Gabon, Cameroon, and Equatorial Guinea Regions

Fang

Wood. rattan, beads, fiber string
Mid 20th Century
Length: 18 inches
Idiophone – Struck Indirectly – Shaken -Rattle

The great majority of Fang wood sculptures are related to the Byeri Cult; (i.e., the guardian statue, which surmounted the Byeri Box containing ancestral skeletal remains). The worship of Byeri (cult ancestors) was practice in all Fang villages, both in southern Cameroon and in Gabon and Rio Muni.  The term ‘Byeri’ refers to both worship and related objects.  However, from the 1920’s on, these customs were abandoned.   Thus, under French colonial rule, they converted to Christianity. However, after independence their interest in their own traditional religion, called Biere, also spelled Byeri, has returned, and many practice syncretic ideas and rites.  The Ntumu population of the Fange was estimated at 50,000 people out of the 200,000 ‘Fang’.  Ntumu artists carved wooden figures such as this Byeri with its stylistic rounded shaped head with bulging forehead above a concave heart-shaped face. The arms and shoulders are muscular and the hands are brought in front of the chest/stomach.  This anthropomorphic ritual rattle would be  used during the “So” initiation ceremonies of young boys.