Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire)
Bakongo

Wood, plant fiber
ca. Mid-20th century

Height: 28 cm
Idiophone – Struck Directly – Wooden Bell

Bakongo hunters attach simple wooden bells to the necks of their hunting dogs. Then the hunter follows the sound of the dog’s bell into the forest to catch the animals.   This larger and more elaborate wooden dibu (bell) is a symbol of the healer “nganga”.  Similarly the “nganga” uses a bell when he symbolically enters the spiritual world called “the forest of the ancestors” to seek the spirit or ancestor that is causing his client’s problems.