Statue Kongo of Congo DRC
The Kongo are a people of Central Africa, found mainly in the south of the Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville), in the provinces of Bas-Congo and Bandundu in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in a large part of Central Africa. 'Angola. At the end of the 20th century, they were estimated at around ten million.
According to the sources observed multiple variants: Bacongo, Badondo, Bakango, Ba-Kongo, Bakongos, Bandibu, Bashikongo, Cabinda, Congo, Congos, Fjort, Frote, Ikeleve, Kakongo, Kikongo, Kileta, Kongos, Koongo, Nkongo, Wacongomani1
Internationally, it is the term Bakongo that prevails. ba- is, in Kikongo, the prefix that indicates the plural, mu- indicates the singular, and ki-, the language.
The Kongo religion considers the world as multidimensional. The material world and the spiritual world are two spaces that intersect at certain points in the universe. Humans are confined to lower or advanced dimensions. Spirits evolve in a sub-part of this universe of at least 8 dimensions. In the spirit world is the city of the ancestors, Mpemba. Beyond these worlds, is Kalunga Nzambi ya Mpungu Tulendu. The ancestors act as intermediaries between the divine and man.
The divine is perceived as the primary Cause of all things, the vital essence of all things as well as the final destination of all things. This is how Kalunga is both the place where the spirits are, from which they come and God Himself directs (Nzambi), the source of these spirits. Kalunga is also the primitive sea from which everything came, the self-created, the Ka that reigns over all things (ka: vital essence; pulmonary: to accomplish, to concretize and to reign).
Spirituality is also at the basis of political and social organization.
The intersection between the two worlds has the shape of a cross, hence the importance of this symbol in Kongo thought. In addition, the character of Ne-Kongo (from whom the name Kongo comes) is supposed to be this intersection of Kalunga with the human world, therefore a divine being in human form, also symbolized by the cross. It is these similarities with Christianity that facilitated its adoption.
The descent is matrilineal, and the entire Kongo people is grouped around 12 clans (kânda in Kongo), which are also found in the names of many peoples of black Africa; thus the Mbenza among the Serer, the Wolofs, the Muyabis, the descendants of Nzinga, among the Duala, Mossi, etc.