Ngil face mask

This type of anthropomorphic mask was used by the Ngil male society that still exists today. This secret society took charge of initiations and fought against sorcery. The Ngil is a rite of purifying fire symbolized by the gorilla and its mask represents the power and strength conferred by the ancestor who embodies it. The wearers of these masks made their appearance in the villages at night, under the light of torches, forming numerous groups. The face is painted with kaolin, color that evokes the power of the ancestors. The white color of each mask embodies the spirit of a deceased.

Ngil is a secret society with a judicial character, so judging is one of the most important functions of Ngil masks. They judge those guilty of wrongdoing and those responsible for crimes. Their main purpose was to prevent Beyem witches and sorcerers, possessed by evil spirits, from harming the population. Ngil is a Fang society above all lineages. Initiation into the Ngil society comprised prior physical and moral purification, followed by flagellation and a confession of crimes and violations of prohibitions. Initiates took part in a trial by ordeal before the ancestors’ relics, contained in the byeri, to which sacrifices were offered. This was the symbolic passage from an androgynous state to the sexually defined male state of adulthood. Ngil had its sacred place in a forest clearing called ésam, where large, vaguely human recumbent figures represented Ngil and his wife. Neophytes had to crawl before these effigies, passing over a pit where concealed warriors tried to wound them with their weapons. They also had to undergo the ordeal of the ants.

Only men could be initiated into Ngil, which was also used against harmful spells and poisoning, and protected its members. Ngil always sought to restore social order and formed part of the rituals regulating life in traditional Gabonese communities.

After the ordeals in the sacred forest, the ritual continued in the village square at dawn or dusk. Armed with a sabre or a simple club, Ngil had to destroy the houses of neighbours in conflict with other members of the society. These enmities arose from adultery, theft or debts. The wearer of the mask had a deep voice that frightened women and children and commanded men’s respect.

These white masks with elongated faces were worn by notable members of their society. They are highly stylised, with fine, elongated features depicting the human face and giving the impression of an elongated heart, characteristic of this ethnic group. The eyes are barely open and the mouth is reduced to its simplest expression so that the voice emerges distorted and the wearer cannot be recognised.

This society was banned during the Colonization, in the year 1910for being the cause of absurd deaths and for opposing colonial authority.

A mask showing the effects of time and storage conditions. It has lost all its pigmentation.