Small...., but beautiful

Freddy · 18th July 2005, 08:03 PM

The leopard men from Central Africa are quite something different. The fingerhook I showed is also used for eating and other daily tasks.

The leopard men were a secret society. A man asked to be intitiated into such a society. He would turn to a known chief of the society and offer him a goat or something else.

He would then be taken to a secret place in the forest. Few people - besides the initiated - know what happened there. One thing is sure : the final test consisted in the murder of one of their parents or other relatives, or even one of their wives.

Once initiated, the new member, called 'anioto' came under the guidance of a chief.

Before attacking someone, a magical potion was drunk. The anioto dressed themselves up as leopards with a spotted hood. On one or on both hands, the leopard man wears iron claws. A claw consists of an iron rod with between 3 and 5 razorsharp blades. They put their fingers between the blades and tied the rod onto their forearms.
They sometimes had a wooden stick in the form of a leopard's paw.

They always operated in groups (minimum 2 persons). Their victims could be anyone (men, women or children).
The victims were always attacked from behind. Their caritid artery was slit, but often other injuries were also inflicted.
Parts of the bodies were taken to be eaten, as this gave strength to the anioto. Sometimes the eyes were also removed, to be used to prepare a potion with which the claws were treated. In this way, the weapons would 'see' in which direction they had to go to get to their next victim.

The secret society of leopard men had 3 goals :

- individual or collective revenge
- a means of dominating people (used by religious or political leaders)
- ritual murder (for example at the death of an important chief)

Finally, it could also be seen as a kind of guerilla warfare. Weaker tribes could defend their territory against the stronger neighbours by means of terror.

This info comes from the book 'Dodelijk Mooi' (Deadly beauty) on Central African Weapons. I've included also a picture from this book (p121). It shows some 'claws', a 'leopard's foot' and the bark cloth clothing these men used to wear. The biggest claw measures 46,2 cm. The weapons come from the Baali tribe in Congo and were collected before 1930. They are in the collection of the Royal Museum of Central Africa at Tervuren.

Freddy · 18th July 2005, 08:05 PM

Tim, these Mangbetu knives were never intended to be worn on the arm. They were worn, stuck in the belt. The smaller ones were used by women.

By the way, very nice piece.

18th July 2005, 08:03 PM	#1
Freddy Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Sint-Amandsberg (near Ghent, Belgium) Posts: 830	leopard men The leopard men from Central Africa are quite something different. The fingerhook I showed is also used for eating and other daily tasks. The leopard men were a secret society. A man asked to be intitiated into such a society. He would turn to a known chief of the society and offer him a goat or something else. He would then be taken to a secret place in the forest. Few people - besides the initiated - know what happened there. One thing is sure : the final test consisted in the murder of one of their parents or other relatives, or even one of their wives. Once initiated, the new member, called 'anioto' came under the guidance of a chief. Before attacking someone, a magical potion was drunk. The anioto dressed themselves up as leopards with a spotted hood. On one or on both hands, the leopard man wears iron claws. A claw consists of an iron rod with between 3 and 5 razorsharp blades. They put their fingers between the blades and tied the rod onto their forearms. They sometimes had a wooden stick in the form of a leopard's paw. They always operated in groups (minimum 2 persons). Their victims could be anyone (men, women or children). The victims were always attacked from behind. Their caritid artery was slit, but often other injuries were also inflicted. Parts of the bodies were taken to be eaten, as this gave strength to the anioto. Sometimes the eyes were also removed, to be used to prepare a potion with which the claws were treated. In this way, the weapons would 'see' in which direction they had to go to get to their next victim. The secret society of leopard men had 3 goals : - individual or collective revenge - a means of dominating people (used by religious or political leaders) - ritual murder (for example at the death of an important chief) Finally, it could also be seen as a kind of guerilla warfare. Weaker tribes could defend their territory against the stronger neighbours by means of terror. This info comes from the book 'Dodelijk Mooi' (Deadly beauty) on Central African Weapons. I've included also a picture from this book (p121). It shows some 'claws', a 'leopard's foot' and the bark cloth clothing these men used to wear. The biggest claw measures 46,2 cm. The weapons come from the Baali tribe in Congo and were collected before 1930. They are in the collection of the Royal Museum of Central Africa at Tervuren.

18th July 2005, 08:05 PM	#2
Freddy Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Sint-Amandsberg (near Ghent, Belgium) Posts: 830	Mangbetu knife Tim, these Mangbetu knives were never intended to be worn on the arm. They were worn, stuck in the belt. The smaller ones were used by women. By the way, very nice piece.