SINGITI FIGURE - HEMBA, DEM. REP. of CONGO.      Wood.

17" Tall

The Hemba ancestors figures or Singiti as they were known, characteristically have short legs, elongated torsos, hands restingon the navels and have an enlarged head wiht a backward swept coiffure.  THey were kept by the Fumu Mwalo and conferred power on him.  During ritual ceremonies he communicated with these figures by recalling significant and heroic events in the ancestor's life.