Lango headdress
Accession Number:
1926.17.1
Country:
Uganda
Cultural Group:
Lango
Date Made:
By 1926
Materials:
Plant Fibre , Bird Feather
Process:
Coiled , Basketry
Dimensions:
Max H = 210 mm Max Diam = 280 mm
Local Name:
kono
Other Owners:
Jack Herbert Driberg
Field Collector:
Jack Herbert Driberg
PRM Source:
Jack Herbert Driberg
Acquired:
Donated 1926
Collected Date:
By 1926
Description:
Basketry headdress covered with cock's feathers.
The Lango name for this type of object is said to be
Kono.
It was collected by Jack Herbert Driberg in Uganda, and donated to the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1926.
Driberg discusses this type of headdress in his book on the Lango of Uganda, as a style which he believed had developed early in the nineteenth century: 'The hair of the head was allowed to grow long ... and into it were woven, aided by a plastering of clay and chalk, cock’s feathers built up into the appearance of a busby. This busby was called kono, and walo was the term used of dressing the hair in this fashion. This was more particularly, but not exclusively, a war head-dress ... As hairdressing of this nature occupied several hours (and entailed a fee of one pot of beer and one chicken to the barber), the tok or the kono were not undone for months at a time... Subsequently it was found that the tok and the kono ... look almost as well even if detached from the head, and they were frequently removed by carefully shaving the hair close to the head, the hair thus forming a felt lining to the ... feather busby. The most modern development is a round wicker-worn tok ... into which the wearer's hair is worked so compactly and neatly as to form a closely woven felt cover ... This fashion of headgear does not date back for more than ten years' (J.H. Driberg, 1923, The Lango, p. 59 - 60). Note that Driberg only mentions the wickerwork frame in relation to the tok (a term used both for the crown of the head, and another style of hairdressing in which beads are threaded onto the hair). In his dictionary at the back of this volume, kono is defined as: 'Feathers of birds, feather busby'.
A type of headdress worn by the Acholi may also be related, in which a wickerwork frame that fits over the top of the head and supports a large mass of long, curving ostrich feathers (M. Trowell and K.P. Wachsmann, 1953, Tribal Crafts of Uganda, p. 195, 197, and pls 46H and 48B).
Rachael Sparks 9/9/2005.
Driberg discusses this type of headdress in his book on the Lango of Uganda, as a style which he believed had developed early in the nineteenth century: 'The hair of the head was allowed to grow long ... and into it were woven, aided by a plastering of clay and chalk, cock’s feathers built up into the appearance of a busby. This busby was called kono, and walo was the term used of dressing the hair in this fashion. This was more particularly, but not exclusively, a war head-dress ... As hairdressing of this nature occupied several hours (and entailed a fee of one pot of beer and one chicken to the barber), the tok or the kono were not undone for months at a time... Subsequently it was found that the tok and the kono ... look almost as well even if detached from the head, and they were frequently removed by carefully shaving the hair close to the head, the hair thus forming a felt lining to the ... feather busby. The most modern development is a round wicker-worn tok ... into which the wearer's hair is worked so compactly and neatly as to form a closely woven felt cover ... This fashion of headgear does not date back for more than ten years' (J.H. Driberg, 1923, The Lango, p. 59 - 60). Note that Driberg only mentions the wickerwork frame in relation to the tok (a term used both for the crown of the head, and another style of hairdressing in which beads are threaded onto the hair). In his dictionary at the back of this volume, kono is defined as: 'Feathers of birds, feather busby'.
A type of headdress worn by the Acholi may also be related, in which a wickerwork frame that fits over the top of the head and supports a large mass of long, curving ostrich feathers (M. Trowell and K.P. Wachsmann, 1953, Tribal Crafts of Uganda, p. 195, 197, and pls 46H and 48B).
Rachael Sparks 9/9/2005.
Primary Documentation:
Accession Book Entry
[Donations VIII, p.
22] -
J.H.
DRIBERG
, Esq.
- Head-dress,
kono
, of wicker-work covered with cocks' feathers (hackle), LANGO tribe (Nilotic).
UGANDA.
Additional Accession Book Entry [p. 22, in pencil next to collector's name] - 17 [next to object details] 1.
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the tribes catalogue card [RTS 24/5/2004].
Pitt Rivers Museum label - Head-dress, kono , of cocks' feathers. LANGO tribe, UGANDA. Pres. by J.H. Driberg, 1926. [rev:] 1926.17.1 [LM 'DCF 2004-2006 What's Upstairs?' 6/12/2005]
Pitt Rivers Museum display label - UGANDA, LANGO tribe. Head-dress of cocks' feathers. d.d. J.H. Driberg, 1926. [LM 'DCF 2004-2006 What's Upstairs?' 6/12/2005]
Additional Accession Book Entry [p. 22, in pencil next to collector's name] - 17 [next to object details] 1.
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the tribes catalogue card [RTS 24/5/2004].
Pitt Rivers Museum label - Head-dress, kono , of cocks' feathers. LANGO tribe, UGANDA. Pres. by J.H. Driberg, 1926. [rev:] 1926.17.1 [LM 'DCF 2004-2006 What's Upstairs?' 6/12/2005]
Pitt Rivers Museum display label - UGANDA, LANGO tribe. Head-dress of cocks' feathers. d.d. J.H. Driberg, 1926. [LM 'DCF 2004-2006 What's Upstairs?' 6/12/2005]
