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It is a 19th century statuette represented with bent legs and arms straight along the side of the body. The head, quite round in shape, has plaits at the back. The face has shrunken eyes, the neck is broad with muscular shoulders and arms on a longish body. The presence of a tenon makes it possible to attach the object onto a bark box. For the Fangs (South Cameroon and Gabon) the Byéri, the worship of ancestors, is of primordial importance. The skulls and some of the bones of the ancestors are preserved in a cylindrical box made of bark. A wooden statuette or head evokes the ancestors and is attached to this shrine with a tenon. This sculpture which guards the relics is also known as Byéri. The Byéri is consulted at important moments (initiation, conflicts, sudden death,…) and also for hunting and fishing. The skulls are then removed from the shrines and sprayed with blood from animal sacrifices. The statuettes, detached from the shrines, are coated with palm oil which gives them a gleaming appearance.
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