 4-faced Ngontang mask of Fang people | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| ~1 million[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Equatorial Guinea (85%) Cameroon Gabon | |
| Languages | |
| Fang language, French, Spanish, Portuguese, English | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity, some syncretic withTraditional African religion | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Other Beti-Pahuin peoples |
TheFang people, also known asFãn orPahouin, are aBantu ethnic group found inEquatorial Guinea, northernGabon, and southernCameroon.[2][1] Representing about 85% of the total population of Equatorial Guinea, concentrated in theRío Muni region, the Fang people are its largest ethnic group.[3] The Fang are also the largest ethnic group in Gabon, making up about a quarter of the population.[4]
The Fang people speak theFang language, also known as Pahouin or Pamue or Pangwe. The language is a Northwest Bantu language belonging to the Niger-Congo family of languages.[5] The Fang language is similar and intelligible with languages spoken byBeti-Pahuin peoples, namely theBeti people to their north and theBulu people in central. Their largest presence is in the southern regions, up to theOgooué River estuary where anthropologists refer them also as "Fang proper".[2]
They have preserved their history largely through a musicaloral tradition.[6] Many Fang people are fluent in Spanish, French, German and English, a tradition of second language they developed during the Spanish colonial rule in Equatorial Guinea, the French colonial rule in Gabon and the German-later-French colonial rule in Cameroon.[3]
The Fang people are relatively recent migrants into Equatorial Guinea, and many of them moved from central Cameroon in the 19th century.[3]
Early ethnologists conjectured them to beNilotic peoples from the upper Nile area. The people of Modern-day Gabon, and the Fang themselves have a commonly shared belief that the Fang, as well as their language, are notBantu. Scholars such asCheikh Anta Diop support this claim. Opponents of the claim typically rely on linguistic studies.[7] A combination of evidence now places them to be of Bantu origins who began moving back into Africa around the seventh or eighth century possibly because of invasions from the north and the wars of sub-Saharan Africa.[1] Their migration may be related to an attempt to escape the violence of slave raiding by theHausa people,[1][8] but this theory has been contested.[1] Usingglottochronology, historians have situated Proto-Fang speakers in the Southern Cameroon rainforest more than 4,000 years ago.[9]
The Fang people were victims of the large trans-Atlantic and trans-Saharan slave trades between the 16th and 19th centuries. They were stereotyped as cannibals by slave traders and missionaries, in part because human skulls and bones were found in open or in wooden boxes near their villages, a claim used to justify violence against them and their enslavement.[1] When their villages were raided, thousands of their wooden idols and villages were burnt by the slave raiders.[3] Later ethnologists who actually spent time with the Fang people later discovered that the Fang people were not cannibalistic, the human bones in open and wooden boxes were of their ancestors, and were Fang people's method of routine remembrance and religious reverence for their dead loved ones.[1][3][10]
They have a patrilineal kinship social structure. The villages have been traditionally linked through lineage. They are exogamous, particularly on the father's side.[2] Polygamy was accepted in the culture of the Fang people.[1] The independence of villages from each other is notable, and they are famed for their knowledge of animals, plants and herbs in the equatorial forests they live in.[1][11] They are traditionally farmers and hunters, but became major cocoa farmers during the colonial era.[3]
Under French colonial rule, they converted to Christianity. However, after independence their interest in their own traditional religion, calledBiere, also spelledByeri, has returned, and many practice syncretic ideas and rites.[2][3] One of the syncretic traditions among Fang people is calledBwiti, a monotheistic religion that celebrates Christian Easter but over four days with group dancing, singing and psychedelic drinks.[12][13]
The art works of Fang people, particularly from wood, iron andsteatite, are regionally famous.[2][3] Their wooden masks and idol carvings are on display at numerous museums of the world.[14][15]
The art works of Fang people, particularly from wood, iron andsteatite, are regionally famous. Their wooden masks and idol carvings are on display at numerous museums of the world. Discovery of Fang artwork was source of inspiration for much of the Europeanavant-garde artwork created during the 20th century.[16] Much of the art is either used for their masquerades, or function as reliquaries and effigies. All are primarily made by the men of the village.[17][18] There is reason to believe that many of these reliquaries were made during the Fang's migration as a form of burial which was also portable.[19]
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One of the most popular art forms attributed to the Fang culture are the wooden reliquary heads, many of which contain the skull or bones of ancestors.[16] There is a characteristic heart-shaped, concave face and large bulbous forehead. The heads are very abstract and focus on geometric form and covered in a blackpatina. Some appear to 'cry', which is streaks of resin made from a mixture ofpalm oil and other seed oils. The heads are tied to the ideas of welfare and social power.
Heads are an effigy and can be affixed to a wooden reliquary box/barrel.[19] The bones and skulls of deceased leaders are kept in cylindrical boxes that are decorated with wooden sculptured figures. These bones are believed to have special powers that protect the well-being of the community. The bones are always within the possession of the deceased leader's family and it's kept hidden from the eyes of the uninitiated and of women.[20]
Throughout Gabon, these figures serve astalisman or guardian to protect the remains of ancestors.[17] Known asbieri, byeri ormwan bian, these reliquary figures widely range in style, but most common characteristics are:[18]
Some earlier figures had cavities in the abdomen as a place to store bones of ancestors.[17] The figures aren't completed until they are ceremoniously presented and rubbed with palm oil. Members of the community will continually visit figures and rub them with oil so they maintain their protective powers.
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It was during colonization that many of these reliquaries had to be destroyed due to missionary and government pressure.[18]
Music plays a central role to the oral history of the Fang. Themvet is a musical instrument popular in the Fang society, which is played by thembomo mvet.[21] The instrument is achordophone with attached resonators. Often, one resonator is regarded as 'male' and the other as 'female'. Some mvet come with two, three, or even five strings. To become a mastermbomo mvet takes years of dedication and sacrifice.
Thembomo mvet will often pass through villages once a month to play at the council house where all members of the village will gather to be entertained.[18] Members of the community participate by keeping time while thembomo mvet plays and sings praises to the ancestors.
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