Nganga - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Nganga
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nganga is a Bantu term for herbalist or spiritual healer in many

African societies and also in many societies of the African diaspora
such as those in Haiti, Brazil, and Cuba. It is derived from *-ganga in
proto-Njila, an early branch of the Bantu family.[1] The verb form
related to it, -gang- relates to wisdom, knowledge and skill. As this
term is a multiple reflex of a Proto-Bantu root, there are slight
variations on the term throughout the entire Bantu-speaking world.

Contents
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In Africa
Shona N'anga
Kongo nganga
In the Americas
In popular culture
See also
External links
References

Nganga mask, from the collection of

the Brooklyn Museum

In Africa
The owner and operator of an nkisi, who ministered its powers to
others, was the nganga.[2]
In the Kingdom of Kongo the term "nganga" was the name for a
person who possessed the skill to communicate with the Other World,
as well as divining the cause of illness, misfortune and social stress
and preparing measures to address them, often by supernatural means
but sometimes natural medicine as well. They were also responsible
for charging nkisi, or physical objects intended to be the receptacle
for spiritual forces. When Kongo converted to Christianity in the late
fifteenth century, the term nganga was used to translate Christian
priest as well as traditional spiritual mediators.[3] In modern Kikongo
Christian priests are often called "Nganga a Nzambi" or "priests of
God."

Inyanga from Johannesburg, South

Africa

In South Africa, the inyanga has a medicinal role, in contrast to the sangoma, who deals with divination and
the ancestral spirits, however, the dinstinction has become blurred in some areas and many traditional healers
tend to practice both arts.[4][5] In Swahili, mganga refers to a qualified physician or traditional healer.

Shona N'anga
Among the Shona people of Zimbabwe, a n'anga is a traditional healer who uses a combination of herbs,
medical/religious advice and spiritual guidance to heal people. In Zimbabwe, N'angas are recognized and
registered under the ZINATHA (Zimbabwe National Traditional Healer's Association).[6][7]

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They are believed to have religious powers to tell fortunes,

and to change, heal, bless or even kill people. Traditionally
Nangas were peoples main source of help in all matters of
life. They have existed for decades well before the British
colonial era. Guerrilla leaders are said to have consulted
with Nangas during the Rhodesian Bush War.[8]
Even today, N'angas are consulted by the people for advice
and healing of many illnesses. Sometimes N'angas refer
their patients to western medical practitioners and hospitals
in case of emergency or illness they can't cure with the
help of their healing spirit.[9]

A n'anga, close to Great Zimbabwe

Kongo nganga
An English missionary describes how an nganga looks during his healing performance:
Thick circles of white around the eyes, a patch of red across the forehead, broad stripes of yellow are
drawn down the cheeks, bands of red, white, or yellow run down the arms and across the chest.... His dress
consists of the softened skins of wild animals, either whole or in strips, feathers of birds, dried fibres and
leaves, ornaments of leopard, crocodile or rat's teeth, small tinkling bells, rattling seedpods...[2][10]
This wild appearance was intended to create a frightening effect, or kimbulua in KiKongo. The nganga's
costume was often modeled on his nkisi. The act of putting on the costume was itself part of the
performance; all participants were marked with red and white stripes, called makila, for protection.[2]
The "circles of white around the eyes" refer to mamoni lines (from the verb mona, to see). These lines
indicate the ability to see hidden sources of illness and evil.[2]
Yombe nganga often wore white masks, whose color represented the spirit of a deceased person. White was
also associated with justice, order, truth, invulnerability, and insight: all virtues associated with the nganga.
The nganga is instructed in the composition of the nkondi, perhaps in a dream, by a particular spirit. In one
description of the banganga's process, the nganga then cuts down a tree for the wood that he will use to
construct the nkondi. He then kills a chicken, which causes the death of a hunter who has been successful in
killing game and whose captive soul subsequently animates the nkondi figure.[11] Based on this process, Gell
writes that the nkondi is a figure an index of cumulative agency, a "visible knot tying together an invisible
skein of spatio-temporal relations" of which participants in the ritual are aware.[12]

In the Americas
In Cuba, the term nganga refers to a certain creation made with an iron cauldron into which several items
(such as bones and sticks) are placed. It also refers to the spirit of the dead that resides there. In Palo, it
refers to an iron cauldron used to imprison evil spirits using chains, padlocks, knives, etc., which can be used
for black magic.

In popular culture
In SimCity Societies: Destinations, a tribal shaman is named "Nganga".

See also
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African traditional religions

Traditional healers of South Africa
Witchdoctor

External links
Nganga Kiyangala Congo religion in Cuba (http://www.mediarights.org
/film/nganga_kiyangala_congo_religion_in_cuba)
African Intellectual Heritage: A Book of Sources By Molefi K. Asante, Abu Shardow Abarry
(http://books.google.com/books?id=AxXE65flKPwC&pg=PA169&dq=nganga&
ei=a2ZcR5WXJIqqswPAidWGBg&sig=OObMnuv-omgNpoGRmKxzOh7RgdE) ISBN 1-56639-403-1
THE STORY OF ZOMBI IN HAITI (http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/voodoo/mars-zombi.htm)
The African Religions of Brazil: Toward a Sociology of the Interpenetration By Roger Bastide
(http://books.google.com/books?id=eTPByICog1cC&pg=PA85&dq=ganga+brazil+nganga&ei=c2tcRPjH4eSswOBrMzTBg&sig=4Pgx_hJX-I0fA0nELlHauCU2OmA) ISBN 0-8018-8624-4
An Anthology of Kongo Religion (http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/tburke1/8bsyllabus
/witchcraft.htm)

References
1. Jan Vansina, How Societies Are Born: Governance in West Central African before 1600 (Charlottesville, VA
and London: University of Virginia Press, 2004), p. 51.
2. MacGaffey, Wyatt (0993). Astonishment & Power, The Eyes of Understanding: Kongo Minkisi. National
Museum of African Art. Check date values in: |date= (help)
3. John Thornton, "The Development of an African Catholic Church in the Kingdom of Kongo, 1491-1750,"
Journal of African History
4. Richter, Marlise (2003). "Traditional Medicines and Traditional Healers in South Africa" (PDF). p. 8. Retrieved
28 May 2013.
5. van Wyk, Ben-Erik; van Oudtshoorn, Bosch; Gericke, Nigel (1999). Medicinal Plants of South Africa. Pretoria:
Briza Publications. p. 10. ISBN 978-1-875093-37-3.
6. "Culture of Zimbabwe".
7. "Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers Association (ZINATHA)".
8. Angus Shaw, (1993) Kandaya, Another time, Another place, Baobab Books
9. "Specialization and referral among the n'anga (traditional healers) of Zimbabwe". Trop Doct 20 (3): 10910. July
1990. PMID 2219419.
10. Weeks, John H. (1914). Among the Primitive Bakongo. London: Seeley, Service & Co. Ltd.
11. MacGaffey, Wyatt (Spring 2001). "Astonishment and Stickiness in Kongo Art: A Theoretical Advance". RES:
Anthropology and Aesthetics (The President and Fellows of Harvard College acting through the Peabody
Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology) 39.
12. Gell, A (1999). The Art of Anthropologie. London: Humanities Press.

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Categories: Religion in Africa African shamanism Supernatural healing Afro-American religion
Traditional African medicine Traditional healthcare occupations Zimbabwean culture
Zimbabwean society African witchcraft Kingdom of Kongo
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