The Tabwa are an ethnic group living mainly on the southwestern shores of Lake Tanganyika, and in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Today, they are led by chiefs-sorcerers who rule over village chiefs and family chiefs. These ceremonial staffs would have an ancestral figure that might represent the portrait of the ancestor, or the faces might resemble the carrier. Whenever a staff was decorated with a female figure, it was generally used to show specific traits within the carrier. For instance, a wooden staff can show the expression, high forehead, and bodily ornaments revealed the positive qualities the leader might have possessed at the time he carried it. A large forehead meant wisdom, while ornaments around the figure were meant to show social achievement. Among the Tabwa, women’s bodies are considered to be carriers of spirituality and divinity, so female figures adorning the staffs are highly valuable. The following staff has a brown patina and looks visibly old.
- Material: Wood
- Age: approximately 55-70 yrs
- Origin: Democratic Republic Of Uganda
- Condition: Good
- SKU: CMCL-014
- Weight: 0.8 kg
- Dimensions: 3.5 x 80 x 3.5 cm