THE STORY OF THE LEOPARD IN KONGO TRADITION. 🟢
"Ngo" is a Kikongo name which means #leopard and which gave rise to the name of the kingdom KONGO (kingdom of the Leopard) which has become in modern day #Congo.
Central in the history of the country as in the life of the Congolese, the leopard represents for much more than a simple emblem and a national symbol.
The etymology of "Kongo" means "leopard ally", an expression taken from "Ko-ngo".
It even stemed from this the myth of the leopard chief, the protector of the kingdom according to which in the event of serious danger, the populations ran to him to find refuge. "Tuele ku Ngo", they said (translate "We are going to the leopard", in the Kikongo language). It is therefore the shortened phrase "ku Ngo" which would have given rise to Kongo.
Considered since the dawn of time as a cunning animal, its beautiful skin which always makes people dream is sacred in the #Bantu tradition. The leopard hats on the heads of customary chiefs as a crown. This symbolism is firmly rooted in the Bantu subconscious.
In Kasai, the great chiefs are called "mukalenga wa nkashama" which means "mother-leopard" or "from the leopard's belly". And among the Otetela, the chief receives on the day of his investiture several insignia closely related to the sacred animal, i.e. two leopard skins, a leopard skin cap, a leopard tooth necklace and a spear, all for legitimize his authority.
The skinned headdress of the panthera pardus (leopard) has always been in Bantu society one of the most important and solemn material symbols of the traditional power bequeathed by deceased ancestors.