Monkey God
Baule · deity · Baule traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Entered as a deity (a Baule amwin power). The cup-bearing monkey figure is widely called 'gbekre'; 'Mbotumbo' is recorded (Vogel) as a name for such men's-society power objects. 'amwin/amuin' = object/being of power. Principal scholarship: Vogel (1997).
Domains
- protection justice
- underworld judgment
Powers
- to guard the living against witchcraft, plague and enemies
- Guards the living against witchcraft, epidemics and enemies
- Serves men's societies in the mbra divination rite
Sources
- Mbotumbo (also called Gbekre), the Baule monkey-god, is a powerful, aggressive amwin (power-being) — judge of the dead and protector of the living against witchcraft, epidemic and enemies — represented by a roughly carved, cup-bearing dog-faced monkey figure that receives sacrifice.: Susan Mullin Vogel, Baule: African Art, Western Eyes (1997) (secondary); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Baule monkey figure/mask collection records (secondary)