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The lega people live in .Southeastern Congo (Zaire).The Bwami society is the context for the production of most Lega art work, which includes ivory and wooden statuettes and masks. Ivory objects are reserved for the highest level, Kindi, while wooden objects are used by Kindi and Yonanio, the second level.The Lega do not have a centralized government, so the Bwami Society has assumed an important local role in regulating Lega society. Though each individual village has a leader based on paternal ties, the true power is held by the highest ranking Bwami officials, who enforce strict codes of conduct, as well as endorse or deny individual advancement through the seven complex layers of Bwami. Though there is an extensive body of knowledge to master in order to move upward, Bwami also includes a patronage system which can exclude members who do not have the financial means or political ties needed to gain the favor of powerful leaders. It is definitely not a democracy. In order to reach the seventh level, or Kendi, one might have to fund the construction of a entirely new village just to host the formal ceremony. For a kendi ceremony, vast numbers of masks and small figures, considered especially powerful, would be carried to the new village, to be used to connect the initiate with the spirits. Ceremonies for lower ranking initiates would not be as expensive, and would use less powerful carvings. It is quite impossible for someone outside the Bwami to fully understand such a confounding process, but it does seem to promote stability within each village, despite the inequities which appear so obvious. Lega art holds a special place in the hearts of collectors, with the finest pieces being among the most irresistable of all ritual objects. |
External links
http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/toc/people/Lega.html
http://www.africadirect.com/other/peoples/peoples.php?people=Lega+(Warega)