The cosmogram is a sign well acknowledged to the Kongo and one that seems to have carried along a lot of expression within their culture and that of the Bakongo in America. The cross found in the cosmogram is not connected to Christian image but it rather it seems to overlaps the initiative of the cross which was used to crucify Jesus the son of God (Thompson, 108). During the traditional times, the Kongo and Bakongo were deeply rooted to the belief on a superlative divinity known as Nzambi Mpungu and who they had embedded with concept which described his ability in destructibility of the soul. They highly believed that the life of mankind had no end it just comprised of a cycle similar to the setting of the sun which involves the rising in the morning and its setting in the evening was itself a cycle just like that involving mankind.
Thompson (109) asserts that, the cosmogram was also referred to as tendwa nza Kongo, dikenga cross, yawa cross or the Kongo cross. The four moment of the sun which incorporated sunrise, midday, sunset and midnight were broadly interpreted by the Kongolese depended different due to the role, maturity and consistency of the interpreter. The four moment of the sun was considered to contain various purposes, for example when it was drawn down, they used it as an altar whereby they were supposed to make a vow with their god and ancestors. The cosmogram was used as the central part for their religious thinking where it provided a set-up that described their spiritual understanding during their daily activities. In simpler stipulations the Kongo cross tended to incorporate African themes into Christianity.
It is important that we understand that the unification of African American way of life which comprised of theological discovering, Caribbean spiritism and shamanism led to the discovering of the four moment of the sun. Based on the structure of the cross, the horizontal line was destined to separate the mountain of the living beings away from that of the dead. The mountain of the living was referred as ntoto (earth) while that of the dead was referred as mpemba (white clay). The base part which was separated by the horizontal line was known as kalunga which referred to world of dead and it tended to be comprehensive within itself and toward the completeness that habitually came to an individual who had great understanding of powers and habits of the two worlds (Thompson, 115).
The four disks that are institute in the Kongo cross signified the four moment of the sun whereby the perimeter of the cross clearly symbolized the sureness of reincarnation which indicated that the righteous Kongo person was by no means to be ruined but he or she would have to come back into being by use of name or body of offspring or also in the form of an eternal objects such as a waterfall, mountain stone or pool. The Kongo cosmogram signified the regularly undeniable vision of the rounded movement often found within human souls widely defined by the perimeter of the cosmogram intersecting lines
According to Thompson (118), the peak within the whole pattern of the “four element of the sun” not only represented the noon but also the crest north and manliness of an individual strength when on earth similarly, the bottom equally symbolized womanliness, south, midnight represented the highest position of an individual unearthly strength. In summary, the whole arrangement of the cosmogram emerged in Americas specifically to represent the drawing and singing points of meeting between the two described worlds that of the living and that of the dead. It is evident as time passes by, the antique cruciform’s are becoming complicated by the various rented ideas and also through the various attributes found within the Roman Catholics teachings and symbols which are connected to deities. The whole idea surrounding around the Kongo cosmogram was highly destined to give a reflection of the world that is found in both male and female.
Work cited
Thompson, Farris. Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy. 2010. p108-116.