FROM THE FOREST AS MEN

Salampasu Male Initiation

Africa
DR Congo

Photos

Painted for Initiation
A Salampasu initiate with chalk face paint and a patterned raffia hat.
Initiation Hut
At left: Young initiates, accompanied by their ritual teacher, peer out of a thatched initiation hut. At right: The Kamanijinga guardian mask is designed for amusement and features wide eyes and a voluminous raffia beard.
Procession of initiates
Initiates exit the grass hut under the supervision of their ritual guardian.
Masked Mentors
At left: The masks emerge from the forest, where they have been training the youths during their threemonth initiation period. Each mask acts as a guardian for a specific child and plays a different role
in training the initiates. The Ndumbu mask (at left), with round white
eyes, orange-ochered face, and long raffia beard is responsible for
instilling discipline and order among the initiates.
At right: The frightening, spiked Mukungu a-nkilli mask appears alongside the disciplinary Ndumbu mask.
Embracing the Guardian
Initiates dash over to embrace their Ndumbu mentor, who has trained them in skills necessary to enter adulthood.
Learning to Dance
The initiates are taught a number of dances by their ritual teachers whilst living in the sacred forest.
Guardian Teacher
At the close of the dance the initiates circle their guardian in an affectionate way.
Schooling in Dance
On the edge of the sacred forest initiates practice the traditional dances taught to them during their three month initiation.
Jester Mask
The black-and white Tshibombo mask is considered to be a jester, to amuse and entertain.
Formality of Training
The boys are led by an older initiate carrying a shield decorated with chalk and charcoal. Masked mentors protectively follow the boys from behind.
Completion of Training
Having completed his training an initiate prepares to exit the sacred forest.
Shields of Leadership
Shields made of wooden slats and decorated with ocher, chalk, and charcoal are carried by the older initiates, who lead the younger boys in the direction of the village.
Feeding the Initiates
A ritual guardian feeds the seated boys while a masked mentor looks on with approval.
Leaving the Sacred Forest
The boys are carried on the shoulders of their masked mentors back to the village, where they will be reunited with their families.
Celebrating the Return
Each initiate sits on the shoulders of his masked mentor who has personally trained him over a 3 month period. Together the boys and their ritual teacher leave the sacred forest and return to the village.
Agemates Bonded
A young initiate wears his woven hat handpainted with ochre, chalk, and charcoal designs as he joins his agemates in the village.
Graduating Initiation
The boys have graduated from their Mukanda initiation, wearing woven hats painted with ocher and charcoal, their bodies covered with chalk.
Disciplinary Ndumbu Mask
The forceful Ndumbu mask whirls in front of the newly initiated boys, brandishing his disciplinary forked stick.
Fearsome Mukungua- nkilli Mask
On their return to the village, both masks and boys perform for their friends and family. The conical shaped Mukungu a-nkilli mask made of dyed palm fronds and pierced with spikes, strikes fear in the crowd.
Menacing Tchikunza Mask
The menacing Tchikunza mask, made of blackened hessian stretched over an ochered wicker frame, wields his knife as he dances celebrating the return of the boys. This style of mask has been adopted from their neighbors, the Tchokwe.
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