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Les Cases à Fétiches de Niofoin

Niofion est une ville Senoufo située au nord de la Côte d'Ivoire, entre Boundiali et Khorogo. C'est là que nous trouvons les plus grandes maisons fétiches où des animistes locaux organisent des cérémonies de sacrifice qui pourraient être de deux sortes: bonnes et mauvaises. Le sacrifice se fait en tuant un animal et en laissant le sang s'écouler sur un rocher sacré dans la cabane voisine. Les sacrifices pourraient être pour quelque chose comme guérir une maladie, avoir une bonne récolte et d'autres souhaits comme avantages financiers, un bon mariage et aussi pour mettre un sort sur quelqu'un. Rarement fait de nos jours, mais parfois les gens sacrifient leur propre enfant dans un but de gain financier

Comme vous avez pu le voir, l'épaisseur et la taille du toit sont un processus continu. Chaque année, une nouvelle couche de pailles est ajoutée sur le dessus. Si nous regardons de près les murs de la maison, nous verrons des sculptures de leurs divinités et des animaux (représentant les animaux qui ont été sacrifiés à un moment donné) :

A shaman woman of the Mongo people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo proudly shows her “3rd eye”. Circa 1937.🇨🇩

The Mongo people are a Bantu ethnic group who live in the equatorial forest of Central Africa. They are the second largest ethnic group in the Democratic Republic of Congo, highly influential in its north region. A diverse collection of sub-ethnic groups, they are mostly residents of a region north of the Kasai and the Sankuru Rivers, south of the main Congo River bend. Their highest presence is in the province of Équateur and the northern parts of the Bandundu Province. The Mongo people, despite their diversity, share a common legend wherein they believe that they are the descendants of a single ancestor named Mongo.

They also share similarities in their language and social organization, but also have differences. Anthropologists first proposed the Mongo unity as an ethnic group in 1938 particularly by Boelaert, followed by a major corpus on Mongo people in 1944 by Vanderkerken – then the governor of Équateur. The Mongo people traditionally speak the Mongo language (also called Nkundo) or one of the related languages in the Bantu Mongo family, in the Niger-Congo family of languages. The Lingala language, however, often replaces Mongo in urban centers. This language has about 200 dialects, and these are found clustered regionally as well as based on Mongo sub-ethnic group such as Bolia, Bokote, Bongandu, Ekonda, Iyaelima, Konda, Mbole, Mpama, Nkutu, Ntomba, Sengele, Songomeno, Dengese and Tetela-Kusu, Bakutu, Boyela and many others.

Traditional religion of the Mongo people is largely one of ancestor worship, belief in nature spirits, fertility rites, with shamanic practices such as magic, sorcery, and body scarification.

Mongo artistic achievements, songs, musical instruments and carvings show richness and high sophistication.

I think for me it’s actually not fearlessness it’s like, having fear and doing it anyway. Being scared is courage, you know? I used to fixate on fearlessness, though. I use to be so obsessed with this idea that some people are fearless and that’s how they do it. The difference between the ones who did it and the ones who didn’t do it, whatever “it” is, is just that those people don’t have fear–and I’m plagued with fear. That’s actually what was going on in my head for a long time and that’s why I didn’t pursue music.

“One Nigeria is a homage to Nigeria through art. One Nigeria highlights the the photography stylings of those who made it their mission to capture the essence and culture of Nigeria through their work. In this series we pay homage to photographers Solomon Osagie Alonge, J.D. Okhai Ojeikere, and Jonathan Adagogo Green recreating old images with a modern touch. Taking it a step further all the participants of the project are Nigerian and fellow creatives in different fields and breaking ground while at it and expanding the meaning and look of Nigeria.

This is One Nigeria – a love letter to a nation we call home.”

—Olive Uche