page_title: Vili people
section_title: Si / Tsi
hierarchical_section_title: Vili people / Demography and Territory / Territory / Si / Tsi
caption_attribution_description: English: Typical vegetation close to Pointe-Noire
context_page_description: The Vili people are Central African ethnic group, established in southwestern Gabon, the Republic of Congo, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It's a subgroup of Bantu and Kongo peoples.
  With the Yombe, the Lumbu, the Vungu, the Punu and the Kugni, they lived harmoniously within the former Kingdom of Loango. They have even developed with the Kugni, the Bundiku, a good neighborly relationship in order to avoid conflicts.
  The Vili culture is rich in a secular history, a society that is certainly misogynistic but in which the Matriarchy is the foundation. of a Vili language full of nuances where proverbs have a prominent place. of an original measurement system, of a spirituality whose Nkisi, Nkisi Konde or nail fetishes are the famous physical representation. These artifacts are "commentaries by themselves". They provide keys to the understanding of creativity and identity that prevailed at the time of their creation.
  While abundant documentation exists concerning the history of the Kingdom of Kongo, the Loango is much less served by the written sources.
  The Vili have very early maintained relations of equal to equal with the Westerners, especially in trade.
context_section_description: Si in Vili language or Tsi in Yombe language refers to inclusive land and its resources, the territory, the country. Members of the matriclan (likanda) have in community land, goods and interests visible and invisible. Clan territory (Si likanda) limits are set by the geniuses, force spirits of the ancestors of the clan (nkisi in singular and bakisi if plural) and not by men. These limits may be rivers, hills, edges of forests...
  The ministering spirits prefer quiet places and migrate to more peaceful places, when they are disturbed, thus causing the migration of the clan. The places of residence of the geniuses (tchibila) or sanctuaries are sources, rivers, mountains (Mount Bamba in the Mayombe), circuses (Diosso Gorge), the gorges of Sunda, isolated trees or groves.
caption: Rain forest close to Diosso- Pointe-Noire (Republic of Congo)
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