Male Byeri Eyema

The cult of ancestors is based on the relationship between the offering of the living to the deceased and the protection of the deceased to the living. Some of the most important mortal remains, mainly part of the skull and pieces of other bones, are kept in the reliquaries of the ancestors. It is usually the remains of the nearest ancestors. They are venerated at the same time that they are feared because they can be dangerous to the living, which is why it is advisable to place them under the tutelage of a protective spirit.

 Among the Fang, village of hunters, each family owns a Byeri or box in which the relics of the most notable ancestors are preserved. The so-called cult of Byeri o rite Melan It is a family ceremony that initiates neophytes in the cult of ancestors after purification ceremonies. Separates the Byeri from the box, the skull of the ancestors and young people is exposed by a hallucinogenic drug, the wing, come into contact with the ancestors and dance in their honor.

The Bad Named One Byeri o Keeper of reliquary, is not nor represents the ancestor, is the guardian who guards his relics, pieces of skull essentially, with some small piece of other bones as well as some small personal object.

The initiation into the cult of byeri involves a whole series of purifying rites that neophytes receive in a closed enclosure. For hours, in a trance, they sing and dance after having drunk “elan” hallucinogenic plant that helps them to the trance during which they come into contact with the ancestors of those who receive life - advice and slogans that they must transmit to older ones.

This Eyema Biery appears sitting on a stool with her hands together in an attitude of raising a prayer. It has three heads that, like in another type of statues. they will allow you to scrutinize the past, the present and the future. Feathers on the head are frequent in these statues, without knowing the reasons for this decorative element. Red patina.