Suku

The Sukurelated to the YakaThey are a Bantu people, living in the southwest of the present DRC for four centuries. Its main resources are agriculture, practiced by women, and hunting, practiced by men. Its main cult is the cult of ancestors led by the elders, in whose funerals also the masks participate. SUKU STATUS Recognisable by his big head, which is extending on his chin. Eyes in coffee bean and triangular nose. Sometimes the mouth lets the teeth glimpse. The statues have a size ranging from twenty to sixty centimeters on average. They may be kneeling, squatting, or standing. The kneeling statues represent ancestors while those carrying magical additions are used to alienate evil spirits. MASCARAS SUKU Suku masks are mainly used in the initiation of young people with 10 a 15 years led by the “Mukanda” initiatory society. Initiation ends with circumcision. Except for the “kakungu” mask of thick cheeks and pronounced chin that is responsible for scaring all those who do not have to be in the vicinity of the sacred enclosure of initiation, the other masks are the so-called “heba” helmet masks, many of them bleached with kaolin and with a necklace or kind of beard formed by a long and thick mass of raffia. They usually carry some painted sign on their faces, as scarifications, and the head topped with an animal, often the pangolin. Masks with a white face can represent elders or ancestors and are also used in funerals, although they may be propitious for hunting and have apotropaic virtues.