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Until recently, little contact was made with the "Ndimba", relatives of the "Mwila" clans in Southern Angola.

  The doll on offer was owned by the older girl in the center of the above picture.

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Click the thumbs above to view images taken from different positions.

 

 

The center or core of Ndimba dolls, is made from a solid piece of carved wood. This example would have been a hand me down, as its age far exceeds that of the owner at the time of collection.

 

 

Bark fiber, plastic rings and lion cloths adorn the dolls torso.

 

 

Another ......

 

 

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This doll is of exceptional quality. It's coiffure is much the same as the young owner.

 

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An "Ndimba" girl from Angola with this very doll.

 

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Both the owner and the doll wear the reed decorations and hairdo.

 

 

Follow this link to learn more about child figures from Angola. 

 

 

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These two dolls were the property of a private collector who obtained them in the later part of the 20th century. This example sports a beaded vale with alternating bead color in strands. It also has typically Lemba influenced stars, which are said to relate back to their Jewish origin.

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This beaded skirt was made from Salempore fabric originating India. Salempore was brought into the area by traders from Delagoa Bay and is also known as "nwalukambu".

 

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The Ndebele Ndzundza  live in Mpumalanga South Africa and called their dolls "umndwana".

Adult women in traditional Ndebele dress.

Beaded Ndebele dolls are made for adolescent girls either by their mothers or by the girls themselves as beadwork samplers. Sometimes beaded rings encircle the dolls’ arms, patterned after the actual arm rings worn by Ndebele women.

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Doll  "C"

 

Ndebele dolls pre-date Ndebele decorated walls. Dolls were photographed by Duggun-Cronin around 1923, whereas simple wall decorations were first photographed by Constance Larrabee in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s.

 

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"Gimwane" dolls were made at the time of initiation.

The emphasis on the Ntwane women’s central role as wives and mothers is pervasive even before female initiation. It finds its most visible form in the gimwane or popenyane – a traditional fertility doll constructed from plaited grass, wool, and beads. The skills necessary for producing the gimwane are passed down from mother to daughter. Pre-initiate girls pretend the dolls are the progeny of their current boyfriends, who are invited to participate in a dance competition, the outcome of which determines the leader of the prepubescent group. The young boys usually congregate at the home of one of the girls, who place the gimwane in a line. The “fathers” and “mothers’ then form two rows on either side of the fertility dolls and proceed to dance with their partners.

                                  Young girls at initiation.                                        Tribal Peoples of Southern Africa Page 75

Although these fertility dolls have no specific sexual articulation, the gender of some gimwane may be determined by the shapes of their frontal and rear aprons. Male gimwane tend to be dressed with rectangular front loincloths, while the female dolls may be identified by V-shaped aprons which resembles the rear aprons worn by uninitiated Ntwane girls.

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Zulu dolls from the Msinga area were made by girls at the time of her engagement, and were then worn on her neck during special occasions. If the owner  visited her prospective in-laws she would put the doll’s hair over it’s face as a sign of respect. After she married, a tuft of red wool would be put on the doll’s head which made the statement; I’m married. The doll would be put in a place of honor in her hut and eventually would be given to her child or grandchild.

These pictures were likely taken in the 1960's and would have been commissioned by the girls to send to their boyfriends who lived in the urban centers. The girls hold related dolls.

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