{"id":13919,"date":"2023-05-25T14:30:18","date_gmt":"2023-05-25T12:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastplaces.wwwarcelona.net\/?post_type=viajar_conocimiento&p=13919"},"modified":"2024-08-29T11:04:31","modified_gmt":"2024-08-29T09:04:31","slug":"wale-women-dr-congo","status":"publish","type":"viajar_conocimiento","link":"https:\/\/lastplaces.wwwarcelona.net\/en\/travel-is-knowledge\/wale-women-dr-congo\/","title":{"rendered":"The Wal\u00e9 women of the D. R. of Congo"},"content":{"rendered":"

After being mothers for the first time, the young women of the Ntombe and Ngombe tribes (originating from the region of Ecuador in the D. R. of Congo) become Wal\u00e9 (women who breastfeed) and begin a life of seclusion in which they will spend several years dedicating themselves exclusively to the care of their children.<\/p>\n

\"Last<\/p>\n

In the early stages of her confinement, 21-year-old Asongwaka felt as if she had been thrown in jail. While the rest of the women left the village to go work in the fields, she was left alone, very bored. The first six months of confinement were the hardest.<\/p>\n

When a woman has a baby and becomes a Wal\u00e9, she leaves her husband and moves to her mother’s hut, where she will remain confined. There, she will carry out her initiation as a mother and as a woman. A few months later, the rules become softer. They can come and go, as long as they are accompanied by their ‘bodyguards’ (women of the family, whether they are sisters, aunts, young men or girls), since it is necessary for there to be witnesses to watch them at all times, especially if they are relate to some man.<\/p>\n

Meeting with Ntomba Wal\u00e9 women during a trip to the DR Congo.<\/div>\n

The Wal\u00e9 are subject to many taboos: they cannot have sexual relations, nor speak alone with any man, nor work, nor leave the village, nor serve food, nor cook… The goal is to keep anything that might be contaminated by male sperm away from the Wal\u00e9, as the pygmies believe that it poisons breast milk.<\/p>\n

Ngombe woman holding her twin babies during the Wal\u00e9 ritual.<\/div>\n

Do you want to meet the Wal\u00e9 of the D.R. of the Congo?<\/a><\/h2>\n

Meet the Wal\u00e9 women on our trips to the D.R. of the Congo<\/a>. Click here to see our upcoming trips to the D. R. of the Congo.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Attending to the Ntomba’s Wal\u00e9 ritual during a trip to the D.R. Congo.<\/div>\n

The honor of the family and the clan is at stake. The more scrupulous the Wal\u00e9 is respecting these taboos, the more prestige she obtains for her clan. Then, she will be treated like a queen: red body paint applied to her face and body, copper bracelets, a fly swatter, a guyoy (palanquin)… Her ‘bodyguards’ work for her: they prepare her food, They take care of your safety and also your health. In this way, the Wal\u00e9 can focus on being a mother and raising her baby. The food that is served to her and her son is of the best quality, not only to preserve her health, but above all because a Wal\u00e9 must be plump, fertile and seductive. She lives half-naked to arouse the desire of men, which increases her worth when she complies with the sexual taboo and rejects them all.<\/p>\n

Attending to the Ngombe’s Wal\u00e9 ritual during a trip to the D.R. Congo.<\/p>\n

The husband of the wal\u00e9 must cover all her needs and raise the money to pay for the ceremony to end her confinement. In it, he receives the ‘suitcase’, a dowry in which he will find what is necessary for his new life: personal belongings, shoes, clothes… The country’s economic problems are forcing the pygmies, who are hunter-gatherers, to live in the city long periods in search of work. For this reason, the confinements are longer and longer, which encourages polygamy. Sometimes the husband does not return and it is the family or a new suitor who bears the cost of the ceremony.<\/p>\n

Ritual of ending seclusion<\/h3>\n

The Wal\u00e9 ritual is always early in the afternoon on a Sunday. For three hours, the Wal\u00e9 talks about her, through song and dance; sometimes alone, other times accompanied. She glorifies herself, boasts of her merits. At the end of the ceremony, she is placed on a platform that, connected to a system of pulleys and vines, lifts her into the air several meters above the ground. Finally, the Wal\u00e9 is once again free and the taboos are lifted. After the ceremony, she will resume her normal life, leaving the town to go to work in the fields with the rest of the women.<\/p>\n

Attending to the Ngombe’s Wal\u00e9 ritual during a trip to the D.R. Congo.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Photos by Jordi Zaragoz\u00e0<\/a> and Xavi de las Heras taken to Wal\u00e9 women during a trip to the D.R. Congo.<\/p>\n

You can learn more about the Ntomba<\/a> and the Ngombe<\/a> in www.101lasttribes.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13894,"template":"","etiquetas_viajar_conocimiento":[],"categorias_viajar_conocimiento":[306,364],"autores_viajar_conocimiento":[199],"class_list":["post-13919","viajar_conocimiento","type-viajar_conocimiento","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","categorias_viajar_conocimiento-africa-en","categorias_viajar_conocimiento-congo-en","autores_viajar_conocimiento-joan-riera-travel-guide"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\u25ba The Wal\u00e9 women of the D.R. of the Congo<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The women of the Ntombe and Ngombe tribes of the DR Congo, after being mothers, become Wal\u00e9 and begin a period of seclusion\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/lastplaces.wwwarcelona.net\/en\/travel-is-knowledge\/wale-women-dr-congo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u25ba The Wal\u00e9 women of the D.R. of the Congo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The women of the Ntombe and Ngombe tribes of the DR Congo, after being mothers, become Wal\u00e9 and begin a period of seclusion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/lastplaces.wwwarcelona.net\/en\/travel-is-knowledge\/wale-women-dr-congo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Last Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lastplaces.travelisknowledge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-08-29T09:04:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/lastplaces.wwwarcelona.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/ngombe-wale-woman-with-her-sons-during-ritual-on-ethnographic-trip-to-DR-Congo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lastplaces.wwwarcelona.net\\\/en\\\/travel-is-knowledge\\\/wale-women-dr-congo\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lastplaces.wwwarcelona.net\\\/en\\\/travel-is-knowledge\\\/wale-women-dr-congo\\\/\",\"name\":\"\u25ba The Wal\u00e9 women of the D.R. of the Congo\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lastplaces.wwwarcelona.net\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lastplaces.wwwarcelona.net\\\/en\\\/travel-is-knowledge\\\/wale-women-dr-congo\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lastplaces.wwwarcelona.net\\\/en\\\/travel-is-knowledge\\\/wale-women-dr-congo\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lastplaces.wwwarcelona.net\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/ngombe-wale-woman-with-her-sons-during-ritual-on-ethnographic-trip-to-DR-Congo.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-25T12:30:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-08-29T09:04:31+00:00\",\"description\":\"The women of the Ntombe and Ngombe tribes of the DR Congo, after being mothers, become Wal\u00e9 and begin a period of seclusion\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lastplaces.wwwarcelona.net\\\/en\\\/travel-is-knowledge\\\/wale-women-dr-congo\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/lastplaces.wwwarcelona.net\\\/en\\\/travel-is-knowledge\\\/wale-women-dr-congo\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lastplaces.wwwarcelona.net\\\/en\\\/travel-is-knowledge\\\/wale-women-dr-congo\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lastplaces.wwwarcelona.net\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/ngombe-wale-woman-with-her-sons-during-ritual-on-ethnographic-trip-to-DR-Congo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lastplaces.wwwarcelona.net\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/ngombe-wale-woman-with-her-sons-during-ritual-on-ethnographic-trip-to-DR-Congo.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Ngombe woman holding her twins during Wale rite I mujer ngombe sosteniendo sus beb\u00e9s gemelos durante el ritual wal\u00e9\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lastplaces.wwwarcelona.net\\\/en\\\/travel-is-knowledge\\\/wale-women-dr-congo\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Portada\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lastplaces.wwwarcelona.net\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Wal\u00e9 women of the D. 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