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Catalog Data

Photographer:
Sousberghe, Léon de  Search this
Collection Photographer:
Sousberghe, Léon de  Search this
Extent:
1 Slide (col.)
Culture:
Pende (African people)  Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Slides
Color slides
Place:
Africa
Congo (Democratic Republic)
Date:
[ca. 1957]
Scope and Contents:
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 073
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.
Topic:
Rites and ceremonies -- Africa  Search this
Body arts  Search this
Headdresses -- headgear -- Africa  Search this
Genre/Form:
Color slides
Identifier:
EEPA.1999-010, Item EEPA 1999-100006
See more items in:
Leon de Sousberghe photographs
Archival Repository:
Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/xo72fff9081-5556-4f71-b8f0-87c2fb661407
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-eepa-1999-010-ref512