The Bakongo

        There is a special sound early in the morning in the villages along the lower Congo. It is the rattle of ankle rings as the women stream from their homes to work on their farms on the outskirts of the village. Many women carry hoes and empty calabashes in the baskets balanced on their heads. Young women have their babies tied to their backs with a piece of old cloth or they lead a little one by the hand. It is too early in the morning and too cold for much talking. Only the rattle of the jewelry is heard; but as the sun grows warmer and the women get on with their work, they laugh and gossip and scold. The mothers keep their babies tied to their backs as they work, for snakes and wild animals may lurk near by and it would not be safe to leave babies in the shade of the trees.
       Many of the crops of the lower Congo came originally from the New World: manioc from the tropical forests of South America and maize, peanuts, and sweet potatoes from the Americas. All farm work is done by hand, and the women work hard in the fields until late afternoon. When they at last turn homeward, they carry the baskets full of food on their heads, a calabash of water slung over their backs. The mothers of babies put the calabash in the basket and balance all this on their heads so that the babies can still ride on their backs. Everyone is full of jokes, and when they reach the village, the old, the little ones, and the sick come out of the shade to greet them.
       The men and boys, who have been working in the forest, have been to market, or have gone hunting, come to meet them too. Everyone looks with hungry eyes at the baskets and a buzz of talk fills the air.
       The evening meal is the only real meal of the day. The women furnish the vegetables, and it is the duty of the men to add meat and fish to the diet. The bitter manioc root is poisonous and must be soaked in a hole of water, which makes the water-pit take on an evil smell. But this does not bother the people of the Congo, who eat manioc cooked as bread or pudding. A piece of pudding is broken off, rolled between the fingers, and dipped in gravy. Then it is popped into the mouth and swallowed whole, for if it were chewed it would stick to the teeth like caramels.
       Girls are trained by their mothers to fetch water, sweep the house and yard, and cook. They must be able to do all these things if they hope to make a good marriage. Fathers train their sons to hunt and trade in the market. The men are born traders and take local products to market, sometimes walking miles with little to eat by the way. When they get home, they eat heavily to make up for the poor and meager food on the journey. Fathers also teach the boys to sew, for it is the custom with these people for the men to do the sewing.
       The large villages are laid out in streets, and each man expects the women of his household to sweep inside his yard and the lane around his house even though the grass in the backyard is as tall as the roof. The women do this every morning before they go to the fields. Neighbors jeer at a man whose yard is untidy.
       Long ago, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, these people were united in the Kingdom of the Kongo. Today the kingdom has shrunk in size, but there is still a king to rule over them. In spite of the heat and humidity along the lower Congo, the Bakongo are an industrious people, their villages are well laid out, neat, and clean, and the king enforces law and order in his kingdom. Edith Fleming

• A History of The Bakongo People by HomeTeamHistory.