DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42067#0134
112
Symbolism
notch of the other. Zigzag bands in diagonal or vertical rows of
the pattern i and j occur also. The characteristic point seems to
be that only the elements of the whole pattern bear names.
I infer from Tessmann’s 1 description that among the Pangwe of
West Africa also the single pattern elements bear names while the
multifarious combinations lack explanations such as we find in
America or in Melanesia. In fig. 107 patterns in woodcarving are
represented which are
named as follows: (a)
file; (b) string of cowrie
shells; (c, d) triangular
leaf used for feathering
arrows for the cross bow
(triangle with wide base);
point of iron money,
spear point (triangle with
narrow base); (e) tail of
armadillo; (/) kerf; (g)
rainbow; (h) fish bone;
(i) triangular spear; (k)
spider net.
Of the Bushongo Tor-
day2saysthatthe nomen-
clature is not certain (p. 216). “The Bushongo do not consider the
design as a whole, but they divide it into various elementary pat-
terns. They take one of these elements as characteristic of the whole
figure and call the whole design by this term. The motives obtained
by interrupting woven patterns3 at regular intervals are built up of
1 Gunter Tessmann, Die Pangwe, Berlin 1913, Vol. 1, p. 243 et seq.
2 E. Torday and T. A. Joyce, Notes etnographiques sur les peuples commune-
ment appeles Bakuba, etc. Les Bushongo, Documents ethnographiques concernant
les populations du Congo Beige, Vol. II, number 1, Brussels, 1910, pp. 217, 219.
8 i. e. the element consisting of a single warp strand showing between two
woof strands and the adjoining similar elements, formed in simple up and down
weaving.
Fig. 107. Designs of the Pangwe.
Symbolism
notch of the other. Zigzag bands in diagonal or vertical rows of
the pattern i and j occur also. The characteristic point seems to
be that only the elements of the whole pattern bear names.
I infer from Tessmann’s 1 description that among the Pangwe of
West Africa also the single pattern elements bear names while the
multifarious combinations lack explanations such as we find in
America or in Melanesia. In fig. 107 patterns in woodcarving are
represented which are
named as follows: (a)
file; (b) string of cowrie
shells; (c, d) triangular
leaf used for feathering
arrows for the cross bow
(triangle with wide base);
point of iron money,
spear point (triangle with
narrow base); (e) tail of
armadillo; (/) kerf; (g)
rainbow; (h) fish bone;
(i) triangular spear; (k)
spider net.
Of the Bushongo Tor-
day2saysthatthe nomen-
clature is not certain (p. 216). “The Bushongo do not consider the
design as a whole, but they divide it into various elementary pat-
terns. They take one of these elements as characteristic of the whole
figure and call the whole design by this term. The motives obtained
by interrupting woven patterns3 at regular intervals are built up of
1 Gunter Tessmann, Die Pangwe, Berlin 1913, Vol. 1, p. 243 et seq.
2 E. Torday and T. A. Joyce, Notes etnographiques sur les peuples commune-
ment appeles Bakuba, etc. Les Bushongo, Documents ethnographiques concernant
les populations du Congo Beige, Vol. II, number 1, Brussels, 1910, pp. 217, 219.
8 i. e. the element consisting of a single warp strand showing between two
woof strands and the adjoining similar elements, formed in simple up and down
weaving.
Fig. 107. Designs of the Pangwe.