Nkondi Nkisi Fetish Figure

Origin: Bakongo Tribe, D.R. Congo
Composition: wood, pigments, rope, cotton, metal nails and fragments, bamboo, natural bilongo substances

This piece was used by a nganga, or diviner, to insure success in hunting, trade, and sex, and also to fight the sorcery of witches. The attached bundles are filled with bilongo, or magically charged substances that “activate” the figure’s power. Ingredients for the bilongo consist of three things: earthen materials from the land of the ancestors, leaves and seeds, chosen for their attributes, and metaphorical materials that suggest power. The Bakongo word for “belly” also means “life,” or “soul,” and activating materials are placed there as well.