Ngondo celebration and Jengu ritual

The Ngondo

It is a traditional assembly and ceremony of the Sawa (large ethnic group of the Cameroonian coast), which is held every year, the first week of December. It was in 1949, during a session of the Ngondo committee that the creation of an annual traditional festival was officially decided and to take on both the Jengu ritual existing for several centuries, in order to make this event popular and political in order to maintain the peace and unity of the Sawa clan, because since its real so-called oral creation around 1830 by King Ngando Akwa, the peoples were forbidden by the missionaries of the celebrated.

 

It is therefore by retaining the powers of the ritual dedicated to Jengu, that a great ceremony takes place to communicate with the ancestors and the mainly female water spirits, the "Miengu", who live in the waters of the Wouri River.

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Jengu ritual

Origin

According to oral tradition, it was from a dispute between a Jebalè ancestor and his wife Jengu that the ritual vase "Wongo' a Jebalé" was made. A man was forbidden to insult his wife. But one day, after getting drunk, he began to insult his wife, which caused the breakdown of the marriage. The woman took two of their four children into the water. The other two who remained benefited from the services of their mother. They received everything they asked for. And this is what would have caused the preparation of the ritual vase that was lowered into the water to show gratitude to this generous mother on the day of the great ceremony.

 

Wongo'a Jengu, its traditional name, has been practiced since ancient times, even before the transformation of Ngondo into a festive event, by the two peoples most familiar with the divinity Jengu and his aquatic beings "Miengu", the Jébalè and the Bonamouti. This ritual, always prepared on the island of Jébalè, constitutes the very essence of the Ngondo festival. In past centuries, the wishes made before immersion were more aimed at the fertility of women and the abundance of peaches for the following year.

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It is therefore during the Ngondo week that the day of meeting with the ancestors arrives, the chiefs and their notables go to the banks of this river, in ceremonial attire consisting of a white shirt, a black or patterned loincloth, a scarf around the neck and for women, a traditional Kaba. The message from the ancestors is collected in a sacred vase by a diver and read to the entire assembly gathered on the bank of the river. Many witnesses can attest that this diver came out of the water completely dry, because he was protected by the Miengu.

 

The moment when the diver enters the depths of the waters of the river with the vase and comes into contact with the Miengu and the Ancestors to whom he brings the gifts offered, is intense in emotion for the people who immerse themselves in a meditative communion, It is at daybreak, in the greatest silence, that he boards the canoe "Bolo'ba Jengu" with on board the ritual vase loaded with gifts and the message that will have been transmitted to him, which augurs what the new year will be like, in reaction to the wishes formulated and taking into account the appreciation of these deities, in relation to the general behavior of the people, throughout the year which is ending.

 

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To find out more details about the origin of Ngondo, the words of the chiefs during the ritual and the progress of the ceremony:

http://www.peuplesawa.com

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Glossary

Wongo’a jengu: the ritual vase or Myengu vase provided by the Jebalé which will be used to transmit the messages of the Myengu to the initiates then will be transcribed to the various Sawa chiefs.

Bolo ba Jengu (Jengu canoe): which, on the morning of the day of the Ngondo ceremonies, leaves from Jébalè with natives of Jébalè on board dressed as Manjua and carrying Senj'a Myengu" necklaces as well as a vase ritual which will be immersed by the diver who is one of the canoeists.

Manjua: small short raffia skirts worn by initiated men from the island of Jébalè.

Senj’a Myengu: ferns of the river spirits.

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