Le Kack, également appelé Kè, Keng, ou Kang, est un rite communautaire bisannuel, qui se déroule tous les deux ans, plus précisément durant les années impaires. Avant la colonisation, chez les Bamilékés, ce rite était uniformément pratiqué, avec seulement quelques variations d’une chefferie à l’autre (Perrois and Notué 1995, 107). Le temps, divisé en cycle bisannuel, commençait avec l’année du Kack et se terminait avec l’année du Jack. Ces deux années constituaient les années initiatiques (Hurault 1962, 123). L’année du Kack correspondait à l’année des interdits, et l’on procédait à divers rituels pour la prospérité communautaire, notamment le rite agraire et celui de la circoncision. L’année du Kack était l’année des réjouissances et de l’initiation des jeunes filles.
Le rite Kack rassemble toute la communauté autour de son chef pour un renouvellement du contrat social. Il est lié à la fondation de la chefferie. Le but initial du rite était de rassembler les populations d’origines diverses autour d’un idéal commun et d’établir un compromis harmonieux entre les fondateurs venus d’ailleurs et les populations Autochtones présentes sur place. En effet, presque toutes les chefferies bamiléké ont été établies par un chasseur, un guerrier, ou un aventurier venu d’ailleurs, qui, par ruse ou par force, a réussi à rassembler autour de lui des populations diverses. Ainsi, tous les deux ans, pendant dix-huit semaines, le rite Kack reconstitue de manière symbolique les grands épisodes de la fondation de la chefferie à travers une série de rituels (Fiè-kack, Souock kack, Nkoup-Kack, etc.). Ces rituels théâtralisent l’opposition Autochtones-conquérants et se termine par une réaffirmation du pouvoir du chef, descendant de l’étranger fondateur de la chefferie (Tsékenis 2010, 489).
Also known as Kè, Keng, or Kang, Kack is a biannual community rite that takes place every two years, more precisely those that end in an odd number. Before colonization, this rite was uniformly practiced among the Bamilékés, with only a few variations from one chiefdom to another (Perrois and Notué 1995, 107). Time, divided into a two-year cycle, began with the year of Kack and ended with the year of Jack. These two years constituted what Hurault calls the initiatory years (Hurault 1962, 123). The year of the Kack was the year of the forbidden, and various rituals would be performed to ensure the prosperity of the community, most notably the agrarian rite and the rite of circumcision. The Kack year was the year of festivities and the initiation of young girls.
The Kack rite brings the entire community together around its chief to renew the social contract, for it is linked to the founding of the chiefdom. The initial aim of the rite was to unite the population of diverse origins around a common ideal and to establish a harmonious compromise between the foreign founders and the local indigenous populations. Indeed, almost all Bamiléké chieftaincies were established by a hunter, warrior, or adventurer from elsewhere, who, by cunning or force, succeeded in gathering around him an array of different people. Every two years, over a period of eighteen weeks, the Kack rite symbolically re-enacts the major events in the founding of the chiefdom through a series of rituals (Fiè-kack, Souock Kack, Nkoup-Kack, etc.). These rituals dramatize the opposition between natives and conquerors, and end with a reaffirmation of the authority of the chief, a descendant of the foreign founder of the chiefdom (Tsékenis 2010, 489).
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