Knotted raffia hat, dignity sign

The hat was worn as a badge of dignity by a mfumu.The mfumu, the traditionally installed head, usually owns a set of hats, made from plant material. The Ngunda (also called Ngundu/mpu) which he received at his installation is by far the most important one. One can distinguish three basic types of heads in the Congo (head is mfumu, plural bumfumu) namely mfumu kanda, mfumu nsi and mfumu buala.mfumu kanda, or head of a matrilineal group, is the common name for the various heads. The authority of the mfumu kanda is contained in that of the mfumu nsi (nis is roughly translated as land, domain, earth). The legitimacy of the kanda is legitimated by the past, a past that has left its traces within a certain area, visible among other things in the roads.The mfumu nsi is the head of this kanda, since it claims the oldest right over this particular area. The mfumu kanda and mfumu nsi differ only in seniority and prestige. \There is also the mfumu buala (bwali, gata, vata) the village or local head. All three types of leadership can be united in him, although in practice usually only the mfumu kanda and mfumu buala are united in one person. One can conclude that one had to be a mfumu kanda to be eligible for the other two offices. Upon installation, the candidate obtained the ngunda, as well as the authority to install another mfumu, that is, to transfer his own ngunda. The hat, received as the main sign of his dignity, and the installed head itself thus become identical concepts. All the bonnets of these three types of heads belong to the flat type.‖ The bonnet is made of raffia, which are fibres from the leaves of the pineapple plant. Gibson and McGurk (1977) mention these leaves, those of the banana tree, cotton, grass and baobab bark as the materials used in the manufacture of bonnets by the Kongo and Mbundu. The outer surface of the leaves is removed by passing them under a knife held against a board.The preparation of the raffia fibres is probably done in the following way:One makes an incision at the base of the petiole, the outer surface is then pulled off the leaf into one large sheet, which is light green in colour and translucent when fresh. Dried in the sun, the sheet takes on a brown opaque color. The sheet is then split. This can be done with the help of a comb, whose teeth are made of strips cut from the veins of the raffia leaf. \Before knotting, the fibres were probably twisted together. The plush effect was probably obtained by means of a carpet knot on the surface.