Fetiche Butti A Lo Jano

The statues loaded in the central hole are called “Butti”. The composition of each load depends on the function of the statue. The statue acquires its strength after the ritual of consecration. When a notable or important character dies the priest cuts a small piece of skin, nail or some hair that will be part of the reliquary or nkissa. Those who have lost the load or have never been loaded are called “Tege”. The land covering some statues usually comes from the burial of the deceased represented by the statue.

They also use nkissi kondi fetishes for the same purposes as their Bakuba neighbors. They are always masculine and bear a beard similar to that of the Nganga. The beard is a symbol of notoriety, authority that denotes the magical and sacred powers of its bearer.

The Male Statues Teke just as other peoples wear beards, for it is a symbol of authority and power, so the soothsayer's masks and the soothsayers always wear beards as an affirmation of their superiority and sacred powers. They are almost always masculine and linked to magical or religious practices and have healing power. They represent an ancestor or some “nkir” protective spirit. The white-painted eyes of some statues symbolize the bones of the ancestor represented by the statue.

This fetish represents two ancestors, male and female, opposed in the back to the Janus. Both have a striated face, representing facial scarifications. The male figure carries to the chest a kind of wooden cylinders. These statues are used in the cult of ancestors and are protective figures. Very old patina.