Art and Oracle: A Scholarly Resource of African and Rituals of Divination | Explore & Learn

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34. Necklace Owned by Namandiaro
Barambo, Poko, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Wood, plant fiber, seedpods, gourd, antelope horn; 47.6 x 41.3 cm (18 3/4 x 16 1/4 in.)
19th century
American Museum of Natural History, New York
90.1/3586

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34. Necklace Owned by Namandiaro

his highly valued necklace composed of elements gathered from nature—which served as both a professional instrument and an insignia of power—was the intimate possession of a renowned female healer from central Africa.1 Its aesthetic reflects efforts by the Barambo and their closely related Mangbetu neighbors to make compositions out of natural matter in arrangements that provide protection and produce heightened awareness. Tailored to respond to the individual needs of their owners, such "medicine strings" operate according to the same principles governing many other varieties of regional oracles.

On a microcosmic scale, this refined article of adornment reveals a profound understanding of the earth's plant, animal, and mineral resources and an awareness of the forces that control and direct such a work. According to the worldview that inspired it, nature is regarded as a fixed and ordered entity independent of a divine Creator.2 In following this system of beliefs, family heads begin each day by reciting prayers for good fortune. These are directed toward the first human, whose descendants regard him as a civilizing hero credited with discovering elemental matter such as water and fire and developing essential technologies that harnessed those forces.3 Ancestors (atolo), who are able to affect the welfare of the living, expect respect in exchange for their benevolence. Offerings are also directed to appease ope, invisible spirits that populate forests, mountains, and water sources; ope sometimes bring messages to people in their dreams and can inflict harm through oracles.4

The raw materials of nature have historically provided members of Barambo society and their neighbors in the region with a great measure of control over their lives. Some specialists could manipulate natural substances to create "medicines" (neo), which are imbued with mystical power and can be directed toward either good or evil ends.5 Human ill will was perceived as having the potential to afflict a community with sickness or death. This could be achieved by individuals who had inherited powers of witchcraft or acquired the knowledge necessary to manufacture "bad medicine."6 In response, healers would formulate other "medicines" to counteract these negative powers. Oracles were consulted to learn of potential dangers.7

Even the most powerful "medicines" could be produced by anyone with a specialized knowledge of the properties of plants. Among these was nekire, a form of "medicine" composed of certain bushes that have been fashioned into the form of a cylindrical wooden whistle, with a hole drilled lengthwise into one end.8 When blown into and accompanied by verbal directives, nekire were especially effective devices used in healing, combating sorcery, and bringing prosperity.

Other types of plants were harvested to create "medicines" endowed with oracular properties. Most men consulted a personal oracle known as a nondukpale, an instrument manipulated to provide auguries through physical signs, empowered by the wood from which it was carved and the vegetal oils applied to its surface.9 Throughout the region, the beneficial medicinal properties of naando (the root of the forest plant Alchornea floribunda) were also recognized.10 Harvested by hunters to enhance their good luck, it was used by specialists as the catalyst in rituals to discern hidden things and foretell the future.

As early as the 1880s and into the present day, the most accurate and potent "medicine" deployed in regional divination has been the mapingo oracle.11 Because of the investment in time and resources it represents, it is generally used only by a community's leader or reserved as a recourse for its members when other techniques prove ineffective, and only for the most serious problems, such as determining the underlying cause of a death. Mapingo derives its power from an apparatus consisting of a horizontal banana trunk supporting a series of short, small sticks of wood. These are arranged in groups of three and anointed with a medicinal mixture of plant matter and palm-kernel oil. During a consultation, the diviner petitions the sticks to provide truthful responses to his questions, which they communicate by the configurations into which they fall.

Both formally and conceptually, the composition of this "medicine string" resembles that of the mapingo oracle. Its design of regularly alternating elements of seedpods and sticks suggests the exacting, formulaic precision of a medicinal prescription. In the necklace's lower half, several prominent elements—four "medicine whistles," a gourd, and an animal horn—provide syncopated visual accents and are easily accessible to the owner when the necklace is worn. Invested in these are distinct medicinal properties, with the horn and calabash serving as containers for potent substances, and the whistles activating powers when blown. Each whistle is made from a different wood associated with a specific ability. These include inflicting sickness, causing financial gain or loss, and bringing luck or misfortune.

Visually, this fusion of disparate materials produces a mellifluous combination of mellow forms and tonal values ranging from light browns to black. A photograph shows its owner, Namandiaro, wearing the necklace elegantly draped diagonally across her chest and over her right shoulder, with a whistle bracelet on her wrist. The necklace's exceptional beauty reflects a harmonious convergence of aesthetic design informed by an intellectual awareness of the power inherent in nature.

1. Enid Schildkrout and Curtis A. Keim, African Reflections, exh. cat. (New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1990), p. 182.

2. Ibid., p. 178.

3. Ibid., p. 174.

4. Ibid., p. 180.

5. Ibid., p. 181.

6. Ibid., p. 177.

7. Ibid.

8. Ibid., p. 185.

9. Ibid.

10. Ibid., p. 169.

11. Ibid., pp. 173, 178, 185–87.