Where do the Chokwe Live
The Chokwe people live in the southern part of the Congo. They live in a woodland savanna environment with strips of rain-forest closer to the rivers and swamps. where they live hunting and farming is very important. The climate needs to support their hunting habits, and needs to be able to support the farms that they yield. Some of these crops being cassava, peanuts which are also called ground nuts, yams which is their main crop that only men are allowed to farm, millet, beans, and corn which is also known as maize. The Chokwe people live in small villages that are formed into compounds, these include square huts, circular grass houses which are all centered around a central meetinghouse.
Chokwe Art
Traditional Celibration
For the chokwe people the mask is the most traditional item, and it is also the most recognized. Some masks were used to innagurate a new elder or some other important figure. The mask that is recognized the most through the chokwe people is called the chikunga. The masks are made from barkcloth after it has been stretched and layed over wickerwork. They are then painted with designs sometimes representiong a position in the tribe. Some masks are also made from carved wood. In the Chokwe only the highest in power wears the Chikunga mask. And then it gets passed on to the next highest. These masks are also very important to the religiuon of the Chokewe people. The masks can represent ancestors, evil spirits, important positions in the tribe, and significant people or things.
Chokwe Religion
The Chokwe people believe strongly in their ancestors determining their future. If the ancestors tell them to kill someone they will and if they tell them to sacrifice they will sacrifice. Kalunga is the god that the chokwe people recognize as their own. To them he is the supreme power and he gave nature gods and the chokwe people pray and sacrifice to them everything. Everyone has different individual spirits and if they neglect them they believe that something tragic will happen to you. The Chokwe people also belioeve in a diviner who is called nganga that will tell the person what they are doing wrong to determine the source of their miss fortune.
