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Key Moments in Life: Initiation 4 |
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Among the goals of initiation is the acquisition of knowledge, especially of secrets that separate those who have been initiated from those who have not. These secrets may include knowledge of healing medicines, knowledge of the history of the people, knowledge of the spiritual world, and knowledge that the masks representing spiritual beings are actually the creations of humankind. The new initiates are warned that those who reveal these secrets will be severely punished, even killed. From among the Mbole people in Congo (Zaire) comes a carved figure of an initiate who has been executed for revealing the secrets of the initiation. The shoulders of the figure are slumped, and the knees are bent in the pose of someone executed by hanging, which is the common form of punishment among the Mbole. |
Mbole people, Congo (Zaire) |
