AphroChic Magazine: Issue No. 1

ARTISTS & ARTISANS
The Cameroonian Juju Hat
An explosion of plumage, pops of bright festive colors, Cameroonian juju hats have spent
the last few years becoming synonymous with global style in home decor. Originally
meant to decorate people, rather than rooms, their popularity has grown to the point
that lately it seems that no room is complete without one of these beautiful feathered
pieces on the walls. Yet, while juju hats are a common sight on the walls of many modern
interiors, for the Bamileke people of Western Cameroon they were once a rare item
reserved only for a select few.
Like most Bamileke art, juju hats
are created specifically for use at royal
festivals or ceremonies. The frame is
constructed from raffia that is woven to
create the support structure. Feathers
taken from a chicken, guinea hen, or
other wild bird are dyed and attached
to the base. A leather strap attached to
the back is used to pull the hat open to
its full breadth. When not in use, the
hat folds up into a manageable bundle
that not only helps with storage, but
also acts to protect the feathers within
the shell of the much tougher raffia
structure. Protecting the delicate
feathers is a high priority, as the hats
play an important societal role.
In Bamileke societies, the king,
called a Fon, is attended by a committee
of eight men known as the Mkem or
“the assembly of holders of hereditary
rights.” Each man of this council
acts as the head of a particular society
tasked with certain duties within the
kingdom. Every two years the Mkem
hold special meetings at which the
wealth of the king is displayed and each
member dons masks appropriate to
their societies. The most venerated of
these, the elephant and leopard masks,
are reserved only for the king and for
members of the Kuosi and the Kemdje,
both warrior societies. It is with these
masks that Tyn or juju hats are most
commonly seen, though occasionally
they are also worn alone, like on the
death of a king or a wealthy member of
one of the eight societies.
One of the biggest questions about
these hats is what to call them. Juju
is not a term found in any Bamileke
language and no one is sure where it
came from. Two theories are that it is
either a derivation of the word “djudju,”
used by the Hausa of northern Nigeria
to denote an evil spirit, or from the
French “joujou,” meaning a trifle or toy.
From the time of its first recorded
use in the late 17th century, juju became
a popular term among Europeans for
referring to West African religions and
their healers who were called juju men.
It may be that an observer mistook the
wearers of these hats for such healers
and applied the name by which we
now know the feathered hats that the
Bamileke call Tyn.
aphrochic