Ethnic group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
This article is about the ethnic group of the DRC and Angola. It is not to be confused with the Aka people of Congo and the CAR, or the Yakkha people of South Asia.
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A Yaka people's mask at the Brooklyn Museum.
The Yaka are an African ethnic group found in southwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo, with Angola border to their west. They number about 300,000 and are related to the Suku people. They live in the forest and savanna region between the Kwango River and the Wamba River. They speak the Yaka language).[1][citation needed]
Their oral tradition states that Lunda arrived in Kwango in the 17th century and found people who were part of the kingdom of Kongo.[2] Yaka was a title of honor given to the warriors of the kingdom of Kongo and this word can be found in the following Kongo sentence from the descendants of M'panzu : " « Beto, mayaka mbata; mayaka mpunza, mayaka mbele. »"(Translation: « We, we catch the blows, arrows and swords. » (that the enemies throw at them)).[3][2]
The Yaka people are a matrilineal society that includes patrilineal lineage as family name.[4] Their villages have chiefs, who are recognized by the Congo government as a political office.[5] The Yaka farm cassava, sweet potatoes, and corn as staple source of food, and supplement this with fish and game meat. They have traditionally hunted with the help of hunting dogs.[5] In contemporary times, they are also migrant workers in urban areas.[1]
The Yaka are notable for their arts and handicrafts. They make statues, portraits, baskets, carved objects, masks, tools for cooking, building, hunting, fishing or entertaining with additions of instruments such as drums. Their masks are bulky, distinctive with upturned noses and eyes shaped in the form of globules. These masks were frequently used in various Traditional Religion ceremonies.[1] Their sculptures called mbwoolo and their carved slit drum called mukoku are regionally famous and used in ritual dances.[5]
^ abcYaka people, Encyclopædia Britannica
^ abMarc Kapend, Qui est le peuple Muyaka ou Yaka. In: Congo Kinshasa Culture la bibliothèque congolaise de nos jours, 2012, p. 6–11. (In French)
^"Les Meres Fondatrices de la Nation Kongo".
^Michael Lambek; Andrew Strathern (1998). Bodies and Persons: Comparative Perspectives from Africa and Melanesia. Cambridge University Press. pp. 133–135. ISBN 978-0-521-62737-5.
^ abcYaka: Art and Life in Africa, University of Iowa Museum of Art (2012)
The Yaka are an African ethnic group found in southwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo, with Angola border to their west. They number about 300,000...
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contained the mineral trillite ("yaka") which blocks radio waves, thereby shielding them from sensors. Since his newfound people will not accept his bionic...
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there is much confusion between the "original" Jagas, who left the land of Yaka on the eastern bank of the Kwango River and invaded Mbata and mbanza Kongo...
themselves Baaka (which means Aka people) and their language Aka. In the Lobaye region, these become Bayaka and Yaka due to epenthesis whenever there is...
– Armenia with the following spelling variations: Dakhanavar Dala-Kumara Yaka – Sri Lanka Danag – Philippines Danava Dhampire (Slovakia) with the following...
the (Proto-Bantu) word *twa was "hunter-gatherer, bushpeople", alongside yaka used for the western (Mbuti) pygmies (Bayaka). As the Twa developed into...
old chronicles. All of these are derived from a word related to Turkish yaka (geographical edge, collar) referring to the Yakuts' remote position in Siberia...
Aka, also known as Yaka or Beka, is a Bantu language spoken in the Central African Republic and Republic of Congo, along the Ubangi River dividing the...
Valania, Jonathon (August–September 1999). "Bittersweet Symphony". Magnet. Yakas, Ben (October 27, 2011). "Our Ten Minutes With Beach Boys Legend Brian Wilson"...
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Yakseya is believed to have more than a hundred incarnations as different people, including the son of a king named Sanka Pala, a son of the king of Lagal...
artistic works. They are considered to be culturally similar to the Yaka and Suku peoples who live in neighboring areas. The Pende are divided into two distinct...
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