Duala

The Dualathe town belonging to the great group Bantu, are implanted in the Cameroonian coast between the rivers Wuri and Sanaga where they arrived at the beginning of the century XVIII, coming from Pitti, on the banks of the Dibamba River. The city of Duala, port city, currently exceeds the two million inhabitants and has become the economic capital of Cameroon. Coastal people and between rivers, their activities are mainly directed towards fishing and navigation. In their playful activities the regattas occupy an important place, they are specialists in the manufacture of canoes and all their art has this fluvial and maritime sense. Since the implantation of the English in Duala in the century XVI and later with the English and French the Duala They actively participated in the slave trade by capturing slaves in the interior of the country that they sold to European Blackmen. This traffic ensured its protection by the invaders. The slave trade developed in them a class spirit, which divided society into free men, descendants of slaves and slaves. Venerating the common ancestor Mbedi, in the century XVIII There is a split in two groups or families, the Akwa and the Bell, so called by the name of their bosses, who make pacts with Europeans. In order not to break ethnic unity, they create a society of notables, Ngondo, of which the representatives of the peoples of both groups form an integral part. In the dry season, the Ngondo festival is celebrated annually, where great cultural manifestations take place around the traditions and history of the Sawa people, of which they are part. They are originally animistic, with a strong propensity for polygamy, they are now distributed among the various religions, mainly Christian. In their animistic times they had a god, creator of their ancestors, Nyambe, and a god of heaven, Loba, although ethnologists who have studied in depth dual society say that it is a single god, the Creator God of the Universe. They had numerous intermediate divinities, mainly water geniuses. In his artistic production stand out the nyatti masks used by several of his male secret societies. Polychrome masks with vivid colors that represent a stylized buffalo head. Also known are the bows of their canoes, equally polychrome and among other objects make artistic stools. MASCARAS DUALA NYATTI The sculptors Duala They carve eye-catching elongated masks, representing a stylized and polychrome buffalo, called nyatti. The trapezoidal shape of the head contrasts with the circular shape of the horns. Polychromy is symmetrical. Ears, also polychromes, stand out on the sides. The tongue consists of a small sheet of iron. They are employed by members of the male secret societies Ekalé. Polychrome is the main characteristic of art Duala, as can be seen In the magnificent canoe bows they make. They also sculpt stools whose use is reserved for chiefs. These masks were used in the ceremonies of the secret societies Ekongolo and Losango.