Uzalendo wa Kitanzania
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- Mar 8, 2020
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An elongated head was an ideal of beauty among the Mangbetu people, 1930
The Mangbetu stood out to European explorers because of their elongated heads.
The Mangbetu people had a distinctive look and this was partly due to their elongated heads. At birth, the heads of babies’ were tightly wrapped with cloth in order to give their heads the elongated look.
The custom of skull elongation called by the natives Lipombo, was a status symbol among the Mangbetu ruling classes, it denoted majesty, beauty, power, and higher intelligence.
Deformation usually begins just a month after birth for the next couple of years until the desired shape has been reached or the child rejects the apparatus.
The practice began dying out in the 1950s with the arrival of more Europeans and westernization. It was also outlawed by the Belgian government, which ruled over colonial Congo.
This skull deformation was created by tying a cloth around the head of the baby right from birth, while the cranial bone is still soft.
This deformation usually didn’t affect the brain. As long as intracranial pressure remains the same as with a normal person, the brain should be able to adapt and grow into the new shape of the skull, resulting in no damage beyond cosmetic changes. The brain is a developmentally plastic organ and grows (expands) in the shape it’s given.
Mangbetu people live in Central Africa, in northeastern Congo.
The Mangbetu stood out to European explorers because of their elongated heads.
The Mangbetu people had a distinctive look and this was partly due to their elongated heads. At birth, the heads of babies’ were tightly wrapped with cloth in order to give their heads the elongated look.
The custom of skull elongation called by the natives Lipombo, was a status symbol among the Mangbetu ruling classes, it denoted majesty, beauty, power, and higher intelligence.
Deformation usually begins just a month after birth for the next couple of years until the desired shape has been reached or the child rejects the apparatus.
The practice began dying out in the 1950s with the arrival of more Europeans and westernization. It was also outlawed by the Belgian government, which ruled over colonial Congo.
This skull deformation was created by tying a cloth around the head of the baby right from birth, while the cranial bone is still soft.
This deformation usually didn’t affect the brain. As long as intracranial pressure remains the same as with a normal person, the brain should be able to adapt and grow into the new shape of the skull, resulting in no damage beyond cosmetic changes. The brain is a developmentally plastic organ and grows (expands) in the shape it’s given.
Mangbetu people live in Central Africa, in northeastern Congo.
