Reliquaries

Some African peoples, and especially Gabon, are used to making raffia or bark containers to preserve the relics of one or more ancestors in order to worship them. The cult of ancestors is based on the relationship between the offering of the living to the deceased and the protection of the deceased to the living. Some of the most important mortal remains, mainly part of the skull and pieces of other bones, are kept in the reliquaries of the ancestors. It is usually the remains of the nearest ancestors. They are venerated at the same time that they are feared because they can be dangerous to the living, which is why it is advisable to place them under the tutelage of a protective spirit. Often next to or on this box is placed a figure that evokes the ancestors and that is called the keeper of reliquary. This figure is associated with the reliquaries and considers as a true reliquary, having been in contact with the relics. In other villages, as in Cameroon, it is a hut that serves as a reliquary, since in it the skull of ancestors is preserved.