Altar Iran Orebuko Okoto

Family altar intended to worship ancestors. For Bidjogo everything sacred is called “iran”, whether it is an altar, a statue or a seat, and they are respected and feared objects. This is an old and very rare piece. Belonged to Sareti, traditional chief of all Bidjogo. It comes from the island of Formosa. Elder Sareti kept this piece for five years waiting for his spiritual son, the antiquarian of African art Mamadou Marema Diop, to go and look for it. The photograph shows Sareti and Mamadou about ten years ago.

For Añakiinhabitants of Canhabaque, a orebuko (plural: arebuko) is any sacred, material or immaterial object or made by themselves to be the seat in which a divinity or an ancestor is incarnated. East orebuko just like all cylindrical body represents a represents Yakunuethe spirit of the land of the people and it is the whole people who worship him on the occasion of the agricultural festivities and on those in which thanks are shown to the king, for it is the king who is responsible for the custody of this orebukoHe is also involved in questioning the deceased.

The altar is topped by the figure of a human head with a long ringed neck, which is undoubtedly a figuration of the ancestor. The head is covered with a headdress similar to a turban, with several turns of a red rag. Smooth face with enigmatic expression. Eyes are formed by looking like two metal sheets, glued and painted simulating human eyes. From a wooden crossbar hangs a pumpkin, a horn and a small bag with magical ingredients. The pumpkin contains the water that keeps life in nature and is the main receptacle to contain habitually magical ingredients. From the right shoulder hangs another small bag with amulets and magical substances hidden like the spirit of the ancestors to whom they worship. These altars are stored in huts or in family sanctuaries practically covered in cloth.

There are abundant remains of sacrificial materials. Very old patina.