Bembe Cloth Reliquary Figure (Muzidi), Democratic Republic of the Congo

Bernard de Grunne, Brussels
Adam Lindemann, New York, acquired from the above

The Bembe live in the Western part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and are organized in clans. In pre-colonial times, the cult of the clan ancestors was at the center of Bembe spiritual life. Reliquary figures were composed of a cane armature wrapped in dried Banana leaves and other fibers and covered with textiles. The textiles were precious commodities which had to be obtained through trade with Westerners.

In her discussion of a closely related muzidi Figure at the occasion of the exhibition Eternal Ancestors. The Art of the Central African Reliquary at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, LaGamma (2007: 310) notes: "The spirits of the dead, minkuyu, remained influential members of the extended family in Bembe society. This was reflected in the fact that when a diviner investigated the source of a misfortune, he might interpret it as a sign that an ancestor of the clan required greater consideration [... in the form of] a more fitting burial site, such as that afforded by being enshrined within a commemorative [cloth figure, muzidi, to which relics were transferred from the exhumed body]. This may take place a year after the first burial. [...] Beyond honoring a particular ancestor with a mere image, the muzidi was itself clearly a sacred receptacle that housed traces of the ancestor's physical being in the form of the relics. While Efraim Anderson refers to these as bones, Paul Timmermans suggests that hair, nails and skin from the body of the deceased also served this function.

Thus, she continues (ibid.: 312), "[s]uch a figure was ritually transformed following the death of a remarkable individual as a vehicle by which to maintain contact with the deceased.  It was displayed as part of a great funerary celebration known as kitu that included dance, music, song, and feasting.  At the conclusion of that memorial ceremony in honor of the deceased, the muzidi was postiioned either in the home or in a special family enclosure.  Prayers were subsequently addressed to the ancestor to appeal for the family's prosperity, the fecundity of its women, and the fertility of its land and livestock. [...] According to Robert Farris Thompson, muzidi could be consulted concerning the future or the resolution of a dispute.  Their affirmative or negative response was gauged through interpreting their body language.  'Yes' might be indicated by a perceived nod from the figure, whereas falling over or otherwise losing equilibrium would register the opposite."