Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post presents excerpts from a Wikepedia page on the Kongo cosmogram.
This post also includes excerpts from a 1997 Clark Atlanta University thesis by Corey C. Stayton entitled "The Kongo Cosmogram: A Theory In African American Literature".
The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, religious, and educational purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Corey C. Stayton for his research and writing and thanks to the publisher of this thesis online. Thanks also to Wikipedia for the excerpt that is quoted in this post and for the image of the Kongo Cosmogram that is included in this post.
-snip-
This post is part of an ongoing pancocojams series on African cosmology, and particularly Bakongo cosmology and counterclockwise movement in African Diaspora cultures, especially African Diaspora dance.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/african-american-ring-shouts-origins.html for a 2013 pancocojams post entitled "African American Ring Shouts (Origins & Video Examples)".
That post includes information about the Kongo Cosmogram, information & videos of about ring shouts.
Click the "counter-clockwise dance traditions" tag below for more pancocojams posts in this series.
****
EXCERPT #1
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kongo_cosmogram
"The Kongo cosmogram (also called yowa or dikenga cross, Kikongo: dikenga dia Kongo or tendwa kia nza-n' Kongo) is a core symbol in Bakongo religion that depicts the physical world (Ku Nseke), the spiritual world (Ku Mpémba), the Kalûnga line that runs between the two worlds, the sacred river that forms a circle through the two worlds, the four moments of the sun, and the four elements.[1][2][3]
History
Ethnohistorical sources and material culture demonstrate that the Kongo cosmogram existed as a long-standing symbolic tradition within the BaKongo culture before European contact in 1482, and that it continued in use in Central Africa through the early twentieth century.[1] In its fullest embellishment, this symbol served as an emblematic representation of the Kongo people and summarized a broad array of ideas and metaphoric messages that comprised their sense of identity within the cosmos.[4]
The Kongo cosmogram was introduced in the Americas by enslaved Bakongo people in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.[5] Archaeological findings in the United States show evidence that the symbol was honored by Black Americans, who drew the Kongo cosmogram on the walls of church basements, as well as engraved it in pottery.[6]"...
****
EXCERPT #2
From... Downloads/OBJ%20Datastream.pdf"THE KONGO COSMOGRAM: A THEORY IN
AFRICAN-AMERICAN LITERATURE
A THESIS
SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF CLARK ATLANTA UNIVERSITY
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR
THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDIES
BY
COREY C. STAYTON
© 1997
COREY C. STAYTON
All Rights Reserved
... INTRODUCTION
The Kongo civilization of Central Africa exemplifies a society
rich in history, traditions, and culture. Its people, known as the
Bakongo people, take great pride in their history and homeland. The
Bakongo people are so unique that scholars have given them special
recognition. As Robert Farris Thompson points out in Flash of the
Spirit, "Spelling Kongo with a K instead of a C, Africanists
distinguish Kongo civilization and the Bakongo people from the
colonial entity called the Belgian Congo (now Zaire) and present day
People's Republic of Congo Brazzaville".1 As Europeans invaded
Africa, the term Kongo broadened to include those African people in
and around the Kongo area (Angola, Ghana, etc.), brought from the
west coast and Central Africa to the New World.
Various aspects of Kongo culture miraculously survived the
Middle Passage and surface in America. In the dialect of AfricanAmericans, certain words have their roots in Kongo languages. The
word 'funky' which is similar in appearance and meaning to the
Kongo word "Lu-fuki", 2 which means to praise persons for the
integrity of their art, suggests a relationship between the Bakongo
people and African-Americans. The dance of enslaved Africans
observed by Vicenti Rossi and reported in Cosas de Negros, also
2
reveals a connection between Kongo civilization and AfricanAmerican culture:
There is something there, in the middle of the circle
of black men, something that they alone see, feel,
and comprehend ... the voice of native soil, a flag
unfurled in harmonic syllables. There is something
there, in the middle of the dancing ring of black
men and it is the motherland! Fleeting seconds of
liberty have evoked it, and, once bought into being
it fortifies their broken spirits ... they have,
forgetting themselves, relived the Kongo nation in
one of its typical expressions ... in sudden homage,
with an expanded power of observation they
dance around the vision.3
Today, a park in New Orleans, Louisiana, Kongo Square, serves as a
reminder of the centered space upon which enslaved Africans were
allowed to commune and celebrate life in their own modes of
expression.
The Bakongo people tell the story of how a great chief crossed
the Great River using magical power and sweeping up the droppings
of elephants, and established the first capitol known as Mbanza
3
Kongo. Mbanza Kongo is located on the top of a hill. This space
would prove to be the central point of Kongo society spiritually as
well as physically. Mbanza Kongo is viewed as sacred ground, a
place where justice and righteousness prevail. The Bakongo people
view their capitol as a central point where all the powers of the
universe- the living, the dead, the children, and the elders-are
present. Mbanza Kongo thus gives a brief depiction of the Bakongo
people's perception of the universe. The symbolic representation of
Kongo cosmology is called "Tendwa Nza Kongo", 4 and from this
point forward it shall be referred to as the "Kongo cosmogram".
Considering the notion of centered ness and a balance of the powers
of the universe, Bakongo people's view of the universe, referred to
as "Kongo cosmology," is crucial to the understanding of Kongo
rituals and practices and certain African-American traditions as
well. This research will focus on the use of the Kongo cosmogram as
an African-American literary theory.
The Kongo cosmogram,5 as observed in Bakongo society,
provides a unique model of religious and social values which have
paved the way for the creation of this theory and the very foundation
of many African-American traditions. The reification of the
cosmogram upon the earth's surface, through African funeral
4
processions, ceremonial dance, and many other cultural
expressions makes It accessible and able to be examined. The
ritualized cosmology of the Bakongo people will serve, so to speak,
as DNA of this theory of African-American literature which also
yields an in-depth look into the African and African-American
cultural perspective of the universe (see Fig. 1.). ....
The embodiment of Bakongo cosmology is a chalked circle on
the ground with vertical and horizontal lines intersecting through the
middle of the circle and passing through to the circumference of the
circle. The fact that Kongo cosmology is represented as a circle is
not surprising, considering that one of the earliest symbols used by
many Africans was the circle. Africans commune, dance, and
5
perform many rituals in a circle. The circle represents the cycle of
the sun, the cycle of life.•
The horizontal line which stretches from the farthest right point
of the circle to the farthest left point symbolizes a wide river or deep
forest. This horizontal line divides the circle into two hemispheresthe world of the living and the world of the dead. More specifically,
the top half of the circle represents the world of the living and the
bottom half represents the world of the dead.
The vertical line, which stretches from the circle's highest
point to its lowest point, traces the path across the two worlds of the
living and the dead. A relationship is established between the above
and the below and how they operate together. In Bakongo culture, it
Is believed that the dead assist the living. If a couple were having
trouble producing offspring, for example, they might ask their
ancestors for assistance.
The highest point of the circle represents North, the Adult,
maleness, noon, or the point of one's strength on earth.
Respectively, the lowest point of the circle represents South,
femaleness, midnight, the ancestors, or the point of a person's
otherworldly or ancestral strength/ The farthest right point
represents the child or infant who has just come from the world of
6
the dead. As the circle is read counter-clockwise, the far left of the
circle represents the elders who will soon be going on their journey
across the river (horizontal line) to the land of the dead.
The Kongo cosmogram represents an abundance of images
which are spiritual in nature"...
As Robert Farris Thompson points out
in "Four Moments of the Sun":
Bodies were sometimes laid out in state in an open
yard "on a textile bier," as bare chested mourner
danced to the rhythm of the drums, in a broken
counter-clockwise circle their feet imprinting a
circle on the earth cloth attached to and trailing
from the waste deepening the circle. Following the
direction of the sun in the Southern Hemisphere,
the mourners moved around the body of the
deceased in a counter-clockwise direction. If the
deceased lived a good life, death, a mere crossing
over the threshold into another world was a
precondition for being carried back into the
mainstream of the living, in the name and body of
grandchildren of succeeding generations.8
7
The energies of life which are centered by the form of the
circle in the cosmogram demonstrate the circular/cyclical nature of
life as seen by the Kongo people.9 The cosmogram paradigm
regards the forces of life and death as complementary and
deserving of celebration. The spirit of the ancestors (the dead) and
the spirits of the living are connected, and it is the responsibility of
the living to ensure that the dead are given honor, praise, and
constant recognition. The world of the living includes those
physically living on earth, some of whom have special access to the
world of the dead as medicine men and mystics. The two worlds are
as mountains mirrored in a pool of water, thus forming one world
pointing upward; symbolizing the world of the living and its reflection
pointing downward symbolizing the world of the dead ....
8
[...]
Communication between the two worlds is a constant, as they
are reciprocals and create the everlasting cycle of the human soul.
In fact, ancestors are said to guide, direct, or even disrupt the
affairs of the living. As Thompson discusses, children who die at an
early age are not given elaborate funerals, fearing that the child's
spirit may enjoy the attention and cause the parents to endure a
series of infant deaths. Babies are viewed as visitors who have just
come from the land of the ancestors and may go back at any time....
The
dead possess powers beyond those of the living and can perform
extraordinary tasks such as spirit possession and the detection of
evil forces such as witches. Children are said to have a certain
Stayton 9
clairvoyance because they have just come from the land of the dead
and are still attuned to the otherworldly powers of the dead. Elders
are also said to regain the powers of the other world as they near
physical death.
The circular nature of the cosmogram informs the Bakongo
man and woman that one day they, too, will become one of the
ancestors and their children and children's children will give honor
unto them as the ancestors who came into the world and yielded life
to them.
The intersection of the vertical line and the horizontal line
create a cross in the middle of the circle which adds another
dimension to the complex reading of the cosmogram. The
"crossroads," as Robert Farris Thompson calls it, symbolizes the
crossing of paths and is the space where worldly and other-worldly
powers converge and are centered. It is the space where life and
death, male and female, child and elder are brought together as one
powerful force. According to Thompson, the crossroads is a space
of both conflict and resolution from which one could experience the
world of the living and the land of the dead simultaneously...
10
[...]
The crossroads is that centered space around which the circle
revolves. It is the point where the forces of life, death, and God are
found. To stand at the crossroads is to invoke the judgment of the
ancestors and God. The upright Bakongo soul looks forward to
revisiting the land of the living as a grandchild and continuing the
cycle of life. In this sense, the crossroads become a very powerful
space of validation for the priests and healers. To stand at the
crossroads means that one has withstood the wrath and power of
God and, depending on the path of one's life, will either be given life
through praise and celebration from future generations or given
death through future generations not praising and remembering
one's life on earth.
One value of the cosmogram theory is in its ability to
demonstrate the complex and intricate way African mysticism and
spiritual realms are constructed and how they have impacted
African-American life. Another value of this theory is demonstrating
how this force manifests itself specifically in African-American
literary works. The Kongo cosmogram evidences the importance of
11
the community as the mode through which one establishes a
relationship with God, the ancestors, and the world of those living.
These three entities are crucial to the understanding of the Kongo
cosmogram and appear to be the forces which guide Bakongo
culture. They are also the foundation of what Bakongo people
perceive as community. Likewise, these principles have guided
African-American spirituality"...
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
