The Haitian secret society Bizango belongs to the part of Vodou that is especially protected from outsiders. It is almost impossible to enter this circle, as it is only accessible to initiates and persons who enjoy the special trust of priests and priestesses.

Bizango was created between 1790 and 1804 and was founded by the first free slaves. These were the so-called “Maroons”, Africans who had fled the plantations, lived on raids and hid in the mountains.

Bizango was created to create an order among these fugitives and was very feared because the worst punishment for a maroon who did not bow to the rules among his peers was to be enslaved again – as a zombie. Bizango possessed a poison that could cause a death-like state, and people paralyzed in this way were dug up again immediately after their sham burial, resuscitated in secret rituals and then used as will-less zombies for menial tasks of all kinds.

The coffin exhibited here is an essential part of the “Zombiefizierung” and comes from the Haitian secret society “Secret Soul of Bizango”.

Niombo
– the dead man in the doll

In Central Africa, the burial and ancestor cult of the Babwende, Bembe and related ethnic groups, which was practiced until the 1920s, is one of the most impressive rituals of all.

The ceremony was given to deceased dignitaries, mostly chiefs, and was accompanied by the making of a doll, which, depending on the rank of the deceased, could be up to four meters high.

In this doll, which was made of cloth collected by the deceased’s relatives especially for this purpose, the body was buried in an upright position with a festive procession. Before that, it was gently dried over a small fire, usually for weeks.

Small copies of the large doll served as a reminder of the deceased and to connect with his spirit. These miniature models were kept in ancestral homes and, if necessary, asked for advice, protection, blessing or forgiveness.

Characteristic for the niombos is the posture of the arms – one usually points upwards, the other downwards. This symbolizes the connection between spiritual and earthly world. The word “Niombo”, translated from Kikongo into German, means “corpse”, and the prefix used is “deceased”.