Designing the Kè Symbol from the Chinese Bagua Symbol: The Case of the Bamilekes of Western Cameroon

Among the Bamileke tribe in the West region of Cameroon, is a unique phenomenon known as Ke. That is a demonstration of spiritual, philosophical, religious, and magical concepts. A similar concept exists in China, expressed by the divinatory symbol of "Bagua," or "eight figures of divination." It is a basic philosophical idea from ancient China that was incorporated into "Taoism," "Yi Jing," "Feng Shui," martial arts, and navigation. The Chinese term denotes an octagonal diagram incorporating a "trigram" different from each side, representing the different aspects of the "Yin" and "Yang". Inspired by this concept of duality, we have set up a method of artistic creation allowing both juxtapose and merging the symbolic elements of the local Bamileke culture, especially those involved during Ke ceremonies. The method consists of associating the signs and symbols relating to the man and the woman concerning Yin and Yang and merging the local signs regarding trigrams. The goal is to translate the idea of complementarity that emerges from the Chinese symbol using the elements of the Bamileke crop. These multiple compositions lead to a series of figures that are similar to the Bagua symbol in their central parts. As for the four branches that contain mergers, they are inspired by the Bamileke divinatory symbol which is none other than a stylized Mygale spider. Because of their structures, these different proposals reflect the concept of Ke in the Bamileke and can validly represent it. It can therefore be appreciated on different objects and other supports put to contribution for the smooth running of the related festivities.