Original accompanying de Sousberghe caption reads, " Pende. "Mungonge". Kondo sur la route de Kilembe à Kandale." Translated original caption reads, " Pende. "Mungonge". At Kondo, on the road from Kilembe to Kandale."
The Central Pende adapted the mungong in the mid-1930s as a secular dance society, but it seems likely that the Pende bordering on the Aluund would have borrowed it at an earlier date. The mungonge, as the Pende call it, is rare today among the Central Pende but continues in these regions (west of the Kwilu river and bordering the Aluund). The ceremony is held at night time with stilt performers appearing before dawn to mark the end of it. The initiated performers (afwa nzambi) with their bodies partially or totally covered with white paint wore a headdress (ibanda) that they will destroy at the end of the ceremony.
Local Numbers:
LS 070
General:
Title source: Archives staff.
Note source: Archives staff.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.