The Lumbo, also known as the Baloumbous, are an ethnic group living in Nyanga Province in southwest Gabon and in Cameroon, partic- ularly in Neme Department.
Their current population are 43,400 people in 2 countries. In Gabon they are 37.500 (Peoplegroups.org, 2024)
They form part of the intricate network of Gabon’s forty ethnicities, all of whose institutions are similar and whose daily life is regulated by the necessities arising from a physically hostile environment. Lacking centralized political organization, social life is concentrated in the village and clans.
Ancestors and tutelary spirits are worshipped, and it is the initiation brotherhoods, such as the mukudji society, which play a therapeutic and judiciary role and rule social life.
Today, most Loumbous are small farmers, merchants, and traders.
Their own oral traditions trace Loumbou origins to what is today Point-Noire in the Congo Republic, but they migrated to Gabon over the course of several centuries. Historically, the Loumbous on the Atlantic coast collected salt from saltwater and traded it with interior ethnic groups. By the late fifteenth century, with the arrival of the Portuguese, the Loumbous entered into the ivory, beeswax, slave, and redwood trades. From the late eighteenth century through much of the nineteenth century, the Loumbous came under the domination of the Vili Kingdom of Loango. By the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Loumbous were trading rubber with the Europeans.
Lumbo artists carved figures influenced by Punu and Kongo styles. Generally, among the Lumbo, figurative sculpture is used for protection from malevolent forces and promotion of fecundity. (Perrois, 1985).
Their masks appear in funerary rituals, initiation ceremonies, and the magical rites whose function is to unmask sorcerers.
The masks are called variously okuyi, mukuyi or mukudji depending on the district. They are commemorative portraits of male and female ancestors, the dancers often performing impressive acrobatics on stilts as they proceed through the village.
Women and children prefer to hide from them, although there is apparently no prohibition against the masks being seen by them. White masks are famous throughout Gabon.
Their style here is realistic: they are characterized by oval or triangular faces, hairdos composed of one or several loops, a dominant forehead, large eyes of coffee-bean shape with slightly hollowed sockets, and a realistic nose with pronounced nostrils and sides.
The lips are outlined, the cheekbones protrude, the chin is pointed. White masks participate in celebrations; black ones operate as judges and help identify sorcerers.
Lumbo statuettes are recognizable by their braided hair that terminates in a horn shape. Their function is no longer known, but from their small size, one may gather that they served as protective charms.
The facial features of the white masks are found here, too. From a slight bulging visible around the “face,” it appears that some statuettes may represent a person wearing a mask.
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