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What are these figures?

AnneG P1: These figures are miniature sculptures of people. These people in statue form represent dancers. They look old and some were made to look with out arms or legs. These mini statues were made to show a moral to other people. These figures would have belonged to the people of highest value In the village. These are also small ivory figures that were worn upon dancer's head while they would dance expressing their culture.

DelaneyV P2: These are ivory figures, they were used when a male gained status. These were used in initiation ceremonies. The figures are made from ivory. Ivory is the type of wood they used. Only the highest figuriens owed these figures. Each figure had a diffrent meaning or moral these figures were very important and were made to say something, just like a moral. These figures were also used when dancers would dance. The figures would be on their head. Some were made to not have arms and legs.

LauraB p6: These are Ivory Figurines made by the Lega people in Eastern Zaire that were made in the 19th - 20th century. When displayed, the figures were usually in groups, similar to how these are set up. The figures were usually owned by the highest-ranking male members of the community.

CariN p6: These figures are ivory figurines made in Lega, Eastern Zaire. They were owned by people of the highest level of the Bwami society, the members of the Bwami society teach moral and ethnical values through short sayings like proverbs. KatieD p7: These figures are ivory figures made in Lega which is in eastern Congo formally known as Zaire. They belonged to men in the highest ranking, and were presented in groups. Each one had an indivsual purpose and taught a moral lesson.

How are these figures symbols of the //Bwami// society?

AnneG P1: These were symbols of the Bwami society because the statues have a moral to teach to the people that look at it. They were also part of the Bwami society because they were worn on the dancer's heads and were danced. Each of the different figures were displayed as something instructive and trying to teach you something important. These would represent the dancers that would be dancing while wearing the mini statues that were worn on their heads. These statues would be the main way to express their culture!

DelaneyV P2: These figures are symbols of Bwami society because those people have a moral tell and its shown in those figures. These figures are also important because they danced with these on the top of their head. These statues were the way they expressed their culture. These represent the dancers that danced with these figures on there head. Each figure was trying to teach you something very important, like a moral lesson in art form.

LauraB p6: These figures were symbols of the Bwami society because the Bwami people taught moral lessons through proverbs and sayings, and each figure represented a saying or proverb that had an important, instructional meaning. The figures also represented the Bwami culture because the figures played such a large part in the culture.

CariN p6: These figurines were symbols of Bwami society because they were used in the initiation ceremonies. The initiation ceremonies were when an important male member of the community gained status.

KatieD p7: These statues indicate rank of males in the Bwami scociety. If one would obtain more the higher in rank they would be. One way to obtain these statues was in an initation ceromonie. The initation ceromonies is the occasion when these statues were given to a man rising in status. One way one could learn the value of the statues was in dances where the dancers would wear the statues on their heads and teach the meaning of them adn their lessons was through movement.

What purposes did these figures serve?

AnneG P1: The purpose of these figures were to show the people how the art was made, and to tell the story of these people. The Bwami people had weird ways of telling their past and what they think might have happened in their future. The Bwami people showed most of their past through dance. These particular statues were worn on top of the dancer's head and the people would dance. While they were dancing their stories would be told.

DelaneyV P2: These ivory figures served many purposes. They were used to dance with and when danced with they were attached to arms legs and other body parts. When a member of the Bwami dies his figurine is passed on to the next son. The figures were only used by men in Bwami. Women did not use these figures.

LauraB p6: The figures were used for initiation ceremonies when a male member of the community moved up in status. The figures' purpose in the ceremonies was that the figures were given to the man who was rising in status. The figures could also be "danced" by being attached to the arm, head, leg, chest, or loincloth of the owner. When the owner of a figure died, his figure was passed on to a relative of similar status in the community.

CariN p6: The purpose that these figures served was to express a particular saying and each had a deeper instructive meaning. For example, the ivories were sometimes displayed as a group, and when a member of the Bwami dies, his figurine is passed down to another member wit a similar social status. KatieD p7: The purpose of these figures is that they represented sayings or moral lessons in their shape and size. Each one has a particular meaning, and taught a valuable lesson to all that would see them. 