FANG - GABON, CAMEROON

The Fang of Gabon migrated from the north-westduring the 18th and 19th centuries and are now scattered across southern Cameroon, and Gabon.  Principally hunters, they do also farm however.

Their social structure is bases on the clan, a group of individuals with a common ancestor , and on the family.

The Fang are famous for their Byeri heads and figures, these were made for the Byeri, a family cult that venerated important ancestors by preserving their remains in contianers made of bark that was stitched together to form a cylindrical box.  Ancestral status was awarded to founders of lineages, heads of clans and families and women that dipslayed etxraordinary powers, such as the ability to bear a unusual number of children.  The essential remains of these ancestors was their skulls, however at times, bones from the limbs and vertebrae were preserved aswell.  These Fang reliquary carving served as a shield between the relics and possible destructive force, as sort of guardian. It protected both the remains of the ancestor from intruders and malevolent supernatural forces and vulnerable humans such as the uninitiated, women and non-family members from the potentially dangerous ancestors.  Only initiated men of the family clan were permitted to see the relics.  During one of the byeri rituals, known a melan, young initiates were given hallucinogenic herbs and presented with figural statues as symbolic invocations of their ancestors. By doing so, statues were used to animate the deceased and to actualize the presence of the clan ancestors.  When these staues were removed from the ancestral remains, however, they functiononly as symbols and no longer as direct receptacles for the spirit.

The masks of the Ngil society were typically elongated and covered with the white pigment of kaolin clay, which is considered by the Fang as the color of the dead or spirits. The Ngil acssociation existed over and above the clan, wielding political and judicial powers.  The masters of the Ngil society moved freely and without danger from village to village as their role as peace-keepers was boldly recognised.  They were considered particularly useful in combating sorcery and evil practices.  When a Ngil master was summoned to a village he would arrive at night, dressed in a raffia costume and mask, with a group of followers carrying torched, thus adding to the dramatic effect of the mask.

Reference:

African: Art of a Continent - Tom Phillips.  ISBN:3-7913-2004-1

African Form and Imagery - Detroit institue of Arts.  ISBN: 0-89558-145-0

Tribal Arts of Africa -Jaques-baptise Baquart.  ISBN:0-500-28231-5