Reliquary Guardian Figure.
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The Kota (Bakota) used to leave their dead exposed to the elements in the forest. They began to bury their chiefs, then to exhume their bones to put them in bark boxes or baskets called bwete, on which a statue was placed. Such reliquaries were entrusted to clan leaders who kept them hidden, sometimes relying on the power of relics for the benefit of the clan. When serious crises hit the village (a village of several clans), the chiefs gathered their reliquaries to perform rites. This cult was known as the bwiti by the obamba and their neighbors, for whom the guards were the "faces" of the bwete. Beautiful golden look.