Mahongwe Reliquary Figures: Guardians Carved Without a Mouth
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Several reliquary traditions documented in this book carve a guardian figure to watch over a family’s dead. The Mahongwe, a small population of 3,000 to 5,000 people forming the northern branch of the Kota peoples in the extreme northeast of Gabon, carved theirs with the mouth left out entirely, an oval concave face with no lower feature at all, set atop a cylindrical neck and an openwork lozenge base. That omission, a guardian face built specifically without the ability to speak, is the throughline worth carrying through this piece. It matches a wider Mahongwe reticence: obstinate resistance to French administration kept them apart from outsiders for a long time, and the reliquary figures themselves, tied to funeral rites abandoned more than sixty years ago, are still regarded as dangerous to handle.
Who Are the Mahongwe?
The Mahongwe live near the Republic of the Congo border in Gabon’s extreme northeast and constitute the northern branch of the Kota peoples, sharing the reliquary-guardian tradition for which the wider Kota are known. Numbering only 3,000 to 5,000 individuals, they long remained apart from outsiders owing to their obstinate resistance to the penetration of French administration, a historical isolation that shaped how thoroughly their own artistic style diverged from other Kota subgroups.
Bwiti: An Ancestor Cult Built Around Physical Relics
The Mahongwe practiced an ancestor cult known as bwiti or bwete, at the center of a system of beliefs and rites that formed the core of the family group’s religious and social life. Fearful of the deceased, the Mahongwe showed particular devotion to the relics of important ancestors, seen as guarantors of the group’s protection and survival. At the death of a chief, initiates removed various relics from the body, decorating them with metal and rubbing them with powders believed to hold multiple magical powers; it was believed that the skulls and bones of important men retained their power after death. These relics, augmented with charms and other power substances, were kept in woven rattan baskets, with reliquary figures arranged on top, carved in wood and plated with thin copper or brass strips and wire.
Reliquary Figures With No Mouth
Every Mahongwe clan kept a reliquary in the back of the chief’s hut, expected to protect and benefit the families that owned it. At initiation into the reliquary cult, clans met to perform communal rituals, and each clan’s chief danced while holding the reliquary. Some reliquaries featured a large figure representing the lineage founder alongside smaller figures representing his successors. The figures themselves consist of three distinct sections: an oval, concave face with a projecting top knot, a cylindrical neck, and an openwork lozenge-shaped base. The mouth is missing entirely, and the heads of these abstractions are large, with no upper or side pieces at all.
Objects Still Considered Dangerous to Handle
Mahongwe reliquary figures are considered dangerous to handle because of their role in former funeral rites, rites that have not been practiced for over sixty years yet still color how the objects are regarded. Masks, by contrast, are rare among the Mahongwe, whose artistic energy concentrated almost entirely on the reliquary tradition instead.
Frequently Asked Questions
How are the Mahongwe related to the Kota?
The Mahongwe constitute the northern branch of the Kota peoples, sharing the wider Kota tradition of carved reliquary guardian figures.
What is bwiti or bwete?
Bwiti, or bwete, is the Mahongwe ancestor cult built around devotion to the physical relics of important ancestors, believed to protect and benefit the families that hold them.
Why do Mahongwe reliquary figures have no mouth?
The figures’ oval, concave faces are carved with no mouth at all, part of a distinct three-section design of face, cylindrical neck, and openwork lozenge base unique to Mahongwe reliquary art.
Why are Mahongwe reliquary figures considered dangerous?
They are associated with funeral rites that have not been practiced for more than sixty years, and the objects are still regarded as dangerous to handle because of that former ritual role.
See also: African Masks by Region and Tribe · Kota Reliquary Guardians: Mbulu-Ngulu, Bwete, and the Emboli Mask · Every Traditional African Mask You Should Know
