Babanki

Ethnic Northwestern Cameroon, in Grassland. They belong to the large Bantu group. Farmers’ village, mainly the cultivation of corn, some livestock and domestic animals. Men do the work of breaking and plowing the fields while women sow and harvest. As in many African peoples, the fertility of the fields is linked to women's own fertility. A large part of the population has converted to Christianity, the majority to the Catholic religion, and about twenty-five percent continue to practice traditional religions. The villages are led by a leader, the Fon, appointed by his predecessor, to whom they owe respect and obedience. The Fon he is advised by a Council of Notaries and his office is practically for life. The cult of ancestors is inseparable from the African soul, whatever religion they have embraced. In the most animistic areas the skull of the most recent or most important ancestors is preserved in the houses because it is in the skull where their spirit resides. Since all skulls cannot be kept in a dwelling, ceremonies are held in which libations are poured on the ground in which the spirit of these ancestors resides from this moment on, so they will not wander and will be favorable to families. Its elongated wooden elephant masks are known, with large ears and in which the fangs gather towards the middle of its stylized trunk. They also make pearly masks. It is this same mask covered with a cloth on which rows of multicolored beads are artistically sewn. His anthropomorphic masks are quite similar to those of the Bamún.