Gitenga - Pende - DR Congo

This flat, circular mask, at the center of which a face is drawn, is surrounded by a wicker border and feathers. Named GITENGA, it was held to the face by a net of braided raphia fixed to the rear edge. It is a police mask from the circumcision camp, representing the sun at sunrise and sunset.
Léon Sousberghe identified two masks: the Minganji, made from vegetal fibers and associated with male society, and the Mbuya mask, carved in wood and generally linked to the village.
The Pende live on the banks of Kwilu, the influence of neighboring ethnic groups: Mba, Kusu, Wongo, Leele, Kuba and Salampasu has been imprinted on their tribal art sculpture.
Within this diversity, the realistic Mbuya masks, produced every ten years, serve a festive function and embody different characters, including the chief, the diviner and his wife, the prostitute, the possessed, etc....
The initiation masks and the power masks—the Minganji—represent the ancestors, and they appear in sequence during the same ceremonies: agricultural festivals, Mukanda initiation and circumcision rites, and the enthronement of a chief.
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