The Chokwe people, known by many other names (including Kioko, Bajokwe, Chibokwe, Kibokwe, Ciokwe, Cokwe or Badjok), are an ethnic group of Central and Southern Africa. They are found primarily in Angola, southwestern parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa to Lualaba), and north-western parts of Zambia. The Chokwe are exceptional craftsmen; plaiting, pottery, basketry, ironwork, and the carving of masks, statues, and stools are highly developed.
Descent is reckoned through the female line, although young married couples go to live with the husband’s family. Polygyny is restricted to the chiefly and wealthy classes. Circumcision of boys, the use of initiation masks, and elaborate girls’ initiation rites occur throughout the area. Chokwe masks are often performed at the celebrations that mark the completion of initiation into adulthood. That occasion also marks the dissolution of the bonds of intimacy between mothers and their sons. The pride and sorrow that event represents for Chokwe women is alluded to by the tear motif.
Details
- Designer: Gabriel Ellison
- Printer: Harrison & Sons Ltd.
- Process: Photogravure
- Paper:
- Watermark: None
- Perf: 14.5 x 13.5
- Gum:
- Gum Arabic (original printing)
- Polyvinyl Alcohol (reprint)
- Cylinders: 1A (Copper), 1A (Dark Brown), 1A (Orange)
- Sheet: 5 x 10
- Quantity:
- Reprint: 7 January 1969
Cylinder Numbers
Sheet Numbers
References
- Britannica: Chowke
- Wikipedia: Chokwe people
- Zambia’s Postage Stamps: The Post-Federation Stamp Issues of Northern Rhodesia (1963-1971 – A. R. Drysdall, J. Case