Kongo investiture ceremonies regenerated kingship through a symbolic return to origins.

Evidence

Georges Balandier has written: “The procedure of investiture involves the … attempt at reinforcement. Thus, in the ancient kingdom of Kongo, it establishes a symbolic return to origins, by means of a ceremonial that associates the new king, the elders and the people, and invokes the founding partners: the descendant of the founder and the representatives of the ancient occupants of the region that corresponds to the royal province, who have become the ‘allies’ of the Kongo kings. It invokes the spirits of the first kings… . It returns to the time of a history that has become myth and reveals the sovereign as the ‘forger’ and guardian of Kongo unity. The enthronement of the king assures not only the legitimacy of the power held, but also the rejuvenation of the kingship. It gives the people (for a time) the feeling of a new beginning.” — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1942

Categorization

• DEFINE: Illustrates the central African political-theological model that enslaved Africans carried into the Americas and re-created at Palmares.
• FICTION: The investiture ceremony as a ritual that rewinds time to a mythic founding offers a striking scene or worldbuilding device for a story about contested kingship.