The Luba people

Luba

Location: The Luba people (who are also called the Baluba) live in the forests and savannas of a large area of the southern Congo.

Language: The different groups of the Luba people speak different but closely related languages. Mostly because the different groups of the Luba people are of different origins.

History: At one time, in the sixteenth and seventeenth century most of the Luba people were ruled by a paramount chief called the Bulopwe or Balopwe. Now that has changed and they do not have a central ruler. They have formed small independent chiefdoms. These were always around but it wasn't until after the seventeenth century that the majority of the Luba people lived in independent chiefdoms.

The Luba people tell the history of their tribe and people by using an object called a memory board. A memory board is made of beads and uses differnt color beads for the different Tribes or people. Not everyone is told how to read or interpret the memory board.

Daily Life: The Luba hunt, fish, gather, keep livestock and farm, mostly maize and cassava. They live in small villages that have only one long street with rectangular huts on both sides. The Luba people worship a supreme being and natural-spirits. They believe that when something bad happens to a person it happens because of something bad that that person did in the past.

Best Known Feature: The Luba are great wood carvers, especially of ceremonial axes, head rests and anthropomorphical figures. The Chiefs and royals carry staffs that explain how they became what they are and their relationship with the sacred land.

Though this page has been carefully researched, the author does not claim expertise on the Luba.

Please send questions, comments, and corrections to emuseum@mnsu.edu and include the URL.

If you are Luba, your feedback is much appreciated.

Sources:

Luba. Britannica.com, http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9049210

The Luba Tribe. http://www.msad54.k12.me.us/MSAD54Pages/MCSS/SmithStuart/African%20Tribe/the_luba_tribe.htm

Author: Lucian Young

This just makes so much sense to me. luba people. LUBA to me is an extension of a person. LUBA belongs in the forest, the Luba people were woodcarvers and LUBA is carved from wood. I dont know is Ursula was connecting to the Luba people when she created this piece but I don't know how could couldn't, its so apparent. Finding this just made me so happy