No. HEUMEN2020-001
Nguon's beetle voice
Cameroon · Foumban, Noun Division, West Region (Bamum kingdom) · Central Africa
Restricted
Source term: rhombe
Nguon: the Bamoun governance rituals, and the beetle whose flight the roar resembles. Fonaanguon: messengers of the Titaanguon, the great initiates. Mfon: the king.
Before the king of the Bamoun is judged by his people, his messengers come in through the dark. The Fonaanguon, messengers of the great initiates of Nguon, travel the whole kingdom gathering medicines and the people's grievances. On the Friday night they enter the palace at Foumban in total darkness, bags of medicine slung from their shoulders, to the sound of the bullroarer, loud and strange, like the flight of the beetle called nguon. Only initiates may follow. 'Who tries, will see,' they say as they pass in. In the morning the Mfon empties their bags into his own; then he is set aside from his throne and tried by his people, sitting as a court.
Qui tente, verra
Who tries, will see
Inventaire général du patrimoine culturel national, Cameroun 2020, fiche Nguon
Particulars
- Object
- Not recorded.
- Function
- Sounds as the Fonaanguon, messengers of the great initiates, enter the palace in total darkness on the first night of Nguon, carrying medicines and the people's grievances; entry is restricted to initiates.