Headrest - Chokwe - Angola and Congo-Kinshasa

Headrest or Africa's neckrest.
These objects are often described as supports to protect elaborate hairstyles, which can take hours or even long days to create.
But the hairstyles are not just adornments: they signify and signal age, gender, and social status to those who know how to read them.
Very often they serve signs and magical-religious symbols.
The headrest is above all a "dream support." It fosters dreams rich in symbols that will influence the owner's daytime life or that of the clan. They can also, as with the Chokwe, serve as an instrument of divination. It can also sometimes function as a small seat.
Other uses may complement this list, varying by tribe.
Among the Somalis, male neck rests are relatively unstable. This instability keeps herders from falling into a deep sleep.
The headrest can also play a role in wedding ceremonies; the virgin, deflowered, exchanges the neck rest received on this occasion for a sum of money that will allow her to buy a stick of amber necklace symbolizing her status as a married woman.
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