|
Tribe Snapshots Bushoong |
| Location: |
Southeastern Congo (Zaire) |
| Population: |
17,000 |
| Language: |
Bushoong (Bantu) |
| Neighboring
Peoples: |
Biombo, Luba Kasai, Pende, Pyaang, Ngongo, Ngeende,
Lele |
| Types
of Art: |
As might be expected, art that can be directly
attributed to the Bushoong is almost always used
to validate rule. Portraits of rulers (Ndop) are
perhaps the best known of the Bushoong royal arts
and are used as mnemonic devices to remember Kuba
history and to transfer power from one king to
the next. Other royal regalia includes exquisitely
carved drums, drinking horns, stools, knives,
staffs, and fly whisks, among other thing. |
| History: |
Bushoong are part of the larger Kuba ethnic
group and as such have a shared history. While
their ancestors migrated into their current location
from opposite directions, they have together carved
out a unified kingdom that recognizes as the rulers
of the land those descended from the 16th century
Bushoong leader, King Shyaam. Bushoong migrated
from the north and are closely related to the
southern Mongo peoples. Upon arrival in their
current location they found Twa and Kete peoples,
both of whom have been absorbed into the larger
Kuba Kingdom. |
| Economy: |
The rivers which bound the Kuba territory provide
fish, which is normally consumed in the region
where it is caught. They also farm maize and cassava,
both of which were imported from the new world.
The Kuba weave beautiful raffia cloth which is
embroidered by the women and traded to surrounding
areas. |
| Political
Systems: |
The leader of the Kuba peoples is always Bushoong
and rules from the Kuba capital, Nsheng. The king
(Nyim) is assisted in his duties by over a hundred
advisors who are representative of the people
of the kingdom. Individual villages each have
a leader who must answer to the Nyim and is responsible
for instituting his rulings. The king's position
of power is considered supreme, as he is a direct
descendant of the mythical unifier of the Kuba,
King Shyaam. There have been 21 successive rulers
since Shyaam, and the kingdom has been relatively
stable throughout the 400 years of its history. |
| Religion: |
The Kuba oral history tells of the creation
of the world by Bumba, who dictated that the Bushoong
would always be the ruling class. This creator
god is not formally worshiped. At one time the
Kuba had a religion based on ancestor worship,
but this seems to have died out, although divination
is still practiced in order to discover causes
of evil. Success during hunting is recognized
as a gift from the gods. It is not incidental
that diviners often employ carved wooden hunting
dogs as rubbing oracles in order to arrive at
their knowledge. Dogs are seen throughout the
region as responsible for delivering the will
of the god, whether through hunting or through
the diviner. |
|
|
