Congo life and folklore

by John H. Weeks

The nganga had not been gone many hours when the woman breathed her last, and poor Bakula was left motherless. His neighbours and relatives eyed his sorrow with contemptuous suspicion, and already began to whisper among themselves that he was the ndoki (or evil spirit) who had caused his own mother’s death. They thoughtlessly disregarded the true affection that the young man had always shown for his mother, his readiness to help her, and his sincere grief now that she was gone. They only considered and repeated to each other what the witch-doctor had said about breaking the country customs, laughing at wizards, and neglecting his charms. They could regard him in no other light than as the real cause of his mother’s illness and death.

For generations they and their forefathers had believed that disease and death were unnatural, and would not exist on the earth for a single day if there were no wickedly-disposed persons who used evil spirits to kill their relatives by incurable diseases. They did not know that their “medicine men” covered their ignorance, quackeries and failures by these charges of witchcraft. If a patient recovered, then they inflated themselves with pride and took all the credit of the cure; but if the patient died, then witchcraft was at work, a ndoki was “eating” up the patient, or by his evil spirit was throttling the spirit of the sick one. Rich men had bought expensive charms, had sacrificed goats and sheep to costly fetishes to keep them strong and alert, to protect their owners from the evil influences of the ndoki, and yet they had died.

Such deaths did not shake their faith in charms and fetishes, but rather stimulated them to more careful observance of all the rites and ceremonies connected with them. They knew no better system than that in which they had been nurtured.

One night when Bakula was sitting around the fire I heard that two men many years ago had started a crusade against fetishes and charms. They preached throughout the Lower Congo that if all fetishes and charms of every kind were destroyed there would be no more disease and death. So effective was their condemnation of witchcraft, charms, and fetishes that whole towns and villages made bonfires of their images and charms, and children were shaken over the fires to purge them from any charms concealed about their person.

The deluded natives expected a golden day would now dawn upon them wherein there would be no sighing, no tears, no weeping, for disease and death would be banished from their huts; but, alas! sickness soon came and death quickly followed to disillusion them of their bright hopes.

The only folk who profited by this crusade were the ngangas, as they received large orders for charms and fetishes to replace those that had been burned. But the preachers were sure of the soundness of their panacea for the country’s woes, and they could only account for its failure by charging some of the people with hiding their charms and fetishes instead of destroying them.

Later still, two other men who were ngangas, calling themselves by some high-sounding titles, started another crusade; this time not against charms and fetishes, but against evil desires and murderous thoughts harboured in the hearts of the people. They proclaimed that every one should confess to them all the witchcraft, hatred, and bad thoughts they had in their hearts against others, and those thus confessing should receive a peanut and a sip of palm-wine, and thus disease and death would pass away from their country.

CAT’S CRADLES.