting for his prey. The Bembe believed in a creator god, Nzambi, whom they did not depict figuratively. He was the master of the life and death – unless the latter was due to the act of a sorcerer, ndoki, who could magically “eat” the life force of clan members. The ancestors had close ties with the living and received offerings through the “priest” who made appeals to statuettes, the kitebi or bimbi, consecrated by the sorcerer. These figurines were the idealized images of the ancestors and would often wear attributes that allowed them to be identified as medicine men or hunters. The ancestor worship among the Bembe is older, though, and precedes the use of magic statues, nkisi, by the sorcerers.
Bembe Art is profoundly religious; its purpose is to maintain contact with the dead. The Bembe carve numerous kinds of wooden figures that represent various spirits. They also carve several different kinds of masks, the most notable being antelope horn masks (elande). Knives, staffs, fly whisks, and divination gourds are also often decorated.
The art is quite original, consisting mainly of minutely carved ancestral figures that can be identified by extensive scarification on the abdomen. Such body decoration no longer exists today but survives as a style characteristic of the sculpture. The Bembe statuettes are divided by size and sex. As long as the spirit lives in the statue, it watches over its descendants and punishes transgressors of customs or precepts. The statuette is dressed in a skin or fabric loincloth and a beaded necklace, and wears a beard. The palms of the male sculptures’ hands are turned toward one another or they carry objects: a rifle or knife in the right hand and a calabash in the left. Sometimes two braids frame the face, sometimes the hairdo ends in a long braid at the back of the head. The figure usually is upright with knees slightly bent, its large feet with carefully articulated toes standing on the base; the seated position occurs less frequently. Female statuettes have a pronounced, almost square, chin, a large nose and mouth, finely sculpted ears, and hair carved in relief on the forehead. The muziri is an anthropomorphic power figure, composed of plant material covered in red fabric, which contains relics of the ancestor and receives, under a small purpose-built shelter, regular libations of palm wine and food offerings.
Nevertheless, an ornamental, secular art does exist and includes pipes, spoons, earplugs, and musical instruments. I read with intereest your information aabout babembe people, I would however like to say that the Babambe you are talking about, are not the one from congo DR but from Congo brazaville.Babembe of Congo DR dont call God Nzambi.