Most Compelling Kongo Mink Isi example essay topic

African Minkisi Introduced Into American Culture: What Are Minkisi, and What Form Did They Take in the Americas? I. Introduction African Minkisi have been used for hundreds of years in West Central Africa, This area where they are traditionally from was once known as the kingdom of Kongo, when Europeans started settling and trading with the Ba Kongo people. Kongo was a well-known state throughout much of the world by the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Ba Kongo, however, had probably long used mink isi before ethnographers and anthropologists ever recorded them. Minkisi are complex items that are used to heal and to harm people, and there is no equivalent term for nk isi in any European language. A seventeenth century Dutch geographer first wrote of the nk isi, and said that, "These Ethiopians [that is, the Ba Kongo] call [mink isi] everything in which resides, in their opinion, a secret and incomprehensible virtue to do them good or ill, and to reveal event of past and future" (Williams, 13). The term illness, in this context, is quite different than what we refer to illness.

Illness, to the Ba Kongo, meant anything from sickness, to loss of property, and the inability to succeed in things like school and work... "The perpetual struggle with the unseen forces that cause illness and misfortunes was (and is) called "war" in Kongo" (MacGaffey, 98). A war is ended when one side of the struggle proves that they have better magic. The objects themselves are extremely complex, and most of them require hours of, "painstaking labor to construct" (MacGaffey, 33). "All mink isi, whether in the form of wooden figures, snail shells, raffia bags, or clay pots, are containers for "medicines" that empowers them" (MacGaffey, 43).

"The usual containers included the shells of large snails, antelope horns, cloth bags, gourds, and clay pots. Although mink isi in museums are usually wooden figurines and statues, containers of this kind may well have been the minority" (MacGaffey, 63). Without medicines, the mink isi are nothing, they are not alive, nor can they perform their functions. "To Ba Kongo, all exceptional powers result from some sort of communication with the dead" (MacGaffey, 59). Chiefs, witches, diviners / prophets, and magicians could all do this, especially through and with the help of the mink isi. There are rules and ways of doing things with them, to them, that exemplify so many aspects of Kongo culture.

To understand mink isi, you must first understand the Kongo people that made, used, and discarded them. To understand the people, you also must first understand their worldviews, their history, religion, economic conditions, how advanced their scientific knowledge was, etc. By learning about this one item used in Kongo culture, I have learned an enormous amount about the Kongo culture and the Ba Kongo, and have come to a new level of awareness about material culture. The goals of this paper have changed throughout the course of my research. At first, I didn't even know what an nk isi was, let alone did I know where I wanted to go with this paper. After doing my research though, I have decided against a paper completely focused on original ideas.

Instead, my goal of this paper is to use the things that I learned in our anthropology class, and apply them to mink isi. By applying the things I have learned in the readings from our class, I have learned a lot more about mink isi than I could ever gain by just reading a few books. I will especially focus on the works of Deetz, Vlach, and the authors about folk objects. I will also focus on what we talked about in class about "usable truth" when referring to objects associated with slave resistance. The first conclusion I have come to during the course of my research, is that I don't know how anybody could reduce African religion to being anything less than complicated. At first the mink isi seem "savage."Until quite recently, our (the Western world) response to these objects was purely visual with little or no understanding of history, meaning, and function" (Williams, 14).

But when you look at the whole picture, they are really fascinating. The second conclusion I have come to is that because these items are kind of fascinating, I can see why they are not only collected for their aesthetic worth, but how they archaeologists and other people studying them could get wrapped up in the object and read more into them than is actually there. Also, because I can see why people could read more into them, they could try to make them something they were not. One author I read said that, "During the course of history, periods of crisis and hardship have often caused people to turn to supernatural means to relieve their suffering. Minkisi are both a dramatic example of Kongo resilience and a visually spectacular response to such needs" (Williams, 12).

Robert Farris Thompson said that, "Aspects of Kongo culture retained by blacks enslaved in the Americas inspired men and women to come together as brothers and sisters in Kongo-American societies virtually devoted to the idea of being Kongo" (Thompson, 106). Were mink isi really a form of resilience, or was it just a part of their religion, just like prayer is today for many Westerners? Why does clinging onto tradition have to automatically be a form of resistance? Nothing in my research has convinced me or pointed me in the direction of thinking that the use of mink isi in the Americas was anything more than people trying to make slave life more bearable, and making it their own.

Just like Vlach recognized in his book about how slaves did things, like taking paths other than the one's white planters' created, so they could make the landscape their own. If Africans in the Americas took wooden Saint sculptures and assimilated them into their culture, I would think this would be a form of conserving traditional practices. "Minkisi were powerful devices for enforcing conformity" (MacGaffey, 87). "Many African Americans recognize conjure's great sway over African Americans than over whites... ".

(Arnett, 131). I am not convinced it is as glorious as some anthropologists have made it out to be. The second set of conclusions I focused on were about how the mink isi were very traditional objects, therefore they were highly conserved. "The important point is that mink isi, like many Kongo traditions, demonstrate continuity through time" (Williams, 13). They stayed pretty mush the same for hundreds of years. An anthropologist, named Wyatt MacGaffey, has done much research about the mink isi.

He says that the word n'kiss meant then what it does now, for the Ba Kongo people, and that is, "it meant charm, a novice, n ganga... a nature spirit, or the king himself" (Williams, 13). When slavery first appeared in the Caribbean, so did mink isi. "Historically enslaved people were brought to the new world, and one should not be surprised to find that here and there fragile fragments of custom and belief have survived; survived, perhaps, in response to new changes and crises. The visual reality, however, was transformed" (Williams, 14). "Kongo civilization and art were not obliterated in the New World: they resurfaced in the coming together, here and there, of numerous slaves from Kongo and Angola" (Thompson, 106). The people from Kongo and Yoruba came together to form the religion of Santeria.

Santeria is a combination of African culture, white planter culture, like Catholicism, and Native culture as well. After the Cuban Revolution, slaves from this country dispersed from Haiti, and this is why remnants of this religion can be seen along the waterways of the United States, just like the shotgun house. I would argue that due to this, nk isi in areas not along waterways, if they were to be found, would look different. They would look different because plantations in the United States smaller operations than those found in places like Cuba. The nk isi would not probably be influenced by Roman Catholic and Yoruba culture.

Also, because these operations were small-scale, I can see how the making and using of nk isi in these situations would be more of a sign of resistance than those found in the islands. I would argue that after mink isi were transformed in the islands, they became a form of popular, and not so much as traditional culture. This would be terribly hard, if not impossible, to prove, though. II.

Body of Paper I feel that is important to include a little about Kongo religion to add to my description of the nk isi. "The religion of Kongo presupposes God Almighty (Nz ambi Mpu ngu), whose illuminating spirit and healing powers are carefully controlled by the king (mfume), the ritual expert or authority (n ganga), and the sorcerer " (Thompson, 106). The first nk isi originated in God (Fun za), and it came to Earth with many mink isi, each with special powers, and they were distributed among the Ba Kongo. The of the Kongo people is that of an equal-sided cross with four points. "The horizontal line divides the mountain of the living from the kingdom of the dead" (Thompson, 109). God is at the top point, the dead at the bottom, and the line is the water in between.

The four points represented the circular path that is followed by the sun. It also represents the cycle of life, death, and rebirth as a never-ending cycle. Additional descriptions are needed in order to understand anything about the nk isi. Minkisi were probably around for a long time before Europeans showed up in West Central Africa. "Between 1885 and 1910, the landscape of Lower Congo was violently transformed" (MacGaffey, 23). Atlantic trade brought an end to Kongo.

Towns sprung up, along with government poets, mission stations, and the railroad. Some Ba Kongo were drawn to missions where they were converted, others went to work as porters, and some retreated deep into the forests. The government officials created arbitrary dividing lines that, "divided Ki Kongo speakers among the French Congo, Belgian Congo, and Angola" (MacGaffey, 26). "The combined influence of missionary and district commissioner destroyed the indigenous political system; it also suppressed and drove underground but did not destroy, the apparatus of mink isi by which the Ba Kongo had regulated disputes and protected themselves against misfortune, disease, and witchcraft" (MacGaffey, 26). Many of the colonial powers saw mink isi as a form of African resistance, so they captured and destroyed many of them. Wooden mink isi, the most often identifiable and collected of mink isi, are often composed of strips of cloth, feathers, mirrors in the belly, and sacs containing a variety of things.

They are life-size, to being small enough to hang on a necklace. Minkisi are nothing without their medicines. The medicines are usually located in the belly, the back, the top of the head, between the legs, and are usually held in with resin behind a mirror. Many times the medicines were located in the belly, because in Ki Kongo, belly means "life" or "soul".

The "soul" of the nk isi could be the soul of an ancestor coming back from the dead, or a victim of witchcraft captured and forced to do work. "Properly composed, the nk isi takes on attributes of a person: it can be cajoled, invoked, mobilized, even insulted" (Olupona, 232). The mirror was a kind of "crystal ball in which the diviner could see what occult forces were at work" (MacGaffey, 54). Some mirrors were even marked off with directions, which some say was used so the diviner could see which way the danger laid. Thompson claims that, "objects as mirrors or pieces of porcelain attached to the exterior of the nk isi may also signify power - the flash and arrest of the spirit" (Thompson, 117).

The mirror could also be seen as a symbol for the water that separates the land of the living with the land of the dead. Minkisi were also wrapped up with cords, etc. because it gave the visual expression of the idea of contained forces. The more important the nk isi was, the more elaborate it was. The more elaborate the nk isi was, the more expensive it was as well. An nk isi had to be modeled after an original nk isi, and it had to be put together correctly in order not to anger it and for it to work. If an nk isi didn't "work", the person who designed it was ridiculed.

"To see the backside of a nk isi is strictly forbidden" (MacGaffey, 84). Most had inconspicuous genitals, and often times they were covered. The genitals represented nothing really, about fertility at least. As I said earlier, medicines were the most important item for an nk isi to have. "Ingredients of mink isi were chosen for linguistic and figurative reasons rather than pharmacological ones" (MacGaffey, 62).

There were minerals taken from the land of the dead, items that were chosen because of their names, and metaphorical materials. For items that were collected because of their association with the dead, this group included clay from graves, streambeds, and especially white clay. "An nk isi can be thought of as a sort of portable grave in which the spirit personality from the land of the dead is present" (MacGaffey, 61). Therefore, grave dirt is also included, and it is often taken selectively from graves where the people buried there are known for something needed for that specific nk isi. There were many things that were chosen because of their names that were attributes of functions of what the nk isi was to be used for. For example, quartz was associated with lightening, and it was used because lightening was thought to awaken spirits.

The metaphorical materials were things used for certain diseases that they were believed to control. Minkisi are split into two categories; those "of the above", and those "of the below". Minkisi "of the above" are concerned with the problems of men. They could inflict diseases mainly of the upper body, like pains in the head, neck, chest, and could produce nightmares. Their signs included lightening, fire, weapons, fierce animals, birds of prey, and the color red. The mink isi "of the below" were concerned with women's affairs and healing.

They were associated with reproductive functions and diseases of the lower part of the body. Their signs were seashells, and being colored mostly white. There are many classes of mink isi figures. There are Kody a, that deal with problems of the womb and of the gut, there's Kula, that seek out people that responsible for a person's death (Ba Kongo people believed that people only died as a result of a form of witchcraft), and there's Koz o, the double-headed dogs that hunt out wrongdoers. Ganga also set things called "nk isi guns" on graves, so that if a witch passed by a person they have killed, they would go home and die a sudden death.

A loosely defined class of mink isi is called (Nkondi in the singular), and is often used to hunt "witches" (people that harm their neighbors) and other wrongdoers. Many things were considered a form of witchcraft, and the Ba Kongo believed they needed protection from it. For example, "The slave trade was (and is) understood as a witchcraft activity... ". (MacGaffey, 99). They were mink isi "of the above" and were also called "nail fetishes".

These have become the focus of much esteem by African art collectors. Nkondi is another word for "hunter", and that is exactly what it was meant for. It was used to hunt down witches, thieves, adulterers, and other wrongdoers. Minkondi usually have a raised and threatening looking arm usually holding a knife. Nails and Mba (blades) are often driven into the Nkondi. There is much controversy over what nails represent.

Some say that by driving nails in, that this is a person's, "request to be saved from evil" (MacGaffey, 33). Other people claim that nails are requests to hunt down certain people, and the "driving in nails, are ways of arousing the anger of a powerful personality... ". (MacGaffey, 80). Others think that by hammering in a nail or blade was like putting a curse on someone. Sometimes there are, or things attached to the nails to help remind them what to do or where to go.

Also, sometimes there is bits of cloth attached to the nails, and are referred to as "dogs", and there is a strong association between dogs and mink isi. Other people think that the nails are drove into the nk isi by many parties, and they represent agreements between people, and are a way to make peace and seal agreements. In some mink isi, there are holes and slits are left from metal objects. Some think that they are removed after they have completed their mission. Most of the time, however, the nails are left in. If somebody was accused by an nk isi, there were ways of testing if the found the right person.

Three was one such ritual where the accused would pull the blade out, lick it three times, and the whole idea was that no one that was guilty would ever go through with this because they would fear the revenge of the nk isi. The eyes are also more frightening looking, and many have white lines painted on them, to represent the tears of those it will smite (MacGaffey, 43). The medicines associated with the Nkondi are consistent with its violent nature. Hailstones are used to recall thunderstorms, heads of snakes and lizards, and skins of leopards and buffalo are associated with its attacking powers. Claws, like those of crabs, are used as a promise that an nk isi will seize its victim.

Nasa bark was used because it was a poison used to test suspected witches. "A village was thought of as an enclosed space, analogous to a human body, whose boundaries and entrances needed to be guarded against witches and evil spirits" (MacGaffey, 75). Nkondi were often placed all entrances into a village to protect or harm the inhabitants. "Neither wooden figures nor nails essential to composition of Nkondi" (MacGaffey, 79).

Dogs are also associated with mink isi. Some mink isi take the form of dogs, others have dogs symbolized on them, or there are "dogs" attached to them. "As domestic animals, they are at home both in the village, land of the living, and in the forest, home of the dead" (MacGaffey, 42). Ba Kongo also believed that people passed through a village of dogs on their way to the village of dead. Dogs are also used because of their hunting abilities, and because they are believed to have four eyes, meaning they could see in both worlds. Almost everybody had an nk isi in Kongo times, and they were small and usually hangs on the body, in the house, garden, etc.

"Important mink isi, however, cost much more and required not just purchase but initiation, a period of seclusion and training in which the apprentice n ganga was put in touch with the powers of the dead from whom all mink isi were derived, and learned songs and rules of the one he was acquiring" (MacGaffey, 56). People often went into initiation in response to an illness they had, or because of a dream or encounter that advised them to do so. "Initiation was understood as a stay in the land of the dead, which was reached by plunging under the surface of a deep pool" (MacGaffey, 56). Some ritual experts, after their initiation, belonged to a healing society that started in the 1660's, which was called the society of L emba. Minkisi were not just composed for a profit, but by accepting one of them, the na ganga accepted many more rules and constraints upon their life. If one broke the rules of the mink isi, they were punished, by illness, nightmares, or their mink isi could lose its power, which could only be restored at great costs.

There was a profit to be gained, though. After people were drug through illness by an nk isi, sometimes the person is treated by it and cured, and the nk isi is often honored. The people it cured often paid the nk isi's owner. Minkisi had many rules as to where they had to be kept, some in certain baskets, in roofs of the owner's house, or sometimes in a special house of its own. Kings and ritual experts "controlled mystic powers for the common good" (Thompson, 107). The Nkondi based their practices upon profit and the insecurity of others.

There was a fine line, however, between using them for admirable public service and for purely individual ends. The nk isi itself has also been thought of as a vehicle of witchcraft. "Sinister, violent mink isi are thought to contain the souls of victims mysteriously slain for the purpose" (Olupona, 231). "These cultural ties with the African homeland have been kept alive in the Americas in varying ways - for example. Black religion, healing, and the practice of conjuring - the result of which has been the pursuit of certain creative ideals that relate both temporally and spatially to Black cultural identity" (Driskell, 16). There are very few books devoted solely to mink isi, but because mink isi overlap so many disciplines, there are many sources to read about them.

Minkisi can be found in art resources, anthropology resources, religion texts, accounts of folk tales, etc. Each of these areas gives a great amount of input that was helpful to me in understanding the nk isi. "Santeria has strong Kongo components" (MacGaffey, 68). Voodoo can be traced back 6,000 years in Yoruba culture, and the famous voodoo dolls can too. Pins were not stuck in them, however, until they came to New Orleans. I think this is the Kongo influence, coming directly from Kongo culture coming together with Yoruba traditional practices.

These two groups had different traditions, but many of the same beliefs. Therefore, they were able to meld their ideas into one. "It is estimated that approximately 40% of the millions of Africans who landed in the Americas between 1500 to 1870 were from Central Africa, culturally influenced by the Kongo civilization. Thus Kongo traditions are pervasive in the Americas. Kongo beliefs and iconography are based on sacred protective medicines, mink isi, which are used for physical and social harmony and healing. Altars are found at river banks, in forests and cemeteries, and at other borders between worlds" (web pages/. html, see attached article).

Learning about mink isi has really turned me on to African studies. I went from knowing nothing about the African people, to knowing quite a bit just because I looked at one aspect of their material culture. "Minkisi in their special way are an embodiment and a reflection of Kongo history" (Williams, 11). I have, myself, become quite fascinated with the nk isi.. Conclusion I would have never guessed that by studying mink isi, I would have been able to track a group of objects over a span of more then four hundred years. I keep looking at modern voodoo dolls on the Internet and thinking if the people that make them even know where their ideas came from.

"All that survives are mute objects... ". (MacGaffey, 33). Many of them are damaged or are in storage, they have been destroyed or burned by colonizers, "improved" by collectors because of their indecency, and even the rich vocabulary that once accompanied the mink isi is "obscure and archaic" (MacGaffey, 33). "Minkisi today, in what has become the Republic of Zaire, take such forms as little plastic packets discreetly worn, ballpoint pens medicated to help schoolboys pass examinations, and special sunglasses that taxi drivers hope will protect them from accidents" (MacGaffey, 29). I have been able to use a lot of what I learned about material culture in this project.

I keep thinking back to all I have read and what we have discussed in class. Deetz claimed that traditional practices were highly conserved, so that would include mink isi. Vlach studied the evolution of the shotgun house and how the French and Indians influenced it after slaves brought the idea to the New World. Then in 1809, 2,060 more blacks arrived there from Haiti, and that is how and why the shotgun house moved to America (Vlach, 129). Same thing happened with the mink isi. We talked about "usable truth", and I kept this in the back of my mind throughout the project, which helped me evaluate sources.

I was able to see the culture concept in a new light, especially about how ideas are transmitted. The section on gravestones was also helpful. Minkisi utilize many things like mirrors, bottles, shells, etc., and we talked about these things in class. This gave me a foundation to build my knowledge upon, and if anything, by learning about mink isi I have learned a lot more about the of African-Americans. All in all, this project allowed me to tie up many of the readings in class, while also giving me ideas of how I could make this project my own. As for the big conclusion, I don't really have many.

I absolutely agree that Africans retained many of their traditions in the New World. I don't, however, agree that this was a form of resistance. I do have one conclusion. The mink isi in the Harrington collection, despite the way they look real, I doubt they were extremely important to anybody.

They still have their "medicines". Most of the time, if medicines were real, they would be taken off the figure before they changed ownership because of their importance. Explorers and colonizers often had to steel many the older ones found in collections today that had medicines and everything in tact. Africans would not sell them for a reasonable price because of their importance, and because of their fear of the nk isi's revenge. As for the Plantation in Texas, I think they may have found the site of where an n ganga practiced, or somebody of the sort. I also think that they could have found a site where mink isi were made, only because they didn't find the wooden sculptures, or the medicines.

These things probably went with the maker. The blades had no meaning, and therefore these are more likely to be found than anything else. I do, however, question if the high number of blades and nails found can truly point to conjuring. Archaeologists should not get too excited about the prospect of finding mink isi.

They can take many forms, and if they were important, they would not be found probably left behind in a slave cabin. I think the altars, especially at cemeteries, are a more likely place to find them. There are many directions a person could take with this in the future. I would like to see somebody be able to date mink isi.

The problem I think they would run into, though, is that mink isi take all different forms, and they differ a great amount from one region to the next. There are little if no documentary records other than the few ethnographers made about the people that made them. I wanted to do a project about where nails are positioned in mink isi, but many drawing later, I could find no patterns. Another good thing I would like to see researched on this topic is to see if anything that appears to be mink isi look different in regions where there were small groups of slaves, versus places where there were many. Or, somebody could try to look at if there are really any remnants of mink isi at all.

The plantation in Texas does not have me convinced that they found anything other than a pile of nails. The problem, though, that I think they would run into is that mink isi were important. They were believed to be "alive". I doubt slaves would have ever left a mink isi behind. The only reason I can think why they would give up mink isi is if they were converting to another religion.

Perhaps instead of finding mink isi in the ground in slave communities, they should look toward places where slaves converted. Another interesting thing I found is that mink isi are strongly similar to chief sticks, and perhaps there could be a lot learned about chief sticks if we first know a lot about the nk isi. References Arnett, Paul, & Arnett, William (Eds. ).

(2000). Souls Grown Deep: African American Vernacular Art of the South. (Vol. 1). Atlanta, GA: T inwood Books. Cole, Herbert M. (1989). Icons: Ideals and Power in the Art of Africa.

Washington, D.C. : Smithsonian Institute. Driskell, David C. (1993). Introduction. In Harris, Michael D., & MacGaffey, Wyatt, Astonishment and Power: The Eyes of Understanding Kongo Minkisi Resonance, Transformation, and Rhyme The Art of Renee Stout/2 Books in 1. Harris, Michael D., & MacGaffey, Wyatt.

(1993). Astonishment and Power: The Eyes of Understanding Kongo Minkisi Resonance, Transformation, and Rhyme The Art of Renee Stout/2 Books in 1. Olupona, Jacob K. (Ed. ).

African Spirituality: Forms, Meanings, and Expressions. New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company. Thompson, Robert Farris. (1983).

Flash of Spirit: Afro-American Art and Philosophy. New York: Random House. Williams, Sylvia H. (1993). Introduction.

Vlach, John Michael. (1978). The Afro-American Tradition in Decorative Arts. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Face of the Gods Art and Altars of Africa and the African Americas The following information 'e relates to the exhibition Face of the Gods, conceived by Robert Farris Thompson, professor of Afro-American Art at Yale University and curator of The Museum of African Art in New York City, where this traveling show originated. The exhibition links the visual grammar of altar traditions of West African (Yoruba) and Central African (Kongo) civilizations with those of Yoruba and Kongo descendants in Haiti, Cuba, Brazil, Puerto Rico and in Black and Latino North America.

Symbolic assemblages: the Kongo Atlantic Altar It is estimated that approximately 40% of the millions of Africans who landed in the Americas between 1500 to 1870 were from Central Africa, culturally influenced by the Kongo civilization. Altars are found at river banks, in forests and cemeteries, and at other borders between worlds. They are often surrounded by pottery, ideographic writing and sacred medicines. The cyclical evolution of the soul that keeps transforming and returning is crucial to understanding Kongo iconography. A dramatic and heavily coded continuation of Kongo beliefs and icons occurs in the Southern United States, where Kongo-American versions of the nk isi (singular of mink isi), or medicines of the gods, take characteristic forms. A tree with bottles protects the household through the power of medicinal waters and a yard 'dressed' to protect it from negative intrusion.

The bottles of glass or plastic hang from a tree close to the home, protecting it from harmful spirits by the gleam of the glass, which attracts, captures, and dis empowers evil forces like envy, jealousy and strife. The custom was recorded in Angola as early as 1776 and in the Americas as early as 1791. An African antecedent to the bottle tree is found in the plate and branch tradition of adorning graves, documented in a Kongo cemetery in 1909. Porcelain plates, pierced through the center with tree branches reappear in grave sites in the South where they celebrate the dead.

Bottle trees may also appear as part of a full yard show. A yard show by Cornelius of Tidewater, Virginia, recreated in the exhibition, is presented as an environmental Kongo-American nk isi. What might look like assemblage of junk, or meaningless clutter is actually 'a complex spiritual act in plural dimension. ' We see a house surrounded by bottles filled with different colored water. These 'medicines' encircle the house, keep out evil 'dogs,' and are viewed as spiritual protection for the home. The other elements in the carefully configured yard shows -- fan blades, TV cathodes, twin dolls, tire planters, mirrors, chairs and gates -- are decoded in terms of Kongo iconography symbols.

They are used to protect and entertain, commemorate and enthrone, filter and repel the powers of good and evil. These assemblages, composed of objects that symbolize motion, with white vessels and unusual wood formations, are interpreted as altars or 'visual prayers. ' The theme is continued in the sequined bottles and 'parquets congo' used by Haitian ritual experts - in reality a Caribbean manifestation of Kongo mink isi, portable altars charged with flash and power. Flag altars to the ancestors Two of the largest, most majestic altars in the exhibition are flag altars from the rain forest of Suriname, South America. Created by African maroon societies composed of self-liberated former slaves, and free Africans, these altars mix fragments of the art and architecture from the Mande, Akan and Fon / Ewe West African traditions, constantly reinvigorated by new arrivals, and by contact with the Amerindian population. Political and cultural resistance and independence are asserted by these distinctive maroon altars of the Mande diaspora.

The Ndjuka altar is a 12 foot tall T-cross with layers of white sheeting suspended from its elevation. This altar is dedicated to the ancestors and elders. The worship here is performed on behalf of the whole community. The single largest item in the exhibition, the Samara altar, also from Suriname, is a stately, evocative assembly of seven T-crosses bearing along swaths of draped and tied cloth.

These flag altars are placed within an enclosure, decorated with palm fronds, white sand, and a place for offerings. In Africa, the Mande made forked branch and clay pillar altars, which mimed the verticality of trees in their basic upholding gesture, supporting a vessel of medicine. The tree becomes a 'spiritual ideogram,' and the flag altar is an African American form of tree or tree-surrogate altar. The circling of the soul and Kong medicines of God Links are made between Afro-Cuban art and altars and their antecedent Kongo mink isi, portable sacred medicines of god, often called healing charms. In Africa, mink isi are kept in containers as diverse as shells, packets, ceramic vessel, wooden images, statuettes and cloth bundles. The most compelling Kongo mink isi are nail covered figures used for oath taking and healing.

In addition to their fierce attitude and covering of protruding blades and nails, these figures also contain powerful ingredients in the head and stomach cavities. Placed in isolated rooms, corners, or crossroads, adorned with feathers, stones, sticks, beads, earth and iron reflecting a symbolic language of meaning, the altars in this gallery illustrate the symbols of Kongo religion in Cuba. The Guanabacoa nk isi, named for a cemetery across the harbor from Havana, is a simple altar made of a mound of earth, a small cross, a seashell and erect and bent sticks, eloquently positioned. Two Sarabanda nk isi are present in this exhibit - some scholars say that one of them represents the Creole spirit of a powerful black man who worked on the railways in the last century. Modeled on his personal altar, Cuban Jos'u Bedi a creates a symbolic environment in a corner (which represents a crossroads) for the Lucero of Guanabacoa. The Kongo cycle-of-the-soul is represented by a wall painting: one side black and containing the symbols of night (moon, stars and comets); the other side blue, with a radiant sun, for the beginning and renewal of life.

On the ground in the center of the altar and created out of a large seashell is Lucero del Mundo, this one also known as the Lucero de Guanabacoa. It is a, which means squire, assistant and guardian in the symbolic language of Kongo religion of Cuba. Lucero is mounted in concrete and surrounded by sticks and feathers that bring power. On the left is a statue of Francisco, a Kongo guide, and on the right is a statue of La Comission India, and Indian guide. There is also a mele (machete) and a large lun goa (hooked stick) symbolizing important aspects of Palo Monte. Felipe Garc " ya Villamil, originally from Matanzas, Cuba, is a direct descendant of Yoruba and Kongo priests.

He is a distinguished (priest), master musician and ritual artist. Garc " ya Villamil prepared an altar for the Sarabanda in the Matanzas style. Located in his closet, like other Kongo altars secreted in enclosures, it is full of powerful medicines. There, two straw hats hang in readiness for the use by the spirit, with a mirror-stoppered cow horn of clairvoyance (vi titi men su), musical instruments used in sacred ritual, and elaborate beaded artwork.

A red flag with protective signs hangs on the wall behind the nk isi to protect the altar, its owner and his family from harm. The basic Kongo is a cross within a circle, dike nga, that is a symbolic chart of the voyage of the soul. As a miniature of the sun, the soul is thought to have four moments -- birth, efflorescence, fading and the return in the dawn of a coming day. Triangles, diamonds, spirals, or crisscrosses denote this cyclical movement.

The soul, which is thought by the Ba kongo to reside in the forehead, is often represented in diamond form and can be seen on many African masks. The exhibition includes such masks -- 19th century Punk, Take (Tsa aye), and Choke masks, and a 20th century Vil i mask ringed with feathers. In addition, a fully feathered Mardi gras 'Wild Man' costume from New Orleans, reminiscent of Kongo feather masks and headdresses worn by healers, is a living example of the creolized Kongo traditions found in the United States. web pages/. html.