Initiated performers at a mungonge ceremony, near Gungu, Congo (Democratic Republic)

The Central Pende adapted the mungong in the mid-1930s as a secular dance society, but it seems likely that the Pende bordering the Aluund would have borrowed it at an earlier date. The mungonge, as the Pende call it, is rare today among the Central Pende but continues in these regions (west of the Kwilu river and bordering the Aluund). The ceremony is held at night time with stilt performers appearing before dawn to mark the end of it. The initiated performers (afwa nzambi) with their bodies partially ot totally covered with white paint wore a headdress (ibanda) that they will destroy at the end of the ceremony. During his trip to Congo (now Democratic Republic of Congo), Elisofon visited Gungu and its surroundings in Pende people's region. This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon traveled to Africa from March 17, 1970 to July 17, 1970.