The Tchikumbi

resistances and transformations in the forms of female passage rites among the Bawoyo of Cabinda (Angola)

Abstract

This article is part of a research done for my master dissertation. The same was held near the house in order to understand and record the narratives that the autochthonous attribute to Tchikumbi, as a rite passage. As a practice is a cultural manifestation, a rite of passage and transformation that takes place among Bawoyo peoples of Cabinda; Having at its core the preparation of girls, it is a call to adulthood, a metamorphosis imposed by a ritual of transcendence and enormous significance among the Bawoyo inhabitants of Yabi (in Cabinda). From a methodology based on Oral History and an ethnographic perspective allowed us to observe and enter the community, where it was possible to have access to the speeches and voices of the septuagenarian elders and traditional authorities of the region. We understand that this ceremony is of great importance among them, as whenever the families that has girls do this ceremony, they show the community that they were able to educate their daughter, and the society / community recognizes values ​​and respect for these parents and the
girl becomes worthy of being admired and respected, consequently, she takes on her life as an adult.