{"id":10278,"date":"2021-07-02T22:50:57","date_gmt":"2021-07-02T20:50:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/detlev.von.graeve.org\/?p=10278"},"modified":"2021-10-19T23:51:19","modified_gmt":"2021-10-19T21:51:19","slug":"welcome-to-the-salampasu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/detlev.von.graeve.org\/?p=10278","title":{"rendered":"WELCOME TO THE SALAMPASU! – Updated"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Upload: may 16 2019<\/p>\n

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The title is pure irony. The Salampasu in the south of the DRC on the border with Angola have a bad reputation. After all, a man could only gain reputation there over centuries as a hunter, warrior and cannibal. And the peope later were reluctant to reveal family secrets to curious strangers.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Would modern Europeans approuve ?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Modern Europeans may develop certain sympathies for these \u2018eccentrics‘:<\/span><\/p>\n

The Salampasu<\/em> defended themselves stubbornly against the influence of their big neighbors as Lunda<\/em> or Luba<\/em> \u2018kingdoms\u2019, which of course were also keen on the oil palms and iron deposits of the area around Luiza<\/em>. And\u00a0 they succeeded <\/span>in their fight <\/span>as extremely decentrally organized ethnic group (acephale<\/em>). Their members jealously guarded their individual freedom and were only temporarily united by external threats. Who does not think of the legendary Gallic village in \u201cAsterix and Obelix\u201d?<\/span><\/p>\n

Or would you prefer a less humorous comparison?<\/span><\/p>\n

As with the Spartans<\/em> of greek antiquity, the man strived hard for honor. Rules worked so effectively that status and wealth were practically not inherited. In the the organisation of hunters and warriors, the mungongo<\/em>, one had to show courage in hunting and in war, kill enemies and eat their bodies, but also had to invest his fortune to rise in the hierarchy satisfying the members of higher ranks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Women had different priorities. they would not rely upon their husbands, but more about that later. They had to live – „patrilocal“ – in the husband’s village, but their children belonged to the her lineage and they inherited – „matrilinear“ – their maternal uncle. The Salampasu trace their ancestry and name back to a legendary founder and her six daughters – to the delight of\u00a0 Western followers of a „matriarchy“ !<\/span><\/p>\n

The villages were in constant dispute as economic and political competitors, they even waged war against each other. This gave recently initiated young warriors and ambitious adult men the opportunity to excel, to rise in rank and boost their own magical powers by the newly acquired secret knowledge.<\/span><\/p>\n

In short, Salampasu<\/em>\u00a0 were no joking matter. After all, deterrence was their capital!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I do not want to go on describing \u2018the good old days\u2019 of the Salampasu<\/em>. They ended in the 1880s with the invasion of the Chokwe<\/em> from the south, who drove by force <\/span>larger\u00a0 peoples too, such as the Pende<\/em> to the Kasai<\/em> River far north. For centuries, Lunda<\/em> and Luba<\/em> had aimed in the expansion of their empires at some loose supremacy. The brutal war-style of the Chokwe<\/em>, however, was no match for the Salampasu<\/em> as it was focused on plunder and prey. From then on, the Salampasu<\/em> gave up some of their ‚Spartan‘ equality to establish permanent dynasties of rich families, accepting some degree of the Lunda<\/em> centralized rule.<\/span><\/p>\n

The spirit of resistance was not extinguished, on the contrary. The first European to cross their territory in 1903 became acquainted with their unpleasant guerrilla tactics. It was only in 1928-29 that a colonial official (Alfred Jobaert), well-known to Salampasu as a warrior and hunter, was able to establish the Kasai Compagnie<\/em> in the region permanently. In 1935, a Protestant and a Catholic mission (Scheut<\/em>) were allowed to settle somewhere, apparently with limited success, taking into account the little they could learn about Salampasu<\/em> culture and their spiritual world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Only shortly after independence, in the early sixties, the warrior organisation (mungongo<\/em>) destroyed masks and dissolved. According to Pruitt<\/em>, an anthropologist, the chiefs were the driving force because they wanted to strengthen their authority. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are few of old cult objects in Western collections. But in 1975, Cornet<\/em> registered an increasing production of masks. He explained the phenomenon with „growing demand“. Liz Cameron added in 1988: „… demand of the International Art Market“. She urgently demanded new field research as long as the last initiated eyewitnesses of the rich traditional Way of Life were alive. Did someone make this happen?<\/span><\/p>\n

If you suspect that I have tapped a hidden \u2018source\u2019 all the time, you are right.<\/span><\/p>\n

Elisabeth L. Cameron<\/strong> published an illustrated ten-page study of history, society, and culture: „Sala Mpasu Masks<\/strong>\u201d (1988 in African Arts<\/em>). <\/em>It concisely summarizes the state of the art at that time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps we have to use the term „traditional“ with greater caution, since the \u2018way of life\u2019 of the Salampasu was largely due to an environment into which they had immigrated before.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a different place for example, a small hill tribe in the Hindu Kush (Afghanistan), the Kafirs<\/em> mutated <\/span>into a harsh warrior society <\/span>under increasing pressure to Islamization since the turn to the 19th century. They became the horror of all travelers and neighbors. (G.S.Robertson 1896, Max Klimburg 1999)<\/span><\/p>\n

I have to confine myself to a rough sketch, because I want to present two authentic objects of Salampasu now.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Fragment of a post with mask face<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a>In May 2014, a 54 cm long fragment of a wooden stake was drawn from a container from Kinshasa with the face of a Salampasu<\/em> circumcision mask. <\/span>At first, <\/span>its white and red split facial features were barely discernible under the cracked crust of kaolin but they became unmistakable under well-aimed lighting: everything was there, compressed in a narrow face oval adapted to the trunk: <\/span><\/p>\n