Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 20, 1909.djvu/527

 Customs of the Lozver Congo People. 463

Dances.

To a Congo native there is something electrical, moving, exhilarating about the beat of a native drum. Directly he hears it his body begins to twitch and sway to and fro in rhythm to the beat, a smile spreads over his face, weariness is forgotten, dull care is thrown to the winds, and he is soon shuffling round the circle, or has taken his place in the line, clapping his hands and singing a chorus in admirable time.

Every kind of event gives occasion for a dance. If a serious sickness excites general sympathy and desire to help, a dance is arranged, and the whole night is spent in gyrating round a drum. If there is to be a fight, a dance is started, and through the night they circle about a fetish image, calling upon it to work confusion and death among their enemies. If a victory is to be commemorated, the drums beat a joyful, defiant note, and, firing their guns and waving their knives, amid much laughter and covered with perspiration, they shake their bodies and try to excel each other in their antics. A birth, a death, a restoration from illness, a return from a long journey, and the start for a journey, all demand a dance ; and, if there is no such ostensible reason, then they will find one, or dance for the mere love of it. Both married and single women participate in all the dances, except the hunting dance, which is only for men. As will be noted, some of the dances take place at night, and continue until the dawn appears ; such dances are in connection with their fetishes, and are danced through the night because the spirits are then abroad against whom they are invoking the power of their fetishes. Other dances are for the evening moon- light, or for the glare of the bonfire, and others, such as the dance after a victory, are only performed during the daylight.

All kinds of drums are used, — long and short, ovoid, oblong, and round. They are either beaten by the hand