Lot 102 Dα

The Woyo of Cabinda used a pictographic language to convey feelings about specific social situations. Wooden pot lids with motifs carved in relief conveyed messages usually between a husband and wife but sometimes between parents and son or daughter. The lids were placed on the clay pots in which a wife would usually carry the food for her husband to the men’s communal dining space. The lid would convey her feelings and a husband might place a lid on a pot before returning it to his wife to convey his message. A young woman obtained her initial supply of pot lids from her mother and grandmother at the time of her marriage together with advice concerning their use. If a suitable pot lid was not available to convey a particular message it was made to order. The complainant would seek the advice of nkotikuanda, the village sage whose instructions were conveyed to the local sculptor. If the message was too complicated for the recipient to read he would visit the nkotikuanda for a translation. (McGuire, C., ‘Woyo Pot Lids’, in African Arts, Vol.XIII, no.2, February 1980, pp.54-56). Interpretation of individual lids is difficult without detailed knowledge of the language used but the lids contained messages conveyed with each individual element as well as a more general message conveyed by the combination of elements.

“But here is a strange thing: in the corner of the hut, a disc of black wood, about twenty centimetres wide. On one of its sides, figures in relief: a spiral, a half-ellipse, a sort of hook forming an acute accent. - What's this?
- A lid. You find such lids everywhere in the region from the sea to Mayumbe. They carry signs, carved figures: each of them represents either a proverb or a native fable. But now it's finished: aluminum and enamelled iron pans have dethroned native pots. And what does this one mean?
- Wait. We're going to call an old woman. The old woman no longer knew how to explain very well what we wanted to know. We had to resort to the chieftaincy secretary who called on the most competent female elders:
This spiral is the centipede: it is coiled at the edge of the path, it is coiled because it senses danger. This means: if you see the centipede curled up, be careful, there is a man nearby. In other words: watch the omens.
And this circle?
- That means: you have to listen to the person who comes to tell you what people say about you, because it is useful to hear.
- And this cut ellipse?
- Ah! This is the oyster shell: we opened the oyster, and we gave you one of its halves. It is the symbol of sharing. The meaning is: I gave you something today so that when I meet you again, you in turn will give me something. You understand?
- Of course. And that sharp angled hook?
- Well, that means that when something is hung high, you have to raise your arm to get it...
And everyone laughed. All languages work now. And as it is clear that I am interested in local things, pot lids come out of all the boxes: two first, then five, then ten; and it continues: it would be up to me to buy all the objects in the village.
The lids are now passed from hand to hand.
There is this one dominated by a sort of pyramid; it represents a tomb and reminds its owner that to enjoy, after her death, a beautiful tomb like this, she must have many children... and that if she does not have children, she will be forgotten after her death.
There is this other one which represents an open trap; morality: for the trap to work... you must first set it. There is this other one which shows a standing bird: “when the bird is at the top of the termite mound it sees what is happening”; popular wisdom translates: we must take a step back to judge events. There are other covers, more complicated, such as one which shows a woman followed by a hooded man armed with a stick, reminding us that we must observe the customs of the tribe, or this other which presents a double bell, similar to the iron bells that the chiefs once had to summon the people of their villages, maintaining the spirit of discipline within homes by making it known that “when the chief's bell beats, you must go and listen to what he says”.
Seeing the money coming out of our pockets, the natives emptied their huts of their reserves.”(Scohy, A., "Etapes au soleil", Brussels, 1952, pp.115-117)