The Fang Tribe

By: Lucinda Lee and Dalton Johnson

The Fang Tribe is widely known for their art work such as wooden figures of the deceased men.

Where they live

The Fang Tribe live in hot, humid equalatorial raiforests of Gabon.  They have been reported to have moved from the northeast and settled in Africa to farm. They are scattered in the southern part of Gabon, the Equlatorial Guinea, and in Cameroon.

sources: http://www.africaguide.com/culture/tribes/fang.htm  http://www.gateway-africa.com/tribe/fang_tribe.html   http://www.forafricanart.com/Fang_ep_27-1.html 

Population:800,000  The Fang Tribe makes up 80% of Gabon's population. 

Fang Men and What They Do for the Tribe

The men play the role of being the hunters and requiring power by burning new forest patches. They also have to plow and clearing the new forest patches for new plots so they can plant crops.They are also in control with their wife or wives.  Their male relaticves can also be in control of the wife/wives.  sources:http://news.softpedia.com/news/Who-Are-the-Fang-People-79570.shtml

The men wore a kind of mask like this during dances.When this mask was worn in dances, it connected to the Byri ancestor colt in which the Fang Tribe used to portray the spirits of dead maidens.  sources:http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/images/objects/size3/L2005.2.6.jpg

Fang Women and What They Do for the Tribe

The women do the most work in the tribe.They have to farm the feild for their husband and gather eild fruits and fish in the rivers. The women also have to educate and take care of the children, make fishing net, fix the huts, make ceramics, and raffia fabrics.After they meet the needs of the family, the women can use the fruits they picked with some degree of freedom.sources:http://news.softpedia.com/news/Who-Are-the-Fang-People-79570.shtml

Food and Clothing

Food: The main crops that was eaten was manioc, corn, banana, and oil palm. Sometimes they ate fish, all kinds of birds and elephants, and one of the most appreciated food of the Fang Tribe was a Goliath frog. It is one of the world's largest frogs. sources:http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Fang

sources: http://www.ask.com/pictures?l=dir&o=0&q=banana&qsrc=168, http://www.foodsubs.com/Photos/cassavaflour2.jpg, http://students.english.ilstu.edu/hkcrens/Final/goliath.jpg

Clothing: Very little clothing was worn. The men wore a bark waistcloth and the women wore a plantain girdle and sometimes a bustle of dried grass. The chief got a leopard skin that covered his shoulders. Both had tattoos on their bodies and a delight of ornaments on them too. sources:http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Fang

sources:http://www.nma.gov.au/cook/images/collection/detail/277.jpg and http://blog.lib.umn.edu/victor/hereandthere/Images/Tussock%20Grass.jpg

Language, Religon, and Housing

Houses: The houses are called huts. The huts are made up of straw,trunks, and branches. The roof is conic or is just two slopes. The inside of a hut is dark, small, and badly aerated. Cooking things is done outside of the hut because huts are only to be sleeping and shelter from the rainforest rains.

Language: Equatorial Bantu

Religion: The traditional religion of the Fang Tribe was centered around their ancestors who believed they had weild power in their afterlife as they did living. The skull and longbones of men were known to be in control of a well-being family. These bones were hidden from the women and uninitiated. The Fang would carve wooden sculptures of them and set the bones in a box with teh wooden replica on top.

History: The fang tribe migrated into were they are now into the northeast with groups or families of nomadic agriculturalist. Their militant nature let them seize land from their neighbors. 

http://www.gateway-africa.com/tribe/fang_tribe.html