In HowAfrica:
More hereThere is a tribe deep in the center of Africa that was once famous for its hair styles that defied nature. They practiced Lipombo’ – the art of head elongation that denoted majesty and status, a tradition since by the Belgian colonialists who took over the territory in the early 19th Century, contributing to the death of yet another ancient and regal African custom. The January and March 1967 issues of the French fashion magazine L’Officiel featured a series of awe inspiring photographs under the headlines “Inspired by African Art” (l’Art Nègre) and “Black Magic,” along with text that vividly reinforced the west’s (circa 60s) preconceptions about Africa: “Africa, this old continent where ancestral myths take refuge in the shadow of baobab trees, on the banks of large, swampy rivers, has inspired almost all of our major designers …”
So who was the magazine talking about? None other than the Mangebtu people of Congo. An amalgam of linguistically- and culturally-related peoples of northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the Mangbetu refers to a large people group of the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The major subgroups are the Mangbetu, Meegye, Makere, Malele, Popoi and Abelu. Their ancestral land is one of both forest and savannah and they practice agriculture, small animal husbandry, hunting, fishing and gathering, producing cash crops such as palm oil, coffee, peanuts, rice, bananas, and maize.
Until very recently, the Mangbetu were one of a small number of Congolese peoples who paid death compensations. A person who died was considered to have done so “in the hands of” his father’s family group. This meant that the father’s group had to compensate the mother’s group, regardless of the circumstances of death. Their traditional belief system includes a complex of ideas about witchcraft and sorcery. One such idea is that the power of witchcraft resides in an appendage of the small intestine, which is inherited by girls from their mother and by boys from their father.
