extracted from "La naissance ŕ l'envers", ("Born upside down"), by André Marie.

The entrance of the ngangas is part of a complex ritual.

After the ritual sweeping of the mbandja, and whilst the ngangas prepare themselves in the men's chanber, the kambo takes the torch, lights it in the fire, and procedes to circle the mbandja with it, making gestures that compliment the ritual sweeping, (this is a type of benediction or purification ritual to compliment also the ritual watering by the yombo before the birth). He will strike the torch on the door of the yombos, then circle the fire and strike also on the door of the ngangas.

At this precise moment the sitar-player must recite the words: "Mobakaka [the egg hatches] dissumba ngui, douma yeke, yeke ka mouma ewa", and the obaka players must together strike, (this is regarded as a sign of how well the ceremony will go, any discord bodes ill), a single note on the obaka. See MOBAKAKA)

At this time only the three ngangas are allowed to emerge, their exit symbolising the emergence of the three divine hypostases of the original egg. First the three ngangas stop for a moment in front of their door, staring at the kombo who stands behind the fire, his torch held aloft. Next, the ringing of the bell signals the beginning of the ngangas' march into the space purified by the rituals of torch and sprinkling.

The three ngangas circle the kombo and stop infront of the door of the yombos. In the same way that the sitar players recited, "the sun has risen", when the ngangas stopped at the door of the mens' chamber, so now they say, "the moon has risen". The ngangas then tour again the fire, stopping briefly at the left and the right. Each time the sitar player recites words to the sitar, the third participant. Finally, they turn around and retrace their steps, stopping in front of the altar.

The kambo, having placed the basin of water in front of the altar, retires to his place at the temple entrance, keeping the torch alight until the three ngangas, having laid out the ritual articles and cleaned the altar, begin the ritual of the smoking of the three cigarettes, (EGNOU TAGHA).

During their exit, each nganga carries certain ritual articles:

• The central nganga carries the torch of Abel, (from the Copal tree), (different from the torch of the kombo which is the nkouma, the torch of fibres), and a bell.
• The feminine nganga, Egnepe, carries the soke, (a hook), and a candle.
• and the left-hand nganga, from the men's side, carries the flag, the ngwa, (a small shield) and the sword, (often a bayonet blade).

For the duration of this part of the ceremony, the three ngangas represent the three first gods who hatched from the primordial egg, namely:

1. Nzame Mebeghe
2. None Mebeghe
3. and Nyingone Mebeghe

and here symbolic of the act of creation.

In the symbolic re-enactment of The Birth, specific to Efun, (the first night of Ngoze), they are the father, the mother and the child, (the first trilogy).

During Nkeng, (the second night of Ngoze), the symbolic re-enactment of The Death, the three ngangas represent Christ on the cross flanked by the two robbers.

In the context of orthodox religion, the three ngangas may be thought of as a priest and his two acolytes performing Mass.

The entrance of the ngangas is therefore similar to the entrance of the priest and his two assistants.

Rene Bureau's commentary on the Bwiti initiation ritual places it well in it's mythological context: "the thunder broke open the egg. Three hatched out, (Nzame, Nyingone and None), and they saw a man who showed them his torch which he was waving up and down, (Nkouma).

This man is Saint Michael, kambo: he was making this waving gesture to the three gods to show them the light. God asked, - Who is the fourth arrival?
It was the placenta that had enfolded them: this is who we call kambo, (St Michael)". (from unpublished notes p. 134).

Throughout nearly the whole of Gabon, the term "nganga" signifies "spirit healer", and among the Mitsogo one finds groups of initiated ngangas who exist relatively independent to the Bwiti, (Binet J., Gollnhofer O. and Sillans R., 1972 p. 217). However, the name "nganga" is also given to other players in the ritual, even if their role is less important than that of the ngangas in the Fang Bwiti. O. Gollnhofer and R. Sillans note that: "among the Mitsogo Bwiti the role of the two ngangas is very limited: they take no active part in the ceremony except during one phase of the nocturnal ritual when they dance with torches, wearing snakeskin belts, hair made up with banana skins and with their bodies daubed with pemba clay". (idem p. 217).

Among the Fang N'dea Bwiti the nganga aquires the stature of "minister" in the ceremony, as elsewhere, but this position is not fixed. The nganga's position varies to suit the particular ceremony.

It is among the Assumgha Ening that the nganga breaks all links with his traditional function of spirit-healer, (here this is more the kombo's role, but it is not a part in the ritual), and becomes the central player in the ceremony, assisted by his two servants. This role, which is given to the individual via a vision, demands great purity, moral irreprochability, (he's the incarnation of Nzame and of Christ), and great physical vigour.

Other references dealing with the function of the nganga:

• Bureau R,, 1972, 1, p. 62 et 2, p. 177
• Gollnhofer 0., 1973 p. 132 sqq.)

MOBAKAKA (the sound of the obaka)

The kambo's horn-call signals the gathering of all the ceremony's participants, but also attracts the "beyem", the witch-doctors, who find here a nocturnal ceremony, similar to their own, and at which they can mingle and cause trouble.

The thing that helps the ceremony run according to plan and prevent disruption by the beyem is the sound of the obaka, the mobakaka. At the moment of the mobakaka all the those gathered for the ceremony are together elevated to the spiritual level. The mobakaka, therefore, itself becomes the point at which the Self is ruptured and spontaneous transcendance occurs, to all those present at the ceremony. Everything is occuring on the physical level, and at the same time everything is occuring on a non-temporal, non-spatial level, a dimension suspended between heaven and earth.

This is why it is important the three obaka players strike the obaka at the same time. If the instrument is not cleanly struck, and a off-note results, it is regarded as an omen that the ceremony will not procede well.

The hatching of the primordial egg is interesting from the point of view of "community" as well as the point of view of "drama". The actual hatching out refers also to the exit into the world of a baby from its mother and the cracking open of the corpse in the tomb of Nkeng, (see R. Bureau 1972, 2, p.140 and 177).

extracted from "La naissance ŕ l'envers", ("Born upside down"), by André Marie.