Tabenken,
the largest Tang Clan Village, is situated in a deep basin about halfway
between Ndu and Nkambe, right in the centre of Wimbum area in the Donga Mantung
Division of North West Region of Cameroon.
Tabenken
has about 10.000-20.000 inhabitants and is spread over a large area. It
constitutes a single village made up of six wards. It has one chief or fon, as
it is normally referred in the grass fields. It has one central market square
and a smaller quarter market at Mbijah, a Government High School, more than ten
government and mission primary schools, a government health centre in addition
to the mission and a private health centre.
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| Map of Tabenken showing location of ndap ngong in Kieku |
Tabenken
can also be seen as a conglomerate of small villages. There are six main wards,
each under the leadership of a hereditary sub-chief, or ‘kibai’. These are in
turn divided into numerous quarters which are controlled by quarter heads or ‘fais’,
again a hereditary position.
There
is no published information on the history of Tabenken, and it is not easy to
reconstruct the history of Tabenken generally because the main sources of
historical data, oral tradition is often incompatible. Not only is the
available historical data fragmentary, but so, it seems, is the very history
itself.
Oral
tradition has it that the main wards in Tabenken used to be separate villages
and the ‘kibais’ (chiefs) in their own right. The old quarter (Kieku) in the
centre of the village, near the fon's Palace and the market square, form the
nucleus of the village. Between these quarters and the palaces of the six ‘kibais’
newer quarters have been established by immigrants from other Wimbum areas. The
immigrants are often political refugees or either those who flee from
witchcraft or had themselves being ostracized because of witchcraft
accusations.
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| Ta ngaa nyuu in front of the ndap ngong in Kieku Tabenken |
Kieku
is one of the oldest quarters in Binjong ward though the leader of one of the
resident lineages, who was a pretender to the throne, claimed that it had been
the original centre of the village and site of the original Palace. To confirm
this, there is a small grove in the middle of Kieku quarter where the graves of
the old chiefs are situated.
Tabenken
Parish was established in 1937 and the first Tabenkenian was baptized as a
catholic in 1914. The church building is an enormous structure situated in
Kieku on a hill in the middle of the village. There is large green neon cross
on the top which can be seen kilometers away at night. Beliefs relating to witchcraft
and ‘traditional’ religion abound.
The
Tobias residence on map with a nearby ‘ndap ngong’ (where sacrifices are made
to gods for good harvest) with ‘Ta ngaa nyuu’ (traditional priest) standing on
picture infront is the ‘ndap ngong’ in Kieku. There are three such ‘ndap
ngongs’ in Tabenken. Also there are ‘Mfu’ lodges (warrior meeting houses) made
of mud bricks with lattice work of raffia bamboo. Infront of such are two
wooden door supports, each carved in the form of a man standing on a woman’s shoulders,
illustrating the superiority of men over women according to Wimbum tradition.
There is also a row of carved wooden heads along the top of the entrance to the
lodge symbolizing the skulls which hung there in the past as trophies of war.
Contact
us to get publications on traditions and mysteries in Tabenken village.
