Nkissi fetish

Nkissi or rather Minkissi, which is its plural, is a word "kongo" to indicate this type of magic statuettes that carry in their belly a cavity destined to keep the magical substances that through the proper rites will transmit to them the power and strength that characterize them. The term "minkissi" means in the dialect Kongo "things that do things." There are three types of Minkissi:

- The reliquaries, with the ventral cavity containing medicines and magical substances and closed by a piece of mirror.

- The Minkissi Nkonde, covered with nails and blades.

- The Minkissi mpemba or phemba, which represent maternity figures.

The Nkissi Kondi has the power, after his sacramentalization by the Nganga, to confront the sorcerers and evil beings, whether men or spirits.

These fetishes, whether bearing nails or blades, are the supreme symbol of magical power, used in the People’s Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the latter formerly Zaire.

The abdominal cavity holds the magical substances that form the basis of the figure’s power. They are its magical charge, often supplemented by additional charges placed in small bags. The main charge in the abdominal cavity is often protected by a piece of mirror. The mirror has great magical qualities, including driving away those who dare to look into it: seeing their reflection would mean that their soul had been taken from them.

Once endowed with these supernatural forces, fetishes must fight against the hidden forces or, where appropriate, use them. They are protective fetishes that can serve to avenge the innocent, transmitting to the guilty sudden diseases or misfortunes that can cause them death.

The Nganga, or sorcerer, activates the fetish with magical gestures to make it effective and, amid magical rites, drives nails or iron blades into it. A nail or blade may signify an illness cured, a favour obtained, or an enemy punished or defeated.

Nails or blades are a kind of signature that closes the Nganga's pact with the customer in relation to a given word or promise. If the agreement is broken, the Nganga must remove the nail or foil that symbolizes that covenant so that it is annulled and he must be very careful not to get the nail wrong. The Nganga would lose his prestige if he was forced to pluck nails.

They are used in divinatory or healing practices. Families, individuals or villages may approach the Nganga with a specific request: to cure a sick person, obtain a good harvest, win a war, expose a guilty person, combat a sorcerer’s spells, favour the hunt or administer justice. There are as many requests as the members of the community may have needs.

This fetish has no visible arms. Two scarifications are painted on its temples in the shape of an open V, one white and the other red. The mouth is half open, with black lips, as is the outline of the eyes. Curiously, its face bears three circles—one on each cheek and a third on the chin—a feature I am seeing for the first time on an African piece. These target-shaped circles contain a white circumference, surrounded by a black circle and then a red one, from smallest to largest. They seem intended to indicate pustules of some dermatological disease, diseases so common in Africa. It has no arms; they seem to be hidden behind two bark shields, supposedly the two shields that help it fight that illness. Nor does it have any visible bilongo. It may be a fetish intended mainly to combat skin diseases. Old patina.