Galoa

The Galoa or Galwa are implanted in the lower course of Ogué, south of Lambrané and as far as Ashouka, near the Atlantic shore, in a lagoon area, where they arrived between centuries XVII and XVIII. Previously they were called “Elongo monbé”. Galoa they were trading along the Ogué and between the inland and the coast, they were also dealing with slaves even though they had no direct contact with the slavers. Like many other neighboring villages speak the Myené. They are linked to the Fang At the birth of a child they practice a rite in which the newborn is introduced into a container full of water. And like many other ethnic groups of the Myené group, they practice Njembé, a rite of passage that ensures the transition of adolescent girls and young women to adult women and are admitted into secret society as “mothers of the truth”. The secret society of women is an esoteric society.Young women and initiates have the capacity to speak to the spirits of the hereafter, but their rites are completely secret and the violation of the norm imposed by silence would be severely punished by ancestors. Gaul society is matrilineal and women enjoy great privileges because they are the ones that guarantee the continuity of the lineage, the “Ozombi”. Neophytes to enter society must overcome over five years a whole series of trials that take place in the sacred forest, the seat of the spirits, which gives them a deep knowledge of nature. They must cultivate a whole series of virtues, such as courage, recklessness, endurance, or maturity. At the end of it they have acquired a great spiritual strength. Men belong to the secret Okukwé society, to which they acceded through initiatory rites. The members of this society are the bearers of masks of the same name. The mask began to walk inside the hut and then went outside wandering around the village, in the middle of a great expectation to discover the unfaithful women, who unable to disguise their fear were commanded to whip. Sometimes, to cause more dread, the mask wore large stilts. A simulation is currently being made in festive events.