Songye Shield with Kifwebe Mask Icon Congo

A wooden shield decorated with a figure in the center. The shield has a wooden handle in the back. Around the shield is embellished with reeds. Wooden shields like this were common across the Songye region during the colonial period and even a few years before the independence of the Congo.

These years were characterized by war between different ethnic groups and by the movements of resistance against colonialism. Songye wooden shields were used by the warrior for his protection during the battle. The Kifwebe mask in the center enhances the protective power of the shield as the Kifwebe masks were used to exercise social and political control through practices of evil magic and witchcraft by the members of the bwadi bwa kifwebe society. The striations relate to a pugnacious species of striped bushbuck antelope which inhabited the area. When not in use, these shields served to protect the special house where the masks are kept.

Tervuren Museum holds a few of them.

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