Suku people
The Suku people or Basuku (plural) are an ethnic group of Bantu origin who traditionally inhabit the south-western Democratic Republic of the Congo and north-western Angola.
They require nziimbu shell money, coin, or piece of cloth of the victim to reveal where these problems are coming from.
One month before the boys are sent away, relatives in the area are visited by the young candidates and give dances for traditional gifts.
It involves special structures, masks, and sculpted posts that are covered in charms and medicines that barricade the initiation site.
If the arrow stays, they cut and carry the tree down to take it back to the village in male solidarity.
The tree is placed in an open area of the village near the initiation camp and later in the day, the kakungu, m-bawa, and hemba masks appear for the festivities.
After the circumcision, the boys are left naked for a couple of days where they need to sleep close together on mats on the ground.
There are many food restrictions imposed and they are punished if they complain, break silence, make a mistake, or don't follow orders.
This is where boys learn useful occupations like clearing fields, weaving mats, or cutting ground vines for rubber.
The hemba mask begins to appear near the end of the camp session for the Suku and its dance is taught to the initiates.
It is made of soft wood called mengela or m'tsenga, and covered with skins of larger animals and full length raffia fringe strips.
The Belgian King Philppe handed a Kakungu mask originally in the Royal Museum for Central Africa to the Musée National de Kinshasa when he was visiting the country in June 2022.
[6] The m-bawa mask is constructed from vines bound into a spherical structure then covered with raffia cloth.
It is also known for warding off rain, detecting pregnant women, terrorize, and control anti-social behavior, like the kakungu.
The face is painted white and marked by blue lines that descend from the lowered eyelids, and sometimes define a brow or nose ridge.
During ceremonies, it is welded during Lunda war-dance that recalls legendary battles and is finished by pointed toward the land of origin.
They each have variations in coiffure and headgear and relate to leadership and elders: Difference in the hair parting or how it is shaped, Bweni hats that have a rising crest and protruding knobs or a projecting brim distinctive of land-chiefs, Mpu skull caps of the regional chiefs in Suku.
Both hands together at the upper chin gesture can pertain to a person confessing guilt or swearing secrecy.
