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The Almighty Dikenga

- Afro-Atlantic Graphic Writing: Bidimbu, Bisinsu, and Firmas; Kongo Graphic Writing and Other Narratives of the Sign by Bárbaro Martínez-Ruiz

The most powerful example of the graphic continuity between the Lovo paintings, the engravings at the newly documented sites, and contemporary symbol usage among the Bakongo in Central Africa and their descendants in Cuba is the frequent appearance of dikenga. Dikenga is a cosmogram considered crucial to Kongo cosmology in that it represents the conception of all living beings in the universe.21 In addition, dikenga is itself believed and understood to be the energy of the universe, the force of all existence and creation. 

The basic graphic structure of dikenga is four cardinal points at the tips of two lines arranged in cross formation, similar to a compass. The tremendous diversity in the documented representations of dikenga illustrates substantial design flexibility, but the consistent inclusion of the cosmogram’s basic principles confi rms the central meaning and use of the cosmogram. Fu-Kiau highlights the diversity in representations of dikenga in Figure 22. Like Fu-Kiau, Thompson has illustrated a range of dikenga representations, as seen in Figure 23. Thompson perceptively includes a diamondshaped dikenga, arguing that the dikenga’s meaning is maintained with or without dots in the corners and holds constant whether depicted in cross, circle, or diamond form. In Kongo culture, the diamond shape is used to signify Nzambi Mpungo, God, and is used as the heart of sacred objects.22

Dikenga is often shown in a form more similar to that of a traditional Christian cross. In such a form, it is called yowa or kilisu, and is most often used in the context of initiation rituals. For example, individuals initiated into the Bakongo Lemba society generally wear a yowa to indicate their membership. Although they maintain the basic meaning of dikenga, yowa cosmograms tend to be understood as closer to the Western crucifi x, a tendency resulting from syncretic religious practices in Central Africa.23 The examples seen in Figures 24 through 27 were documented by Fu-Kiau in the southern Democratic Republic of the Congo

Bakongo culture ascribes to each cardinal point of the dikenga cosmogram an ontological meaning that symbolizes a segment of the broader transition between various stages of life. The four points of dikenga tell of a journey of the community’s accumulation, interpretation, and transmission of knowledge. The cosmogram represents each human as “a living sun”24 and marks the phases through which individuals progress as they develop a conscience, take on responsibility, and assume a sense of belonging to religious, political, cultural, familial, and national communities. Faïk-Nzuji’s work among the Luba-Kasai people echoes this representation, describing dikenga as illustrative of life’s principles as seen through the biological, psychological, and spiritual journey of a human life.25