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21. Friction Oracle: Janus-Headed Animal (Itombwa)
Kuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Wood; L. 26 cm (10 1/4 in.)
19th century
Museum der Kulturen, Basel
III 5654

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21. Friction Oracle: Janus-Headed Animal (Itombwa)

egarded as infallible divinatory instruments, friction oracles (itombwa) were used to mediate between diviners and omniscient nature spirits in order to determine the cause of illnesses and appropriate courses of treatment and to expose dishonesty. They performed this role in the guise of an animal form, favored by nature spirits, designed to register their insights in response to human manipulation. (See the Pemberton essay introduction and part 2 of the essay.)

Kuba friction oracles are invariably wooden representations of a four-legged animal with a flat back. The back serves as the surface against which an implement made of wood, fiber, or resin is rubbed. It is through the action of moving this implement back and forth across the surface of the oracle that responses to inquiries are obtained. Although usually the animal's head is depicted at one end and its tail at the other, sometimes there is a head at each end, as in this example.

When initiating a consultation, the diviner moistens the implement with oil or water and rubs it on the friction oracle's back. For a medical consultation, the diviner performs the action while making a series of statements about potential measures that might be taken (for example, "Don't eat manioc," "Don't smoke tobacco," etc.); when the most appropriate treatment is mentioned, the rubbing implement suddenly stops moving, and the diviner feels it resisting his efforts and sticking to the surface of the oracle.1 Likewise, in cases that involve determining the perpetrator of a crime, the diviner recites names of residents of the community until the oracle responds similarly. In such cases, the client will confront the suspect, and if he or she denies culpability, this claim of innocence is put to the test. This involves the two going to a tree, cutting a square into the bark without detaching it from the trunk, and then both of them striking the tree until the square is dislodged. Should it land bark side down, the accused is innocent, but if it lands bark side up, the verdict of the friction oracle is confirmed.2

The use of itombwa for divination among the Kuba may be traced to the early seventeenth century, before the era of Kuba kingship.3 The practice was introduced at that time by Kete peoples when the forebears of the Kuba migrated into Kete territory. This was linked to their adoption of Kete reverence for invisible nature spirits (ngesh), which were believed to populate the landscape's forests and water sources. Ngesh were regarded as playing an active role in influencing the course of human affairs, favorably or otherwise. Their appearance to an individual either in a dream or through a supernatural encounter constituted a calling to the diviner's vocation.4 The diviner's role was to interpret and resolve conflicts as they arose, in consultation with the ngesh.

One primary distinction between divinatory instruments used by Kuba and neighboring Lele diviners is that while those designed by the Lele and many other groups are anthropomorphic, almost all Kuba oracles are zoomorphic.5 The zoomorphic subject matter of Kuba itombwa constitutes a noticeable departure from the larger Kuba sculptural tradition, noted for its extensive range of forms that share a humanist emphasis.6 The imagery of friction oracles draws on certain classes of animals that are associated with divination and are considered capable of forging links between the world of humans and the world of the spirits. For the most part, these ideal mediators inhabit the environment of the marshy forest or thick bush along with the ngesh. Consequently, crocodiles, bush pigs, warthogs, tortoises, porcupines, iguanas, and dogs are considered ideal messengers used to appeal to the ngesh. Because dogs' keen sense of smell makes them able hunters, they are seen as an appropriate metaphor for the diviner's ability to track down criminals.

When designing an itombwa, Kuba sculptors are limited to these animal subjects in order to ensure the instrument's efficacy, but within those prescribed iconographic parameters, artists are afforded a degree of license. This is reflected in a range of stylistically diverse works that evoke the features of appropriate animals but deviate from them in significant ways to suggest otherworldly creatures. In this example, that sense is apparent in the synthesis of doglike and crocodilian characteristics and the doubling of heads, implying extraordinary vigilance and awareness. The pronounced concave curve of the back, caused by extensive use, is a sign of its successful role as an emissary.

1. Torday and Joyce 1910, p. 122; Torday 1925, p. 239.

2. Torday and Joyce 1910, p. 122.

3. Vansina 1978, pp. 201–2.

4. Mack 1981, p. 53.

5. François Neyt, Arts traditionnels et histoire au Zaïre (Brussels: Société d'Arts Primitifs, 1981), p. 170. Related divinatory traditions that rely on the use of friction oracles are widespread within and outside the Kasai region among Azande, Ding, Lele, Lwalwa, Ngbaka, and Wongo peoples.

6. Mack 1981, p. 51.