Yaka people

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The Yaka are an African ethnic group found in southwest Democratic Republic of the Congo, with the Angola border to their west. They number about 300,000 and are related to the Suku people. They live in the forest and savanna region between the Kwango River and the Wamba River. They speak the Yaka language.^{[1][citation needed]}

The Yaka people are a matrilineal society that includes patrilineal lineage as family name.^[2] Their villages have chiefs, who are recognized by the Congo government as a political office.^[3] The Yaka farm cassava, sweet potatoes, and corn as staple source of food, and supplement this with fish and game meat. They have traditionally hunted with the help of hunting dogs.^[3] In contemporary times, they are also migrant workers in urban areas.^[1]

The Yaka are notable for their arts and handicrafts. They make statues, portraits, baskets, carved objects, masks, tools for cooking, building, hunting, fishing or entertaining with additions of instruments such as drums. Their masks are bulky, distinctive with upturned noses and eyes shaped in the form of globules. These masks were frequently used in various Traditional Religion ceremonies.^[1] Their sculptures called mbwoolo and their carved slit drum called mukoku are regionally famous and used in ritual dances.^[3]