Khosi’s Guessing Shield

Khosi divination statues of the Yaka are, by their meaning and function, similar to the Nkissi of Bakongo. However they do not present an aggressive expression like the latter, especially the fetishes of nails. These statues, thirty to sixty centimetres and usually double-sided, carry magical burdens, biteki, around the body, in sacks of cloth, sometimes covering a whole fabric. Other statues carry the magic charge in a ventral hole sealed with some paste or resin. In order to activate the load, i.e. to be effective, the intervention of the Ngoombu or fortune teller, the only person endowed with this power, is necessary. Like the manufacture of other liturgical objects, masks or statues, the Khosi are made in the sacred forest or in an enclosure far from the village and the presence of the profane. Once consecrated they are powerful statues, which can be favorable or unfavorable, can even cause death or trigger great evils. A whole series of rituals and offerings must be celebrated in order to obtain their protection. He intervenes both in healing ceremonies and aimed at obtaining various aids as well as divination.