‘SYMBOL, MYTH, AND RITUAL SERIES General Editor: Victor Turner Raymond Fin, Symi: Public end Pret eq Hunt, The Tronfornaton of the Husminghird: Cultural Roat of Zineantacan Mya Pow Deane JuleeRovene, fic Apa: Rint nd Comer in the ‘hrc ein Merk" “8 Sly Falk Moore and Barbara G. Myerboff, ed, Symbol and Palit in ‘Communal ely Cae and Questo Barbara G. Myerhol, Pole Hunt: The Sacred Journey of the Huet arbara G "a Journey of Victor Turner, Dramas, Fes, and Metaphors: Sylic Acton ix Hwan Sci Victor Turner, Relation and Disintion ix Nam ital Vicwor Turner The Rial Proce: Structure and Ani-Structnet Roy Wagner, Lthal Speck: Dari Myth at Symbai Obsiton THE RITUAL PROCESS Structure and Anti-Structure VICTOR TURNER The Lewis Henry Morgan Lectures | 1986 resented at The Univerly of Rochester, Rochester, New York Cornell Paperbacks Cornell University Presson 473 ‘To the memory of Allan Holmberg this book is respectully dedicated. aya © 2 aceon copyright © 197 Carel University “an sigs eerved.Escept for brief quotton in 2 een, this book oF pars A is cu cece ian form wows persion i ing ae a (oP foram adress Cornell Uvrsy Pre 194 ober Pe thc, New York Bae Fe published 6 by Aine Publsting Company. Fis ube, Gvoel Paperbacks, 107 ‘Seve pring 198 acy og ogg nin eka mga peat Ty rir dealer dl papertacks ; CP-163) rm tt at Ge ag nes The ASS gn Eee hoger ce me emonien, 1. Tle, UH, Seve: The Levis Heary Monga lees 988 [Gngstie grr) sola's— 76sf0e7 TSN edoryoi0y Prine in he United States of Aeron orem ate SEG rears A 974683 Foreword to the Cornell Paperbacks Edition Recently both the research and theoretical concerns of many anthropologists have once again been directed toward the role of symbols—religious, mythic, aesthetic, political, and even fconomie—in torial and cultural procestes, Whether this re ‘val is a belated response to developments in other disciplines (psychology, ethology, philosophy, linguistics, to name only a few), or whedher it reflects a return toa central concern after period of neglect, is ficult ro say. In recent field studies, an thropologists have been collecting myths and rituals inthe con text of socal action, and improvements in anthropological field technique have produced data that ae richer and more refined than heretofore; these new data have probably challenged theoreticians to provide more adequate explanatory frames Whatever may have been the causes, there is no denying a re- nnewed curiosity about the nature of the connections between culture, cognition, and perception, as these connections are revealed in symbolic forms. Although excellent individual monographs and articles in symbole anthropology or comparative symbology have recently appeared, a common focus or forum that can be provided by a topically organized series of books has not been available. Thepresent series is intended to fill this lacuna. Iti designed to Include not only field monographs and theoretical and compar- ftve studies by anthropologists, bt also work by scholars in ‘ther disciplines, both scientife and humanistic. The appear- “nce of studies in such a forum encourages emulation, and em- llation ean produce fruitfal new theories, Ics therefore our hope that the series will serve as a house of many mansions, providing hospitality forthe practitioners of any discipline that fas a serious and creative concern with comparative symbology. ‘Too often, disciplines are sealed off, in sterile pedantry, from significant intellectual influences. Nevertheless, our primary fit is to bring to public attention works on ritual and myth written by anthropologists, and our readers will ind a variety Of strictly anthropological approaches ranging from formal ‘analyses of eystems of symbols to empathetic accounts of div story and intitory rituals “This book is based on the Lewis Henry Morgan Lectures at the University of Rochester which I delivered in 1966. It was in the course of these lectures that I crossed the threshold be- tween the study of ritual in an African tnbal context and the ‘analysis of processual symbols in cross-cultural and transtem- poral terms. The Ritual Process and subsequent books of mine Rave produced their share of controversy over the years. More than once I have been accused of overgeneraliing and of mis: Applying concepts like "iminality” and “communitas.” These tevin, itis argued, may adequately describe or account for Social and cultural processes and phenomena found in prelit ‘rate societies, but have limited use in explaining sociocultural ‘ystems of much greater scale and complexity. “To attempt to answer such criticisms is probably a futile exer- cise. I am tnable, however, 0 resist quoting the adage “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.” This book has been cited Fepeatedly by scholars in such diverse fields as history, the his- tory of religions, English literature, political science, theology, tnd drama, a well a in anthropological and sociological books tnd articles concerned with ritual and semiotics, particularly in ‘African contexts; its reception encouraged me to extend the comparative enterprise In Doms, Fits, ond Metaphors, a Sher work inthe Symbol, Myth, and Rial series seeral ase stiies are sed on the asumpion, fist developed here that feciety i proces rather than an abaract system, whether of Soa ructral relations or of symbols and meanings Sociey, moreover, i proces which any ving. relive weltbonded human group alternates becween fixed and Sorrow term from ou Japanese fiends foatng worlds _Bysetba. and nonverbal ameans-of assfication, we impose “ipon_ourseves inumerable-cotraints-and_boundarie to Keep chaos at bay, but often atthe cost of fang to make di Cinuity, trough women, depends upon marital discontinuity. Bat, Awhile woman is residing with her husband with her young children, ‘ind thu fullling the valid norm hat a woman should please him, ‘he sno fullling an equally valid norm that she should contribute dhildren to the contemporaneous membership of her matrilineal village. Thterestingly, it isthe shades of diect matrilineal kinswomen— ‘own mothers or own mothers” mothers—that are held to affict women with reproductive order, esuling in temporary barren- Planes of Clasifestion 3 est. Most of these siti are residing with their husbands when Sivintion decrees that they have been caught with inferiity by their matrilineal thades. They have been caught, so Ndembu reg- ‘larly say, because they have “forgotten” those shades who are not only thet direct ascendants but also the immediate progentrcesof| their matrikin—who form the core mezabership of villages different from those oftheir husbands. The earative rite, including soma, have as one social function that of causing them to remember” these shades, who ace structural nodes of locally residing matriline- age. The condition of barreanes thee shades bring about i conse fred to be a temporary one, to be removed by performance of the appropriate rtez Once a woman remember the aflicting shade, and this her primary alleiance to makin, the interdiction fon her ferlity will cease; she can go on living with her husband ‘bat with a sharpened awarenest of where her and her children's ‘late loyalties lie. The crisis brought on by this contradiction ‘between norms is resolved by rituals ich in symbolism and preg- nant with meaning. Procesual Frm oma shares with the other women's cults a common diachronic proie or procesual form. In each 2 woman suffers from gynecalo- fea disorders: then ether her husband or a matrikinsman seks fut a divner, who denominates the precise mode of aflietion in Which the shade, as Ndembu say has "come out of the grave to fateh her.” Dependent upon that mede, the husband or Kinsman employs a doctor (clinbui) who “now: the medicines” and the correct ritual procedures fr appeasing the aflicting shade to act as master of ceremonies forthe coming performance. This doctor then summons other doctor to help him. There are either women who have undergone exposure to the same kind of ritual and have thus ‘ined entry into the curative cult, or men closely linked by matiline tal kinship o affinity to previous patient. The patients (ee) may be regarded as “candidates” for membership ofthe elt, dhe doctorsA ‘The Ritual Process sta “adep” Th flising hades (oi) ae bevel 0 have ae eer coe Galt member this eanec vile and ae esp and brings ino emprary operation vty See eg community of aulfring™ or, rahe, of omer oe jomibenme pe of flcon ave bs thecandate eee feubunhip of eat such a om ct aos even al aan ee nerbet ofthe ealtaly and lngiseal related sear rand chad vibes a ented to attend Neos ne eee andassuch opi tual asks The" senior” rare cc ea” fem) adept essay aman even fr sch i erima; tin tos tatlineal sos, while socal ihre women, any in the ands nen No iove te wipertte dachronie sure made nant theworkolvan Gonep- The ist pha oni sar ee vandldne om te protane words the seond, called eerie hays the gras hut), pra elder es rom aa i te thirds called Kulunbla five dance, ee notte ade atericon a thecandiat’> aaa al Tn La hiss gnalzed bythe eandiates TEE Thr and engi he edaling sage. Indigenous Bxegess of Symbols So much fr the broad social and cultural settings of Tam, Ifwe now Gaare ty penetra the inner structure of ideas contained in this ‘Gua, we ave to understand how the Ndembu themselves interpret itsayubols My method is perforce the reverse ofthat of thse nu- cre acholars who begin by eliciting the cosmology, which is often ‘lpresed in terms of mythological cycles and ten explain speci cree as excenpliving or expressing the “structural models” they ‘Bain the mytha, But the Ndembu have a paucity of myths and covmologieal or cosmogenic narratives.[t is therefore seis to fegin a the other end with the basic buildng-bocks, the “mole cea" of rita. These [shall call "symbols;” and forthe moment 1 ‘hall echew involvement in the long debate on the diference be- Planes of Clasifeation 15 eweensuch concepts arsymbal, sgn, andsignal. Since the preliinary approach i from the inside” perspective, let us ather fist inguire Jno the Néembu usage, Tn an Ndembu situa context almost every article used, every get ture employed, every song or prayer, every unit of space and time, by convention sands fr something other than itself. Ti more than jtseems, and often a good deal more. The Ndembu are aware ofthe cexpresive or symbolic function of ritual elements. A vitual element ‘runitisclled cit, Lierally, this word signifies a"andzari for'blaze." Ie etymon is hj, to Blaze a wal”—by slashing {mark ona tree with an ax or breaking one of itsbranches. This term is drawn originally from the technical vocabulary of hunting, a voea- tion heavily invested with ritual belt and practices. Cie also ‘means a “beacon,” conspicuous feature ofthe landscape, such as fn ant ill, which distinguishes one man's gardens or one cies fealm from anothee’s. Thus, i hes two main sigaifations:(t) as a fates blaze it represents en element of connection between known ‘nd unknown territory, for its by a chain of sich elements that & Inunter finds his way beck from the unfamiliar bush to the fiiar village (2) as both Alaze and beaen it conveys the notion ofthe strue= {red and ordered as against the unsructared and chaotic. ts ritual ‘wei already mesaphorieal: it connect the known world of sensorily perceptible phenomena with the unknown and invisible realm of the shades Tt makes intlgible what is mysterious, and also dangerous. ‘Aci as, further, both a kaown and an unknown component. Uptoa pointitcan be explained, and there ae princplesofexplane- tion available to Ndembu. Ithat «name (jaa) and it has aa sppear- ance (chimurkerhy), and both ofthese are ilized asthe starting points ‘of exegesis (latulumbvichs). The Name “Teoma” At the very outset, the mame Jona itself has symbolic value. My Informantserivt fom ki-omat,"toslipoutof placer fastening.” "This designation has multiple reference. Inthe fit place, it refers to6 The Ritual Process the specific condition the rites are intended to dispel, A woman who {s-texught in Loma’ is very frequently a woman who has hada series df miscarriages or abortions. The unborn child is thought w “slip uc” before its time has come to be bora. Ha the second place hie somata means to leave ones group,” perhaps luo withthe implica- lon of prematurity. This theme seems to be related tothe notion of Sfongetting” one's matrilineal atachmens. In diseussng the mean ing the word Irom, everal informants mentioned the erm lifes ivindicative ofthe patent's condition, Lyfiska ian abstact noun derived fiom keisha, tuef derived from kr, “to die.” Kufuihe hhas Both generic sense and a specific one. Genercally, it means "to tne relatives by death,” specifically “to lose children.” The nous lnpuisha means both "to give bieth to @ dead child" and the ‘con- nant dying of children." One informant told me: "Ifseven children ‘icone ater the other, it afisk” Leama is thus « manifestation of ‘Sthede that causesa woman to beara dead cild or brings death ona serie of infants. ‘The Mask “Mrweng’i” “The shade that has emerged in Zzoma manifests itself in other ways, tou Its thought to appear in the patient's dreams dressed like one ‘Sune masked beings in the boys eircurcsin rites (Muon). These fasted beings, known ae mabshi (singular ikishi, are believed by Nomen to beshadesof ancient ancestor. The one known as Mang renee abark le (kan) lke the novices during their seclusion afer “Keumcison, and a costume consiting of many strings made from bark cloth. Hie carries a bunting bell (prams) used by hunters to tecp in tach with one snother in the deep bush orto summon thei dogs. He is novn as “grandfather” (nts), appears after the boys ‘Greumcsion wounds ae healed, and is greatly feared by women. IF SNoman touches Monon, it thought that she will have miss Tiger A song traditionally sung when ths iis it appears near Planes of Clasifeation 1" the lodge where the novices are secluded i the bush run sfllows [Ret nals go tals oo ge nike yu msi, 2m ala, ret Nonundihee, © Grandther, cur grandather hs come, ur greater, the ee buenos nbc ue “Nhe elas pen he lass, on’ etl band 0 ‘entering of lb spirits the la ey ‘Thc song represents for Ndembu concentration of masculine power, fr nate also signifies “an owner of slaves," and 2 “chief” (wns many slaves. The drynes ofthe glans isa symbol of the atain- tment ofan auspicious masculine adult status, one ofthe aims ofthe ‘Matande circumcision rites, forthe glans ofan uncircumcised boy s ‘egarded as wet and fly, hence inauspicious, beneath the prepuce. ‘Talenba spirits, propitiated and exorcied in another type of ritual, cause infants to sicken and pine. Mien ives them from the boys. "The strings ofhis cortame are believed to tie up” (kta) female fecility In brief, he ie a symbol of mature masculinity in its pure cexpresion and his hunting attributes further support this—and as suchisdengerousto women in theirmest feminine ole, thatof mother [Novis in the guise of Asan’ that the shale appears to the vee tim, But here there is some ambiguity of exegesis. Some informants say that the shade ir identied with Mowmg', others that shade (ruts) and masker (ti) operate in conjunction, The latter say that the shade rower Moy and enlists his al in aflting the Tis interesting to note thatthe shade is always the apiet ofa de ceased finale relative, while Moon's slmost maleness personified. This motif of linking reproductive dizorder to the idenication of female with a type of masculinity is found elewhere in Ndembu ‘tual. Uhave mentioned iin connection with rites to eure menstrual iicaltis in The Foret of Sl (1967): " Why then isthe woman patient identified with male bloodepillers? The [social] eld context of these symbolic objects and items of lhaviar suggests that the [Ndembu fel that the wornan, in wasting her menstrual blood and ina The Ritual Process fuiling to bear children, i actively renouncing her expected role asa mature married female. She is behaving ike a male killer (he: a hunter or homicide), not like 2 female nourisher” (p. 42. For a falle analysis ofthe Nila curative its, see Turner, 968, pp-54-87), "The situation in Joma isnot dissimilar. I should be noticed that in there cults, the victim is in various epiodes and symbolisms often fdentifed with the shade that afficts her: she is being persecuted, ‘one might soy with fir legitimacy, bya partor aspect of here, pro. Jected onto the shade, Thus a cured victim in ome will become, in [Ndembu thought, herself sn alicting shade after death, and assuch swll be identified with or closely conjoined to the masculine power 1 think beerroncous sein the Loma beliefs merely ‘an expression ofthe “masculine protest." This unconscious atiude may well be moce prominent in the Nila rites than in Asma. The ‘euctual tension between matrilineal descent and vielocal marriage Sema to dominate the ital idiom of Joma. Tes because the woman thas come too closely in touch with the “man’s side” inher marriage tha her dead matrikin have impaired her fertility. The right relation that should exist between descent and affinity has been upset the smartiage has come to outweigh the matrilineage. The woman has been scorched by the dangerous fires of male sacrednes. I use this metaphor because Ndemb themialves do: if women see the ames tof the boys seclusion lodge when tx burned down efter the circum ‘sion ritual, ts elieved that they will be striped as with flames of like the zebra (0a), with leprony, or, alternatively, will run mad tor become simpleton. Aims of Ima “Thus the implicit ats of Fema inchade:reoration ofthe vight ela tion between matrliny and marriage; reconstruction ofthe eoajugal felatons between wife and husband: and making the woman, and igeand lineage, futfl. The explicit aim othe ites, Planes of lasifation 19 as Ndembu explain it ist remove the effets of what they call hist, Broadly, chil denotes "misfortune or ine due to the Gispleasre of ancestral shades ora breach of aboo.” More specifier aly tao denote curse spoken bya livingperson to arourearhade and may inchide medicines concocted to harm an enemy. In the ‘ax of Iona, the chia eof «particular kind, Tis believed that ‘matrilaeal relative of the victim has gone tothe source (atl) of & stream in the vicinity ofthe village of her matrikn and there spoken arse (humashingana) against her. The effect ofthis curse has been to awaken” (lionsha) a shade who was once 2 member of the ‘oe clt. As oneinformantsaid (and translateliterally)=“At oma they behead a red cock. This stands forthe eliza or misfortune trough which people die, it must go away (ehialy cho’ ante, fis). The ebclis death, which mast not happen tothe worn patent te ickness (mans), which mart not come to her i is {ullering (futabokas), and thir ufering i from the grudge (kee) (of a witch (mula). A perion who curses another with death has a ‘kala. The cia is spoken at the source of river. If someone pases there and stepson it (data) orerosses over it (kn-boyia), bd ick (mala or lack of success (Laralua wil gowith her wherever she goes. She has gotten it at that place, the stream source, and she ‘mrt be tented (Laas) there. The shade of Iams has come out as the renult of that cure, and comes ike Mon.” “As the reader can se, thee iin all hia strong overtone of witeh- erat Unlike other women’s rites, Loma is not performed merely to propsateasingleshade;tisalsosimed atexorcsing malign mystical Snfluences emanating from the living at well a the dead. There is haere gly alliance of witch, shade, andthe Ish Meng to be eal with. Thertes involve symbolic reference tall these agencies. kissignificant that a matrilineal relative should be regarded atthe recpitating cause of the aficton, the arower ofthese two grades ‘of ancestral beings, remote and near, Mou’ and the female shade. tis ao significant thatthe rte ae performed, whenever posible, near village inhabited by the vietim's matin kin. Furthermore,‘The Ritual Process land her husband must reside with her uxoriloally during that period. Thereseems tobe some ambiguity my informants” accounts bout the interpretation of the precipitating curse, Tis fl to smack ‘ot witcheraft and hence to be bad,” but, atthe sume time, to be partially justified by the victim's neglect of her matrilineal is past ‘Thd present. The rites ae partially o effect rconclinton between the visible and invisible parties concemed, though they contain episodes of exorcism a5 wel, ‘So much for the roca settings and the major beliefs underying Homa "Now let us turn to the rites themselves, and consider the interprets= ‘ions of symbols in order of their occurrence. These will expand ott picture ofthe belie structure, for Ndembu, who, a I said have re Trarkably few myths, compensate fr thisby a wealth oitem-byitem ‘cxegess, There are no short ets, through myth and cosmology, ‘© the structure in Lévi-Strauss tense—of Ndembu religion. One has to proceed atomistically and piecemeal Kom “blaze” to “blate,” ""heacon” to ‘"beacon,” ifone is properly to follow the indigenous musdeof thinking, Tt isonly when thesymbotiepath fom the unknows, tothe known is completed that we ean look back and comprehend its final form, "As with all Ndembu rites, the pater of procedure in each specific ‘aac is set by the diviner originally consulted about the patient's Sflicton. He isthe one who establishes that che woman bas lost uccesionofchildren by miscarriage o deathin infaney—misfortanes ‘punmariced in the term lyfvisha. I is he who deeres that te rites mut begin at the hole or burtow, ether ofa giant at (kita) or of fan ant-bear (nf). Why does he make ths rather odd prescription? [Nadcrabu explain it as follows: Both these animals stop up their ‘burrows after excavating them. Bach ia symbol (ijkl) for the Toma shade-manifstation which has hidden away the woran’s ‘eetlty (asom. The doctor adept must open the blocked entrance Planes of Clasifcation a ofthe burrow, and thus symbolically give her back he fertity, and labo enable her to rite her children well The divine decides which ofthese species as hidden the fertility in the particular eat, The ‘burrow mst be near the source ofthe stream where the cure wat ‘tered, The utterance ofa cure unally accompanied by the burial of medicines,” often presed (Luanda) into asmallantelope’s horn From my knowledge of other Ndembu rites, T strongly spect that these are hidden near dhe iver source. The animals burrow provides therelerence point of orientation for the spatial structure of thesscted site. The rites Tam discussing here are “the rites of separation,” ‘enown a fa-lonbeao ili, aterm Ndembu connect materially with svays of uring medicines or medicine containers prominent in zome Kinds of women’s cults, and exymologeally with lend, “to suppl cate, beg frgivenes, oF be penitent.” The notion of propitation is prominent in them, fr the doctorsare party pleading onthe patient's behalf with the shades and other preteshuman entities to give her back her motherhood. In all nl etes one ofthe St steps is for the doctor adept, led bythe senior adept or “master ofceremonies” to go into the bush to collet the medicines they will treat the patient with later. This eplaode is known as hla or huhu ytd. Ta. ms, before this sep is taken the patient's husband, if she has one eutrently, constructs fr er we during the subsequent seclsion period a small round grass ut, just outside the rng a dozen or so huts that con= stiate an Ndembi village. Such a ut (kan) i alo made for girls undergoing seclusion aftr their puberty ites, and the Lume but i explicitly compared with this, The patient slike a novice. Just a8 puberty novice i grown” into a woman, according to Ndemb thinking, so the Lume candidate ito be regrown into fertile worn What ha been undone by the carte har tobe done all over again, aldhough notin precisely the same way, fr life crises are ireverible, ‘There is analogy but not replication. ‘ed cock, supplied by the husband, and a white pull, supplied by the patient's matikin are then collected by the adeps who pro- ‘ceed to the particular stream source where divination previously2 Tie Ritual Process indicated that the curse was lad, They then examine the ground care- fally for signs of giant rats or ant-bears burrow. When they find it, the senior adept addreies the animal as follows: “Giant rat (an beat) ifyou are the one who kills children, now give the woman back her felis, may she raze children well” Here the animal seems to represent the whole “troika” of ating agencies—witch, shade, land tks, The next tsk sto tie hanks of grass into to knots, one ‘above the filled-in entrance to the burrow, the other about four feet, away above the tunnel made by the animal. The clods beneath these lareremoved by hoe, and the enioradept and it majo male assistant bogin to dig deep holes there, known as makal (singular, tela), a term reserved for holes serving a magieo-eigious purpose. Next, two fires are kindled at distance of abou ten fet rom theholesand ‘nearer the second than the frst. One fre emi tobe "on the right- hand side,” (Le. looking from the animals burrow to the new hole) and is reserved for the use ofthe male adept; the other, “on the elt- baad side,” ifr the women. Thesenioe adept then putsdown piece of broken calabash near the fret burrow-entrance hole, and female adept, led by the patient's mather ifshe isan adept, putin it some portions of edible rats from their garden, inching cassava ehiz~ fies and sweet potato tuber. In ritual idiom these represent “the body (numba) ofthe patient ei significant that they ae supplied by women, notably by women ofthe patient's matrilineage. After the senior adept and his principal male assistant have inaug- ‘rated the digging, they hand over their hoes to other male adepts, ‘who continue to excavate the holes nti they are about four to six Tet deep. The burrow entrance is known ar “the hale of the giant rat” (or “ant-bear"), the other as "the new hole.” ‘The animal is known as the “witch” (mul), and the bureow entrance ssa tobe “hot” (ats. The other hole ie called lufemeiha or krfomane, verbal nouns tht signify respectively “cooling down” and “domes Ticating.” When they have reached the appropriate depth, the audepts commence to dig toward one another until they meet about halfvay, having completed a tunnel (ie dalahanat}. "This has to ‘be wide enough for one person to passthrough. Other adepts break Planes of Clasifcation 23 cor bend the branches of treet in a wie ring around the whole scene Of ritual activity, to create a stered space that rapidly achieves ‘teucture. Tong omething around ia persistent theme of Ndembu ‘twl; ite usually accompanied by the proces of making acleating (onatamdel) by he. In this way a smal eal of order created in the formless milieu of the bush. The ring is known as chipane's a term tha ie alzo used forthe fence around a chefs dwelling and his ‘medicine hut ‘While the junior adept prepare che sacred sit, the senior adept and his principal astant go to the adjacent bush to find medicines, ‘These are collected from diferent species of wees, each af which has 1a symbolic value derived from the atributes and purposes of lems. Tn mot Neembu rituals there i considerable consistency inthe sets of medicines used in different performances of the same kind of ital, but in the Joma rites I attended there was wide variation {hom performance to performance. The frst tree fom which portions retaken for medicine (yam) is always known asthe thik, nd it ishere that invocation is made, ether tothe aflctng shade orto the species itl, whose power (1am) is said to be “awakened” (Gevion) by the words addrened to it. At one performance Tat- tended, the senior adept went to happy teee (Suarlsie madagor caress), which i used because ite wood ie hard. Hardness repre- sents the health and strength (euole) desire forthe patient. The tenor adept cleared the base ofthe re of weeds with his ritual hoe, then put the pieces of edible tubers representing the patien’s body fon the cleared space (mtomila) and spoke as fellows: “When this ‘woman was pregnant before, her lips, eyes palms and the sales of ‘her fet surned yell [ ign of emia]. Now shee pregnant again, ‘This ime make her strong, so that she may bear living child, and may it grow strong." The doctor then ut bark chips fromm another teee ofthe same species with hit medicine ax, and put thea in his24 ‘The Ritual Process piece of broken calabath. After that he proceeded to cut bark chips from sixteen further species of tees! Tt would take too long o discuss the meaning ofeach of dese her, sulice it to say that many Ndembu can attach not merely a single Figuificance but in some cases (uch as mul, mans, and mukom= Jhlomba) many connotations to a ingle species. Some ofthese species are wed in many diferent kinds of rituals and in herbalist practice, (here, however, different types of ctociatinal linkages are utilized fiom those employed in ritual, depending more on taste and smell, than on natural properties and etymology). Some (ey kahit, muhanya) are used because they have tough (hence strengthening”) ‘wood, others (eg, marke, mafia, mang’, muse, mul, and Inula) because they are frit-bearing trees, representing the ritual Jntenton of making the patient fsitfl once more; but all share the ritually important property that bark string cannot be taken from ‘hem, for this would "tie up" the ferlity of the patient. In th fente, they may all be said to be eounter- Mom? medicines, for, fs the reader will recall, his contwme is largely made up of bark strings, deadly to women’s procreation. T cannot refrain, however, from mentioning in more detail a smaller set of Hama medicines, from another performance, forthe native interpretation of these throws light on many of the rituals underlying ideas. Here the doctors went Hist toa hing exjamba or kl tree (Styehr spit). This they decribed as the moklampi, “senior” of “elder,” of the medicine. Alter invoking its power, they took a portion of one of its roots and some leaves. Chika’ lnjenbe means “the elephant fils” (o uproot #), on account ofits tenacity and toughness. Its alternative name, cia they derived fiom hrkala, to be strong, healthy, oF fem,” a designation chat accords with its extreme toughnes: and durability. This same tree “atn's (Wfereia eel), mini mache (Pari mab), scat (Epler (Da fn) aon (inspite tine ac) ftp, mn (Vga oon, Naso san, (Oc ol), nt as (Cis say), manana (Pri ees) sm Planes of Clasifation 25 provides medicine for the circumcision sites, where i is thought to fonfer on the novices exceptional virility. Ta Loma, uae streses the connection between thee rites and Makande, the circumcision Sites, while iti also a specific against the infrmity-and in many ‘iss the ancmia-of the patient. A comparizon of che dominant ‘medicines of there two performances shows thatthe same principle idea can be expresed in different symbols. Thedominant medicine ofthe fist performance, Epuifa is alu asteong tee, and one from which is often taken the forked branch that frm the central ele- tment of shrines set up to the shader of hunters, considered to be ‘Tough and virile men.” Such sine tees, peced of ark, are ex ceptionally resitant w the action of termites and other insects. Decoctions of api leaves and bark ae also used as aphrodisiacs. ‘The second medicine collected in this performance represents another theme of Ndembu ritsal—that of representing the ptien’s inauspicious condition. This isthe male tree. Is as a very slippery surface, om which climbers are prone to slip (keselamate) and ome to grief Inthe sme way the patient’ children have tended to “lip out” prematurely. But the“ glossiness™ (Lenn) of this toes aluo has therapeutic vlue, and this side of ite meaning eprom nent in other rites and treatments, for its use makes the “dare” (sso) slip away from the patient? tis, indeed, not uncommon | forNéembu symbols tall levels of symbolism, to express simula neously an aurpcious and an inauspicious condition. For example, the name Lona itll; meaning “to alip out,” represents both the patient undesirable state and the ital to eure i Here we come across another ritual principle, exprewed in the Ndembu term hess, "to make appeat, or veal.” What ie made sensorily perceptible, in the form of a aymbol (chil), is thereby rade accesible othe purposive scion af ocety, operating through specials, Iesthe" hidden” (lamar that danger- 1xious” (cgfuana). "Thus, to name an inauspicious con Aion is halfway to removing that condition; to embody the invisible Sao Tener 187 70 385-8626 ‘The Ritual Process ction of witches or shades in visible or tangible symbol i a big ep toward remedying it, This isnot so very far removed from the practice of the modern paychosnalyt. When something is grasped by the mind, made capable of being thought about, itcan be dealt With, mastered, Interestingly enough, the principle of revelation ive embodied in an Néembu medicinesymbol used in Le, ‘This isthe muol tree (whote name is derived by informants from fnwsolaa), Sears which leaves and bark chips are alo taken. Tt is widely used in Naemb rita, and its name is linked with its natural properties. Tt produces many stall fruits, which fll othe ground land lure out of hiding various species of edible animals, which can be killed By the hunter Ie literally “makes them appear.” In hunt- ing cults, ts employment as medicine is intended to produce animals to the view (lana axyams) of the hitherto unlucky hunters in women’s cults, itis ured “to make children appear” (halla ‘nyane) to an unfruifl woman. Asin so many cases there iin the Semantics ofthis symbol union of eealogy and intellect that results in the materilization of an ies. ‘To return to the medicinecolleting: the doctors next collect roots and leaves from a clhwota tree (Zizyphus macronte), 1 species in whose therapeutic meaning etymology once more combines with its atural characteristic. Cikwats has "strong thorns,” which “catch” (Lrkuat) or arrest the passer-by. Ts thus said Doth £0 represent “strengih” and, by its thors, to “pieroe Gisease,” I could, i'ime permited, expatate upon theetual theme fof "eatching” or snatching,” which is expressed in many symbols Tt pervades the idiom of hunting symbolam, as might be expected, ‘but is also exemplified in the phrase “to catch a child (Hetwata ‘moana), which means "to give beth.” But Twill pass onto the next medicine species from which portions are taken, mumnaone’s (Kimona cafe), again a hardwood tre, making thus for health and sieength, but also derived by file etymology fom krona, "to ‘comme t fruit or develop frat" «tem that is metaphorically applied to giving birth to children, ari Ausra anyon, The mufoate wee (Conk sense) is used for medicine “because ofits name.” Planes of Clasifeation Pa INdembu derive this from Lulsomals, “to fll suddenly." tke a branch or fit The inauspicious condition, its hoped, willsuddenly cea by its application. Next, medicine is taken from the mutnds tree, whose derivation i from la-ande, which means to be higher than thove around it,” In soma i stands forthe good growth of an embryo in the womb and the childs continued exuberant growth thereafter. Mypapol (Anthcest specs) isthe name of the next medicine species, and once more we have a representation of the Datien’s inauspicious condition. Ndembu derive ite name from papel, which means “to wander about in conision” without Inowing where one. One informant put ii this way: "A woman goes this way and thet without children. She must not do thi any more. That is why we cut mupapale medicine” Behind this idea, land behind the ides of “slipping out” isthe notion that iis good land appropriate when things adhere to thei proper place and when people do what is appropriste fr them to do in thee stage of ie And status in society Tn another performance of Jeams, the principal medicine or "dominant symbol” was not a particular species of tee but any kind of tee whove roots were thoroughly exposed to view. Such = toe i called sasimbu, derived from the verb Axewnbuka, meaning “tobe unearthed” and “to emerge fom hiding,” for example, like {hunted animal. ‘Thos, one informant adurbrated ts meaning at allows: “We use unounbu tree to bring everything to the surface Injust the ame way everything in Lome must be clear" (uml) Another variant upon the theme of "revelation. Hot and Cool Medicines: Apertures of Death and Life Sometimes a portion of wood i taken fom « decayed, fallen tee. This, once more, represents the patent's mueny', or diveated, llcted condition. Equipped with this srray of strengthening, feun- Adatory.revelatory, clavilyng, healh-gving, axing medicines, some8 The Ritual Process ‘of which in addition represent the manner ofthe patients aftition, the adepte return to the sacred site where treatment willbe given. ‘They now complete the arrangements that give that consecrated space it visible structure. The medicine leaves and bark fragments ‘re pounded by a female adept ina conseerated meal-mortar. Then they sre soaked in water and the liquid medicine is divided into wo portions. One is put into a large, thick piece of bark (Jun) or into 2 pottherd (chzande), and is then heated on a fire that is kindled just outside the hole dug through the entrance to the giant rat’ or Aantbear’s burrow. ‘The ether is poured cold into an izaam, # term ‘that refers to either a clay pot ora medicine trough, or into a broken calabash, and this is placed by the “new hole.” (See Figure 1). ‘According to one informant, the holes stand for “graves (lng) and for procreative power (Ison) "—in other words, for tomb and ‘womb. The same informant continued: “The ile (hole) of heat 1s the lela of death. ‘The cool ila life. The ikea ofthe giant rat isthe ila ofthe misfortune or grudge (chive). ‘The new ies the ‘ela of making well (hukendita) or curing. Aa illa is located at or rear the source of stream; thie represents lusemu, the ability to produce ofipring. The new isla should flow away fom the patient (ne); in this way the bad things mutt leave her. The eizcle of Droken tees ea chipan's [This ea multvoeal term that stands for (2) an enclosure; (2) a ritual enclosure; (g) fenced courtyard around a chie's dwelling and medicine hut; (4) @ ing around the ‘moon,] The woman with lyfvita (i. who has loa thre or four children by elit or infant mortality] must go Sato the hale of life and pats through the tunnel tothe hole of death. The big doctor sprinkles her with cold medicine, while his assistant sprinkles her ‘with hot medicine.” ‘une 1. fema: the situa! scene. ‘The couple to be trate stn the “hot” hole of «tunnel representing the pase fom death oli. A. mole re is tended behind them by = doctor. A clabach of cl medicines stands infront of the “eocl” hoe, where the entrance to the tunnel can be seen, Doctors wat here fer the patent emerge.0 ‘The Ritual Process FE river ours ON, RE" \ (0 Cool medicine I Kuhandha {ELA OF LIFE OR eavra SAI | | | | I I Female | 4 | Mae Xcel a {ie x Wonen's fre é eee | \ \ \ \ | A> ovis keLA OF DEATH OR 8 Zecca Rod Hot men ovr Ke / ‘Animas fone Goce (chipans a) ‘Schematic Representation of the Spatial Sybatmf the fama Rial / Planes of Clasifeaion st ‘We are now begining tose the development of a whole series of lasifcatons, symbolized ia spatial orientations and in diferent kinds of objects. They are for the most part aranged in a set of what LéviStraus might well ell “inary discrimination.” But before we analyze the pattern, afew more variables have tobe fed inno the systema. Ac performances T observed, the patent's husband catered the col” la with her, standing onthe right-hand ide” teaver the men's Br, while she stood on the let. Then, after having ‘een splashed with coo! and hot medicine, she entered the connect= ing tunnel it, while he flowed her. Asa variant the senior adept (or big doctor”) swept both wife and husband with cool and hot ‘medicine, Then his asiant took over for a while and did likewise White and Red Foe ‘When the patent fist enters the cool itl, she i given the young ‘white pllet to hold: during the vtes she laps it against her left ‘reas, where a child f held eee figure 2). Both husband and wife, incidentally, are naked except for narrow wast-loths. This said to represent the fact that they are at ance like infants and corpses ‘The septs, in contest, are lothed. The mature ced cock is lid, trused up by the fet, on the right of the hot ila infact on the men's side, ready to be sacrificed by beheading atthe end of the rites. Tes blood and feathers are poured into the hot tl asthe fn act of che rites, asthe antithesis ofthe reception ofthe white pullet by the woman patient, which begins the rte. The white chicken is said to stand for lulalee, good luck or steength," and hats, “whiteness, purity, or suspiiousnes.” But the red cock, as we have seen, epresents the chil or myatial misorene, the “suffering” of the woman. The white pullet, cording to one informant, ako stands for lucene, procreaive pacity. “That ie why ite given to the woman," he sid, “for she i the one who becomes pregnant and gives birth to children. A man is just @ man and he can’t be Pregnant. But a man gives power to women to have children who3 ‘The Ritual Process ‘nouns 2 oma: the woman patient hols the white ple agaist ber Tet breast presenting the ide of murtrance, can be seen, who are visible. The red cock stands for the man, perhaps the grudge is there” (i.e, against him. “Ifthe woman ssl has no children ater the rites, the grudge would be with the ‘woman” (ie., would not be connected with her marital situation, but would have arisen in other sets of rlations. Finally, itis prob ably of significance, although unstated, that the red cock remains = Planes of Clasifestion 33 raved up and unmoving through the rites, while the white hen Teommpanies the woman ashe moves through the cunnel om "ie" qe tdeath” and back to "fe" again. In atber Ndembu ritual cane ‘eats movement represents life and stillness death: the cock i com secrated for slaughter. “The rites inthe malta fllow a process! patter. The fst phase consists ofa pasage from the cool tothe hot ikl, the woman leading Sind the man fllowing. At the hot ila the doctors mingle their Splashings of medicine with exhortations to any witehes or eurse- Inyers to remove ther inimieal influences. Next the marital pair, nouns lama: the dtr baie the ealabash ser the patents ‘vith meticine, wile the men tard onthe right ef the tunnel oo tudinal acs singing the pola "swaying sng. kent balers4 ‘The Ritual Process in the same order, return to the cool ala, where they are again splashed with medicine (See figure 5). Then they cross once more to the hot ila. There fellows a temporary lull, during which the husband is escorted out ofthe slat fetch a small cloth to wipe the medicine from the faces of the couple and the body of che pullt. Hie returns to the cool lla, and after further medication, there isa prolonged interval, during which beer brought and drunk by the fttenders and the husband. ‘The patient, herself is forbidden to dvink any. After beer, begining agin in the cool ela, the splashing is resumed. Thi time around, the husband leads the way t the hot tela (See figure 4). They return tothe cool fla inthe me order, “After splashing, there is nother interval for beer. Then the sequence Planes of Clasifeation 35 ‘nouns 5:Jama: the coc is Bebeade over the See ats Hoe is sateen the "hoe Bae coolhotcool follows, the wife lading. Finally, there it alike se= ‘quence atthe end of which the red cock is beheaded and its blood [poured into the hot ial (See figure §). Then the eouple are swept fone more with both types of medicine and cold water is poured over them (See figure 6). In all, the couple are splashed twenty ‘times, thirteen of them inthe cool dal, seven inthe hot, a rato of early two to one ‘While splashing gos on, the male adepts on the sight and the female adults on the lef sing songs from the great lleeris and inition rites ofthe Ndembut from Mukds, boys cireumeison: ‘Mung’og, the rites ofa funerary inition; Kayngn initaton into ivining; Nida, «traditional women’s cul and Wigan ion into hunters? cults, Periodically, they sing the Jsama songPlanes of Classifeation 7 sparc yaya fui” accompanied by a swaying dance called pula hich represents the dancing syle of the Mowe’ ish ar tarther, mimes the contractions of an abortive labor. nouns 7. Fea wif nd sand qua inthe need secon ‘ diy whre the white plle wl a be kept wt tay tee : ‘Tha hat ul jt outside the vilage. The decor ble in sight Band the knife with which he Beheaded the cock. “Theres enough data to attempt to analyze the structure ofthe rites vo far. Fit, there are three scts of triads. There is che invisible ‘ciad-—witeh, shade, and Afrang—to which is opposed the visible ‘wiad—doctr, patient, and patient's husband. In the fs triad, the witch i the mediator between the dead and the living in a hostile snd lethal connection; in the second, the doctor is the mediator oon 6 ma cold water poured eve the colee The Ritual Process Detween the living and the dead in a conciliatory and Kie-gving connection. In the fist, the shade is female and the ikishi male, while the witch may be of ether sex; in che second, the patient is female and her husband male. The doctor mediates between the sexes, in that he treats Both. The Ndembu doctor in fact, bas many attributes that are regarded as feminine in Néembu eulture; he ean pound medicine in a meal mortar, a task normally undertaken by ‘women; and he handles women and talks to them about private Iattersin @ way that would be impermissible tomen in secular roles, ‘One term for doctor” ehimbands, is sti by Ndembthemelves 0 ‘be connected with the term munbanda, standing for “woman.” ‘ie both triads there are close bonds of relationship between two ofthe partners Inthe first, the shade and the witch are believed to bbe matrilineal kin; in the second, the husband and the wife are linked by affinity. ‘The fest pair aficts the second pair with mistor- ‘une, The third partner, Maver, represents the mode ofthat mis. fortune, and the other third partner, the doctor, the mode of its removal “The third triad i represented by the 2:1 ratio. between the cold and hot ablutions, which further may be held to symbolize the ‘lkimate victory of life over death. Herein is contained a disletc that pases from life through death to renewed life. Perhaps, atthe level of“ deep structs fof the patient in the tuanel with her actual movement theough marriage from village to vilage, matskin to spouse's kin, and back tigain on the death or divorce of the spouse. "one might even connect the movement “The other structural features of the rites may be arrayed in tems of erswerensing binary oppositions. Ia the Grst place, there is the major opposition between the ritual ste and the wild bush, which is roughly similar to that made by Eliade between “cosmos” and y= Planes of Clasifeation 30 sschos:” The other oppositions are best arranged in three sets in columnar frm, 3s follows rit Laitint Aina urovfecwble tafe fel tow sro 7 han he ree eevfeity Woneo/nen Candide sie Paensatenes ——Aninalfmars ‘os "haben ye mista) Calatedroufbash Naked ‘ete meine ce cinco! White pulsed ack Metin rau amas ‘Sellinet Frrtence ofc Stadeiving Biedater ‘Wie plied cick | Red eackuite pate. | these sets of pairs of oppored values lie along diferent planes in ritual space. The fist set is longa end is spasally polarized by {he "ela fife” and the ela of death.” The second sts latitude tna! and is spatially bounded by the male See on the right and the male ire on the left. The third set i alitnal and i spatially | outed by th surface of the ground and the for of the combined tea and connecting tunnel. There oppositions are made by the [Néemb themselves in exegesis, in practice, or in bot. In terms of fpatial orientation the main, oppositions are: animal-made hole] manmade hole; leiright; below/above, These correspond respec- tively to the paired values: deacjlfe; femalefmale; candidates) ladeps. But, since these sets of values tanseet one another, they hold not be regarded as equivalent. tn oma, the Néembu are not saying, inthe nonverbal language trial symbols, that death and feminity, and life and masculinity, fare equivalent; nor are they sying that candidates rein a feminine Tole in relation to adepts (though they are certainly in a passive tole) Equivalences may be sought srt each set (or column), not Fetween them, Thus, the animal's blocked larentrance is regarded | aasinilar tothe filled.n graves of peopl, to death, which blocks up~ The Ritual Process, lifes tothe mystical misfortune that results in the deaths of infants, ta"*heat,” which i euphemiem for witcheraft and for grudges that “burn; the red cock, whose color stands for the blood of witehe craft” (nashi awl in Zsoma (Ndembu witcheraft is necrophagous, and in antiwitcheraft rites, red stands for the blood exposed in sch feasts [see Turner, 1957, p- 70]); and to “blood ars generat symbol for aggression, danger, and, in some contexts ritual impurity, ‘The new hole, made in the direction ofthe river source, symbolizing the spring of fertility, i regarded, on the other hand, ab having aflinities with fertility, life, curative procedures, coolness oF colde nes—a synonym for freedom from the atack of witches or shades land hence for “health’” (wala); with the absence of fire —in thie context a symbol forthe wasting and dangerous power of witeh- crafts with the white pullet—which in this ritual represents and even embodies the patients fertility and by its color symbolizes (as T have shown elsewhere—e.g., 1957, pp-69-70) such desirable ‘qualities ar “goodness, health, strength, purty, good fortune, fertility, food, ete.”; and finally with water, which has mich the same range of senses as “whiteness,” though in terms of process rather than state ‘These postive and negative qualities are supraseaual in thir tribution, and I believe that it would be a mistake to equate them too narrowly with sexual differences. The latter are more closely linked withthe left-hand] right-hand opposition. Ln ths set, it ean hardly be said thatthe patient, her white pullet, and the cultivated roots supplied by the women have the inauspiciour connotations allocated to the gravedeathyhest syrabolim of the fis st. Tmen= tion this beoause other writers, such ax Here, Needham, Righy, and Beldelman, admittedly in regard to other cultures, have tended to listas members of the same set such pairs as lftright, emalelmale, inauspiciousfauspicious, impure)pure, et, thus regarding the link= ‘age between femininity and inauspiciouness asa fequent—indeed, almost a universl-human—item of clasiicstion, Nor should the ‘belowlabove dichotomy be correlate, in Ndembu culture, with the sex division. The set of terms arrayed under these heads is once more = Planes of Clasifeation “ sexsi, since, for example, the patients below nd the doctors above ‘contain members of both sexes. In other types of citual contexts other clasifications apply. Thu, in male ceumeison rites, females and female attributes may be egarded as inauspicious and polluting, but the station i reversed in ies puberty rites. What is eeally needed, forthe Ndembu and, indeed, for any other culture, is «typology of culturally eezognized land sercotyped situations, in which the symbols wilized are elass- fed according to the goal structure of the specific situation. There is no single hierarchy of clasifcations that may be regarded as pervading all types of situations. Rather, there are diferent planes tf lssifcation which transect one another, and of which the con- utuent binary pats (or triadic rubrics) are only temporarily con nected e.g. in one situation the distinction redjwhite may be homo- Togs with malejfemale, in another with femalejmale, and in yet another with meatBour without sexual connotation Planes of Clasifaton Indeed, single symbols may represent the points of interconnection between separate planes of clasiiaton. It will have been noted thatthe opposition red eockjhite pllet ia Zzome appears in all thee column. In the lifjdeath plane, che white pullet equals life and frlity as against the red cock, which equals death and witch= craft; in the right plane, the cack is masculine and the pallet feminine; and inthe above/below plane, the cock i above, since it Js wo be wed as “medicine” (yitmby), poured down from above, ‘hile the pil is below, since tis closely linked, as child to mother, With the patent whois being medicated, This leads mie to the prob- lem ofthe “polysemy” or multivocality of many symbols, the fact2 The Ritual Process that they posses many signifieations simultaneously. One reason fr ths may be found in their “nodal” function with reference to interecting sets of classifications, The binary-oppostion eed cock) ‘white hen ie signficant in atleast three sets of clasications in lrama, Tf one is looking atomiticaly at exch ofthese symbols, in isolation from one another andl from the other symbol in the symbolic field (in terms of indigenous exegesis or symbol context), it multivocality {sits mos striking feature. If, an the other hand, one is looking at them holtcally in terms of the clanifeatons that structure the semantics of the whole rite in which they occur, then each of the senses allocated to them appears as the exemplicaion of single prineiple In binary opposition on each plane exch symbol becomes ‘nivoel 1 conclude this chapter by relating its findings tothe standpoint of LéviStrauss in The Savage Mind. Lévi-Strauss i quite correct in stressing that la pense sewage contains properties such at homo- logies, oppositions, correlations, and transformations which are allo character of rophistieated thinking. Inthe case of the Néembu, however, the symbols they use indicate that such properties are ‘wrapped up in a material integument shaped by dheir Ife experi= ‘ence. Opposition does not appear ar such but asthe confrontation ‘ofsensorily perceptible objects, ch as a hen and a cock of diferent ages and colors, in varying spatial relationships and as undergoing different fates. Although Lévi-Strauss devotes rome attention (© the role of ritual and mythical symbols as instigators of feeling and desire, he docs not develop this line of thought as fully ashe docs his work on symbols as factors in cognition. (I have considered this. lewhere at some length—for instance, 1957, pp. 28-39, 54-55) ‘The symbols and their relations as found in Irons are not only set of cognitive clasifications for ordering the Ndemba universe. They are also, and perhaps as importantly, a set of evocative devices for = { Planes of Clasifeation 43 using, chanweling, nd domestiating powerful emotions, such as ve, at affection, and grief, They are alo informed with purpos jencit and have a""conative™ aspect. In brie, the whole person, fot jst the Neembu "min," exstentally involved inthe lie or ‘eath sues with which Lem i concerned. Finally, oma isnot “groteque” inthe sense that its symbolism | ip ludicrous or incongruous. Every symbole item is related to some Gapircl item of experience, at the indigenous inerpretations of| he vegetable medicines cleaely reveal. From the standpoint of foentethcentury scence, we may find it strange that Ndembu feel thot by bringing certain objects into a ring of consecrated space they bring with these the powers and witues they seem empirically to pont, and that by manipulating them in prescribed ways they ‘an arrange and concentrate these powers, rather lke laser beams, to deauoy malignant forces. But, given the limited knowledge of ‘ptural causation transmitted in Néembu ealture, who ean doubt that under favorable reumstances the ure of thee medicines may produce considerable psychological benefit? ‘The symbolic expres- on of group concern for an unfortunate individual's welfare, ‘coupled with the mobilization of battery of" good" things for her benefit, and the conjunction ofthe indivi’ fate with symbols of cosmic proceses of ife and death—do thee really add up for us to Something merely unintelligible2 Paradoxes of Twinship in Ndembu Ritual In the Bint chapter T analyzed one kind of Ndembu ritual per- formed to remedy a deficiency: e.g awoman’stemporary incapacity to produce or raise living children. T now wish to consider an Ndembu ritual whose raison Ware is an immoderay of diferent sort. This is the Wubwon’e ritual, which is performed to atrengthen woman stho is expected to bear or who has already borne a st of twins (ampam). Here the difficulty is one of exces rather than defect, of overperformance rather than underperformance. The Dearing of twins constitutes for the Ndembu what we would cll a paradox—that is, a thing that confiete with preconceived notions ‘of what is reasonable or posible. There are several absutities in the physiological fact of winship for the Ndembu. In the fist place, a we have seen, a high cultural premiuin is placed on ferilty (huema); yet here we have an exuberance of frtity that resuls in physiological and economie distres. In society witout cattle or the notion that sheep and goats ean be milked for human consumption, iti dificult for & mother to supply twine with ade- ‘quate nourishment by lactation. Often their survival may depend ‘upon the chance that another woman has recently lst chil as milk availabe, and is willing to nurse one of the tins. And even if “ Paradoxes of Tuinship in Néembu Rita 6 the ewins survive until they are weaned, it may be dificult fr thee ‘parents alone to provide them with theirsubsistence. For this reason {hey are symbolically represented in the rites asa charge upon the ‘community. ‘One way in which this is expresed is in @ ceremonial dance were the mother of twins, clad only in trip of bark cloth with a Fontal flap of leather or cloth, and carying fat, round winning brakes (lei), takes the round ofall the village in a vicinage. As she dances she rates the flap t expose to all she source of her ex- tesive fecundity, and solic offerings of food, clothing, and money by cicing her basket before the onlookers, This dance exhibits several motifs characteristic of Wabuangs, One is the suspension ofthe rules of modesty, which are normaly eigorouly incumbent on Néembu women; another ie the rital power of wunerability or weaknes:—a motif pursued much further in Chapter, Here Iwill point out only chat twinshp is regarded simultaneously asa blesing fad a misfortune, both of which invlve the wider community in the welfre ofthe situa subject. But Waban eibits another paradox in the socal order. Profesor Schapera (and other scholar) have drawn attention to thefact that wherever kinship istructraly significant, and provides ‘flame for corporate relationships and socal stats, the birth of twins i a source of clasifiatory embarrassment. For itis widely held in Mica and elewhere, that children born during a single parturition are mystically identical, Yet, under the ssciptive rules asocated with kinship systems, there fs only one postion in the structure of the family or corprate kin-group for them to occupy. ‘There isa clasifcatory assumption that human beings bear only fone child at time and that theres only one slot for them to occupy in the various groups ariulated by kinship which that one eh centers by birth. Sibling order is another important fictor; older siblings exert certain rights over junior siblings and may in some ‘ass succeed to politcal ofc before them. Yettwinship presents the paradoxes that what is physically double is structurally single and what is mystially one is empizicaly two,46 The Ritual Process ‘Afvican societies resolve thi dilemma in vatious ways. One remedy for the structural contradiction produced by twinehip ito ‘put the tins to death. This practice is llowed by the Bushmen of the Kalahari, of whom Baumann writes: L'ifensid a gun pur site des conto hemamiqus dies, mais le meni des jude de Pam dente eax etd Le cence ul portent malar” (Basan land Westermann, 1962, pp. 100-101), The paradox is here resolved by the destruction of one or both of the twins, who are belived to Dring (mystical) misfortune. Other societies do not destroy twins ‘but remove them from the kinship system to which they belong by Dieth and confer on them special status, often withsaeredatributes, ‘Thur, among the Ashanti, according to Rattray (#52), wins i both of the same sex, belong, at of right, to the chit, and become, if girls, his potential wives if boys, elephanttail switchers at the court. They mit be shown to him ar soon ar posible after bist, being carried co the “palace” in a bras: basin, Twins, on state ‘occasions, ate dresied in whit, each alike” (p99) ‘White, among the Ashanti symbol, inte ali, for divinity and the “spiritual” and ferlizing fhids—water, semen, and saliva, ‘The elephant is also connected with exuberant fertility, ai eve enced in the gis puberty ritual, during which the nove “touches three roasted pieces of elephants ear, while the following words are addrested to her: ‘May the elephant give you her womb that you may bear ten children’ (1923, p. 73). Ashanti chiefs have many of the attributes of "divine kings” and are believed to transcend the cleavages between sectional groups in their realms, with whose ‘welfare and fertility their own are mystically identified. Thus, twine tre lied out ofthe secular structure and participate in and sym bolize the sacredness and frtlity ofthe chit. But twins born int royal family ituelf are klled, for such an event ie ui to be “hatef to the Golden Stool, supreme insignium and expresion of Ashant royalty (1923, p. 68). Ths is presumably because twins would intro- ‘duce contradiction into the structure of theroyal matrlineage, giving see to problems ofsuccesion, inheritance, and precedence. ‘According to Evane-Pritchard (1996), the Nuer of dhe Nilotc rT Peradoses of Toinship in Ndembu Ritual ” aster tat tins are one person and that they are Med sae tie ial penonaiy: meting ne and abr the ‘foal dant, 2 ality whic eet othe see ands rat by the paral erm ued when spesing of tine and by ses temen nal espet in orinay soil ie a ate spor indidua Ie is only in certain tal station and ssa that the unity of twine expres, pariarly im sre connected with marriage and death, Ia which the cy dere = change” (pp. taB-ag). Tn th olay, Pee are not raved irom the cil rice, bt they everte {'ighute sual and symbole vale. They ase aymbtaly Teena wit bind ot only on aesunt of the resemblance betwee "emule hatching of ger and she dual Birth bids” (p90, tha beeure twig ite bid, ace cae by the Nusrat Maple of the above” and children of God" "Bids ate len SFGdon secur of thir being inthe nad rns ong the Sicon scout of their being ehléren of God bythe manner of tes emorpcoa and bin {gt The Nuer ths esl the purty of inhi by relating the single personaly of tin 0 he Ted order and thee pal duty othe secular order. Each Sipectopetcs on a ditnet cla lee, andthe encept of Swi mediates Between the lve Th many we, evins hee this mediating faction between animaliy and diy: They are atone more than human ad fe than human Alot everywhere in tribal roc they ar ard to fit the el model of he sil structure, but one of the paar does of twin is that H semisines esos scat with fask tha exhibit the fndamental principle of that race {win takes on a contanve character aologns to the atone {hp of ground to figure in este pcoloy. Indeed, one ofen nisin human cltres that sractrel contains, aymmetin, sd anomaly re ova by lnjrs of ryt, itl, and symbol, hic sre the axomaie value of key sutra pins wit Texted to the very station where thee appear to be mod ne Pecuiree The Ritual Process ‘Among many Bantu-speaking peopl, including the Néembu, twins are neither put to death aor permanently asigned a special Matus a2 among the Ashanti. But, at the lif ees oftheir bint, marriage, and death, special rituls ae performed and they have almoat always a latently sacred character, which becomes visible tall rites concerning twin births, Moreover, the parent of twins and certain of their siblings, expecially the one immediately follow ing them in birth order, fll within the penumbra ofthis sserednes, For example, Monica Wilon (1957) wit: ‘in birch isa fearfl event w the Nyshyusa. The parent of tint and ‘vin themselves are abipane, the fearful ay fet o be very dangero fo hee reatver and immediate nelghbours, and o ete nung them suffer rom diaroes or purging, and swolen ley, i any contact takes place. Therefore, the paren are seegted and a laborat itl per formed, in which a wie circle of Kamen and neighbours andthe fey ‘atl participate. The fans ae naturally egegte with hei other, bat iti the danger for the parents ater shan om he win thereto hat ' emphasize. panes omnmony wed to mean vi" i it” bat itis more accurately translated a" abnocral birth" fer itis ed child born fet foremost (ell) a8 wel afr any lil ita the me ‘ital ie performed whatever the spe of ian (315) ‘The aim of the Nyakyusa rite isto rd twins and their parents of the dangerous contagiousness oftheir condition, ‘The parents must be treated with anedicines and ritual so that they may produce one child at each birth henceforth and to that they may not affect ther neighbors with mystical illness, Among the Nyakywsa and other Banta societies, such asthe Suku of the Congo, of whose winship es van Gennep (1909) has written, and the Soga of Uganda (Roscoe, 1924, p- 123), twinhip rites invelve the whole local com ‘munity. Van Gennep draws attention tothe fat that at the Suku sites of reintegration, following a long “liminal” period during which the twins are seclided fom contact with the public Ife Fr six years, there i 8 “ritualistic traversing of the teritory belonging to the society as a whole and a (general) sharing of fod” by the villagers (p. 47). 1 have already mentioned how the Ndembu Paradoses of Twiship in Ndembu Ritual ry regard twins as «charge upon the whole community. This may be ‘efarded as another instance of a widely prevalent social tendency Ter to make what falls outside the norm # matter of concen for the widest recognized group oto destroy the exceptional pheno tneson. In the former eae, te anomalous may be saralized, re. orded as holy. This, in eastern Europ, idiots used to be regarded iS tving shrines sepositorie of sacredness that had wrecked their fatal wits They were entitled to food and clothing fom everyone. Here the anomaly, the“stone chat the builder ejected," is emoved ffom the structured order of vociety and made to repreent the simple tniy of society isl, conceptualized as homogeneous, rather than tra sjsiem of heterogeneous socal postions, Among Ndembu, too, the whole biology of twinning is saeralized and made into a matter for everyone, not jut for the mothers close kin. The mother's th too mich of «good thing becomes the community's affition ‘esponsibility. [allo becomes an occasion on which the community fan celebrate and extol some of ts crucial values and principles of ‘ongoniation. The paradox that what ir good (in theory) is bad {in practice) becomes the mobilizing point of a ritual that sess, the overall unity ofthe group, surmounting its eonteaditons "To epeat: there are two things that ean be dane about twins in| ‘kinship society. Either you can say, ike the ule boy on fra seing A giralle, "Idan believeit"and deny the social existence of the bio- Toga fet; or else, having accepted the fat, you can try to cope ‘witht Ifyou try to cope, you most make it if you ean, sppeat tobe ‘consistent with the restof your culture. You may, fr example some situation focus atention upon the duality of twins, and in others ‘upon their unity. Or you ean reflect upon natural and social pro- ces whereby what were orginally two separate and even oppered tlement fixe to form something new and unique. You can examine the poet whereby ta brane ae. Or you can examine the converse of thi, the proces whereby one becomes two, the proces of bifurea- tion. Sil further, you can regard the number Two as being itself representative of all forms of plualiy as opposed to unity. Two represents the Many as opposed to the One, as derived fom it or ‘as fsed with i again ———= The Ritual Process: Furthermore, if you pay attention to the Two, isezarding the (One for the moment, you may regard it as comprising either a pair of sinilars, a dioscural pair like Castor and Polls, oF a pair of ‘opposites, like male and Female, or life and death, asin the Loma ritual, Ndembu, inthe rymbolie idiom of the twinship ritual, have ‘lected to emphasize the aspect of opposition and complementarity. ‘Although twins, in nature, are Frequently of the same sex, and, indeed, identical twins are always ofthe same sex, Ndembu ste in Wabwang’n the equal but open sapect of duality Pursuing this view further, when they exhibit the process of uniting the compo: rents of the dyad, they represent this process as a coincidence of ‘opposites, and not as a doubling of similar. Sexual symbolism is ‘sed to portray this process, but I hope to show that very much more ‘thansemual intercourse is intended by it. The idiom ofsexuality sed to represent the process by which social forees approximately equal in strength and opposite in quality are exhibited as working in harmony. Tn this chapter I shall be mainly concerned with the tural referents of symbols that lio represent aspects of sexuality, ‘The fusion of a phirlity of sociocultural referents with a plurality of organie referents (including those with a sexual character) in a Single visible representation, invested by believers with an extras trdinary power, and posesting a new quality of human communi tation, is an important characteristic of religious symbols. To say that either set of referents, cultural or organic, is “base” or primary,” and that the other is reducible toi is to overlook the qualitative difference from either set presented by the patter of their interdependence “The unifying of a pair of opposites, dominantly expressed in symbols for male-female difference, opposition and union, constiutes what may be called the ritual plot” of Wakears.T propose to select two important episodes ithe ritual and to examine each in turn cam | | | | | f | i Parades of Tuinship in Ndembu Ritual st with reference to it symboliam. Like most Ndembu cule of afc: Jon the cult asciaton of Wabuanes is made up of persons who hve themselves undergone as patients the ritual treatment char- rRurnie of Wabean's. The acing spirit is believed to be that Sha deceaed member of the cult, The adepts or doctors eallect Vegetable medicines forthe patent, adorn themselves ia a special anv and thea wash the patent with pounded lemedicnes and [he her medicine to drink mixed with water. A shrine is made for the patent near the door of her hut, and cult members perform rumber of rte in connection with it. Both men and wemen may tc as doctors, for men who were themselves members of pair of tvs, who were sons or Fathers of twins, or whose wives, mothers, raster have been succes treated bythe Walwen's procedare, fave the ight to learn the medicines and techniques of Wake’ [According to ty rconds, the afficting spirit ix always that of ‘woman, an in the majority of eases is believed to be the patients town mother's mother Wishuore' may be performed fora woman who es jst borne wing or fora woman who iexpected to bear twins, It is expected, for example that a woman whoze own mother, mothers mother, for both have borne twin, or who was one ofa swin pair herself, wil Ihave twin. ITauch a woman experiences any form of reproductive dlsorder during pregnancy, Wabway't may be peeformed for her ‘often without consulting a diviner. Other women, unconnected in ny way with twinning, may become patients in Waban’, if they| Ihave suffered from reproductive troubles, hit ie often became relatives of the ailing woman have conrulted » diner, who hae ‘onalted his symbolic objects and decided that spirit “in Waban’ fore has caught her. All Ndembu rituals concerned ‘with female reproduction have both a specific and a general aspect, dealing explicily with a particular culturally defined disorder but beng held capable of curing other kinds. Thus, Niala is properly for menstrual troubles bate alo performed for miscarriage, giity, and barrennes, while nine for miecarsiage and stlbirh but alo ‘deals with merstrual disorders. Similarly, Wiubuangu as a genetic52 The Ritual Process curative ritual is believed to bene women sufering from a varity of reproductive disorders, But its main symbolic emphases are on ‘init, just as those of Male are on menorthagia and Lome on miscarriages "The two episodes (of which the second is subdivided into two phases) to which I would ike to draw atintion are: (2) the Rites, of the River Source; and (2) the Making ofthe Twin Shrine, wth, the Fruitfal Contest of the Sexes. In the Fit the unity of the sxe, {in marriage is represented as @ mystery; in the second, the sexes, are represented in their division and opposition. Properties of Ritual Symbols Each of these episodes is charged with symbolism. Such symbole exhibit the properties of condition, uiation of dparte refer, land polarization of meaning. A single symbol in fet, represents many things at the same time: itis mulivoal, not wnivocal. 1s referent fare not all of the same logical order but are drawn from many ‘domaine of social experience and ethical evaluation. Finally itt ‘referents tend to cluster around opposite semantic poles. At one pole the referents are to social and moral facts, atthe othe, to Physiological facts. Thus, the medi (Diploriyaescndlcorfo) tee, central symbol of the girl’ puberty ritual, means simultaneousy breast milk and matiliny, while the mulale (Puracarpur anol) tuee stands for the blood of circumcision and the moral community ‘of mature tribesmen. Such symbol, then, unite the organic with the scciomoral order, proclaiming their ultimate religious unity, lover and above conflicts between and within these orders, Power Grives and emotions asociated with human physiology, specially twit the physiology of reproduction, are divested in the ritual proces See Turner, 1967 for # disc of what T consider te he inf a from sh he ah ant ompanna and apts oo = Paradoes of Tuinship in Ndembu Ritual 53 ot theie anneal quality and atached to components of the nor tive order, energizing the Inter seth a borrowed vitality, and {hur making the Durkheimian “obligatory” desirable. Symbols fe both the resultants and the instigators of this process, and Cocapaulate its properties. “The Rite ofthe River Source at Wubwong' exemplify mot ofthese properties They form part af sequence of ritual activites that rakes up the fist phase of this stual of twinship. As in Zama, and {ndeed other Ndembu ital of alctin, the collection of medisines (Gardutul yitimbu-iterally, “to snatch or steal medicines” —or olny ua tomb) ithe fe activity inthe sequence. The Waban Goctoradepts who perform this exrry with them into the bush «| ‘nuaber of food ia the senor practitioner's winnowing basket lua). "These may include essava rot, beans groundnuts, a lump of salt, maize gain, portions ofthe meat of domestic animals and wild pig, and other comestibles. They bring the white beer made frm maize forbulrash millet, the color of which makes tan appropriate ibtion forthe shades, who are symbolically “white” (atoats) beings. They to cary white clay in a phallur-shaped calabash eee Figure 8) and powdered red clay inthe shell of water mollusc (nlahal) (see Figure 17, p. 74) According informants, "the foods are brought to strengthen the bodies of the mother and children,” while the white clay is "to make che children strong, pure, and fortunate.” Several Jnformants held that che red lay means “bal ack (kad) nck ofstength (alu dala), and lack of success (k-Aee).” Bit, 26 weshall sce below, p. 6, ths same red clay a the Rites ofthe River Source represents “the blood ofthe mother.” This is yet another ‘example of the way in which the same symbols have varying sig- afcance in diferent contexts. The binary-oppaston whitelrd at Aierent episodes of Wabuang's represents strength/weaknese, good> ek The Ritual Proces ‘curs 8.TWwin ceremony: an adept cries the rital wianoving| eke, comining a calabesh of white beer and phallsabaped ‘albes fled with white clay. She i eciving a maine beach Ickybad luck, health/disense, purity of heat/a grudge causative of ‘witcherat, semen/maternal blood, masculinity/feminiiey. “The band of adeptsis headed by a male and a female senor rac tioner. These adepts are accompanied by their children; indeed, Wabang' is the only kind of Ndemba cial in whic children are enjoined to participate in collecting “medicines” (ytumby), to se traditional but not wholly appropriate term for the vegetable sub- Parades of Tinship in Ndembu Ritual 55 stances, Bach child cerses a leafy branch taken from every “medic {Sne" tree or bush visited. Bowdy songearesung during the medicine Collection “to make the patent” strong, and a double hunting-bell (apmanbs) is rung by the principal doctor. It purpose is “to open theearsoftheunbom children zothat they mayknow they re twins." ‘The singing and bell-rnging are alo "to arouse the shades" (Lar tess als), foreach doctor adept has a guardian shade who was former a Waban's cult-member. Furthermore, they are held to ovie" the medicine tes, the species from which Wubwora medicine potions and lotions willbe prepared. Without these sine ‘lating sounds, tis belived the tees woud remain merely a tres; ‘wih them ard with their accompanying rites ofsacralization, they become magically eficacious powers, akin tothe “virtues” poreted by hers in Western oletherapy. Tina text on medicine collection which T cite in fll on pp. 86-2, there sa pasiage that runs: “There most be a renewal (or easing to ‘ive up) and eeattering of thee former (or traditional) words and a ‘ting (of medicines)" These “words” are thesonge and prayers of buon and they mystially affect the cutting of medicine plant. [An example of prayer i t be found when the dominant symbolic medicine ofthe ites consecrated, the Kata ebuang' tree. Fis the sesior practitioner dances around iti a circle because “he wants to please the shade," for it isthe big tree of the Wabwonps shade— "ig" chat in tual status fo al the es T have seen tented in this way were slender young specimens. Then he digs a hole over its tap root and places the items offoo in it whilehe utters the following prayer: imi wr ann’ wating nabs, “Yau, O my dead [knewoman] who had Wiens, pi mont eam dak malas, Ifyou have come ou to smcone today in Wiha, (dda aot chia ‘his very day you mus elp her well, atom ceil nero hat she ay altel with cise”36 ‘The Ritual Process [A lation of beer is then poured into the hole on the fod so that, “the shades may eome to eat and drink ther.” Then the doctor fil his mouth with water or beer and powdered white clay (mpemb or ‘npeza) and blows it over the laughing scattering onlookers in sign ‘ofblesing, Next the patient is made to stand touching the tee and facing eax while strips of bark are cut from it into the winaowing Dasket (eee Figures g and 10) and a fonded branch is cut and given nouns 9. Twin Ceremony’? the patlent stands touching the mene ‘eee wile acing eat, the direction of rebirth The doctor ens portions ‘ot back into the winmowing basket wih his isal x. Parades of Toinship x Ndenbu Ritual 37 ome own ceremony this igure rats the stat enife iano ine thiscate of oppenitetex, The man in white in ‘he female patient whore bck a to the mals nalVuheanp' vine, ffom which medicine onde are being ut He mut stand near he ‘ery medicine cating toawomanadept to carry. According toone adept, “she faces east be- ‘nue everything comes from the east (kabvts Kanal) where the sun ‘es; when someone dey, hiTae i turned toward the east, meaning |= 8 The Ritual Process that he will be born again, but a sterile person (nama) ora witeh, (oli) i buried facing west so that he will die forever.” In brief, the ett the auspicious and life-giving direction, "The Kote waunang' tee, aa in Loma, is known as “the elder” op “the place of greeting,” and is a multivocal symbol (Le, one having ‘many designations). Such a symbol is regarded as the erial site of transition from secular to sacred ways of behaving. In Wubwane'y, a clear distinction is made between medicines collected inthe dry bush (itumbu ya muiseng2) and thoee collected in the sreamside forest (Ginna jets). The bush is regulaely associated with both hunting tnd vitlity, while the streamaide forest is Tinked with femininity, ‘Women make gardens inthe rich black alluvial soil beside streams, and soak their cassava rootsin pools nearby. In Wbwang'y, there isa Separate “elder” tree for the bush and one for the stream. Kata teubwang us the “elder” forthe bush. The fruit ofthis rei divided into two symmetrical portions, which Ndembu compare explicitly ‘with twins (onpambe oF ampesa). A number of other trees ofthe dry bush are nent visited for bark scrapings and leafy branches. Below is ‘alist containing the names ofeach species, followed by an abbreviated native explanation of why itis used. SPECIES NDEMBU EXPLANATION Naonbu Tem Ble Nome 1. Kata Wabng't ? Double fui ins” 2 Maan’ tne pry “*One Bower mae many sal frutte—twins are ike one pr" Manginde———Suartia “Beart frit, thas well ge smother many chien" a Mache Same a3 5 Mufng'« driapplln — Sameas 3 bel 6. Kept Tmcoria ——Samesej—“has thin ity ke on leaves, thse see sue (ts (hed ae rel” 7 Mat Vongurioss "From hast, oma vise entre ovale 2 woman wid ne cen to produce young 0" Poradeses of Twinship in Ndembu Ritual 59 ‘species NDEMBU EXPLANATION ‘nd arm ‘Bote Nene Maule Parco sed gum called “lod — ceo to given woman enough blood a tae bie” 9. Maile > ‘las fut, ge 2 woman fei to Malolos — Contam sexoom "From hol, Yo El ead Made ? a Mean Ponpsia azeena “From kxmacys, to seater nea tosater he dese” “To thinset of vegetable mecne is added «portion of hornets nest ‘Perhaps this beceuse ofits many young,” one informant guessed, “That competes the list of bash medicines. Next, a number of| medicine are obtained from the streams (gallery) forest. The oder” tee for thestrcamsdeira ceepe called molu waar, she vine of Wabuong':” Ndembu say: "Mol weVahuang's grows ino many diferent branches and spreads to form a large place of iteown, In jus the same way @ woman should have as many children tthe ereper has branches" Is later use in Woy’ x ewoto fit itisinterowined among the children's medicine branches, which fhve been set upright near the patient's hut to form a tiny double cnclsue like the letter m, which serves asa shrine forthe alicting Shade; secon, its draped over the patient’ shoulders and around hor breasts, This use reallr ite role as @ medicine for making a ‘women’s breastmilk white, iit becomes yellow or reddish. This die Colored milks called wid (sin), Ihe ills red or yellow, witch trate to besomehow involved inthe anomaly the mother herself may be a witch, or someone elie i bewitching her- Malu medicine restores the milk to its prope calor (ee also Turne, 1967, p. 347). ‘White thing ae belived by Nderbu to sta for such virtues and ‘values as goodnes, purity, good healt, good luck, fertility, openness, secial comminion, and a number of other auspicious qualities. Thus, oly the dominant symbol ofthe streamside, stands for motherhood,60 Phe Ritwal Process tactation, the breasts, and frilty. Like mui, mal represents the snurvurane sepects of motherhood, “Phe other streamside medicines are then calleted. Thete at, in order of collection: ‘SPECIES dim Term ‘Bosal Nome 1. MatuwaWeboones Posy a species fCnnnaie NDEMBU EXPLANATION 1. gro into many diferent ‘rane ome pepo chia own; H arent Stem should have any (Silen ar the creeper ba Branches 2 Masini 2 ‘Te has many fats will make ‘woman fei” Marat Catia Seater Mai Diploniyaas "Because it wed in Mane, 7 Condycarpon the gi puberty, tole 1 oman matte ad ea Kenna (Coarse Kets as re sap ail alae) a boon aceenpantl by ead, Honngane so should mother have mich ‘malogecaieis bloed" 6, Manu ? thas many seating rot — siwomee told he my Calon, Kettg'le meats" speak of pevon behind he Eke —perape the pudge (Ghia comes rom tis Commentary “The geeat majority of these species represent the woman's deed Fruitfulnes. Some aze connected with the idea of maternal blood. (One adept vouchiafed the information that an unborn eld "eat food through the blood of the mother,” thereby indiating some knowledge of the physiology of reproduction. What sof great inert isthe connection of ch medicines as mutuhoty and matunga with, trouble, backbiting, and grudges. These run likes red thresd through the ideological structure of Wabwang's, and. are in fact connected ar Parades of Tuinship in Nae Ritual with its red symbolism, Thus, from the powdered red clay brought Jy theneior practioner, the children who accompany their doctor arnt into the bu decorate their fics (ee Figure 11). Tose of ima who ar twin draw a red cirle around thei ft ye, and, with loved white clay, a white circle around the ight ey. These are hoe the shades of twine or mathers of twins," informants told me. ‘pusording to one of them, the od citcle “represents blood,” while ‘he white one stands for strength” or ood luck” But another sid tapliily that the red cirle stands for “the grudge” (chia), and ince it was around the let or “feminine,” eye,“ peshaps the grudge ‘Comes fom that side.” Asked what he meant by thi, he weat onto ay that pechaps there as il-fecling between the patent and her indmother when the later, now an aficting Wabwanes shade, ‘vas alive. On the other hand, he continued the shade might have bewn angered by quarrel in the matrilineal kingroup (alwamana, *"thoseon the mother's side") and have punished one ofits members. Inany ete, hesaid, gradges are found more often in the matriineage (inom, or womb”) than among paternal Kn, who have goodwill toward one another, This was a conscious attempt to interrelate the ‘inary oppositions malefemale, pstrilaterality/matriiny, goodwill nudge, whiteeed in a completely consistent manner. implicit inthis interpretation, too isthe paradox of twinship isl ‘Dwins are bosh good luck and reasonable fertiity—and in this spect have an alinity with the deal relationship that should iater- link patrilateral kin—and bad luck and excesive fertility. The [Ndemb, incidentally, regard twina of opposite sex being more ‘auspcion than twin ofthe same sex—a view widely held in Afican| tocities—pomibly forthe reason that twins of the same sex occupy the same sibling postion inthe kinship and political srvetre ‘Apart from the twine symbolism of Aa wuboarg's and the rmany-inone symbolism of mans the medicines themselves do not rake explicit relerence to trinthip. Rather do they curmlatvely represent exuberant ferity. But the sharp distinction made ia the tiles between medicines of the bush and those of the gallery fore, adisineion connected by informants with that between masculinity and femininity, related to themain dualistic theme of Waban,ba Phe Ritual Process, Paradoxes of Tainship in Ndombu Ritual rrouns 11. Twin ceremony cilren are marked with white and rel ‘Sele around thei ey dtingushing them in eatepeis of tin and 63 “Tae muy tre (the “miktre"), foal symbol of the gir puberty rites, abo appear in che twin ritual, Charactersizally, it appears J an episode that portays the mystical unity of opposites After the ‘Rodicine forthe basket have been collected, the senior male practi- one cuts» pliant wand of mudi, and another of mutt These retaken near the source ofa stream (see Figure). The wands a ‘moons 12. Twin Ceremony: the ial par aries theriver uc, “where proceatve capacity began" beating branches of medicine planted on either bank ofthe stream, opposite one another, their ips are bent over to form an arch, and they are bound together. The footy wand les on top of the mui wand. The called mponsa or kahing, a verbal noun meaningGe The Ritual Process “The mtu ee ein vein il conten Ts ening cds tobe aociated by Nambu ith coin ftencurel popes {Gavan abo with co verb Gom which cai tal exper dee Selita retort. This habit of eymologing, aT mentonel Guyer 1 highly charsceic ‘of Genel Abean exe Wouhzr the exymologial explanation othe ames onal oes (Nitodame struc ses uninporast Nec arr we Fee eeSTtnc procees that give denen otheemantccrtentfa ESpimgertomonmyy—which ay be denied ts Kd of ra fing, If two duller sounding wor of different eration aru one another certain othe tes, semane eit pce. Hemonyeny is eceptlonaly wc inal where, te Tate mid elaively few apts mst represent malig enometa. 7 “Muhotukotu is sometimes derived from the verb ku-hotimune, which mene fa sudden ea tht tov the en te dy ‘Zito ee leaves ofthia tee tend to fl off silane, lesving ‘fe bough sudenly are. Inthe sate way, when motes ed we Meitine escas, misfortune, and the ete of wich Seyi tall otf the patient cated with Whenever Ndenb BT caine broom for sweeping the by wth pounded et ene maton fons on tthe component Ti rm nedmen pealyinantiwicherai ‘rth eical thas snather esate, which al nflocns Aneineaing of matte Thais he verb kdsonty the ee (ei aha lven tome inthis peripbrstiormaatn: ater which reagan Shother te falls down sddeny when the wind blo Sn cata stomata. Somtines eae ae which row sean body of anater tee A dace eon apo by nd he doctor dares that should slp of” “he ipeciesisation found in Wabwon' however, mat jsnidta mand or "the man (pl) wl te mad od and at So toman” (munband) Al the apts Ihave uastionel agree theta nthe Cae pnting out that mult we laced sere oj ureberenore, ey y tha the fing together ofthe wd Parades of Tenshi in Ndombu Rita 6 stands for their sexal union (ludisunds). Sometimes a wand of Iablaale(Pseadlahneirapecies) woods used instead f mubotta. [A forked bough of this wood i frequently used asa shrine in the hunter cult, Its a tough, termiteresstant wood, and is compared Jae boy! circumcision ritual with an erect phallus. Iis used there it medicine to induce male poteney. Here the connection with inty i quite clear ‘another cluster of referents asocated with the form ofthe arch over the steam Its tile mponza means “the etch” or bifurcation the human body, According to one informant: “M@pancai the place Jere the lege join. Ie the place ofthe organs of reproduction in then and women.” The same symbol appears inthe girl’ puberty ital where tiny bow (ata) of mady wood is placed at the apex ‘ofthe gil novice’ sechision hut—just where a pole of mui wood is tied toa pole of rd mufule wood. The bow, deaped with white beads representing children, stands for the novice’ desired feniity. The point of junction between the poles is alo called mpanza. This bi= Farcaion, basic to bilogieal and socal continuity, reappears inthe ualsc symbolism of ewinship. “The term mene is uted at boy’ cicumeision fora tunnel f legs belonging to senior ofcants and circumciers, beneath which the junior guasdians who tend the novices during seclusion are obliged {opass, This tunnels bothan entrance tothe situation ofcicumeision| snd ako a magical mode of strengthening the genitalia ofthe junior ‘guardians, The tunnel symbolism in this tual recalls that found in Toma. ‘The mpenze motif recurs inthe Wabuagy tual itselé During the tes performed later a the village shine, male doctor plunge under cach other's outstretched legs (ee Figure 19, p. 77). Abo the patient heres pasted through che doctor’ legs. Ths i called lakonvica mei mance. The Luma tunnel, dhe reader may real, was called ‘ede dauhanat, whetekukanka as the same root as kakonisha Sofa, then, the arch stan for the fertility reaulting fom come bined masculinity and femininity. The siting of the mpanze near the ture of a steam is ako significant. Such source (aft or nla) isi ‘The Ritual Process said by Ndembu to be “where procreative capacity (huemy) begins” Water is clanifid by ritual specialists in the category of “white Jymbole As such it has the generic senses of “goodnes.” “purity,” good luck" and “strengeh,"” which it shares with other symbols of thieelais (A funetion of thete tes, informants old me, is “10 wath way diseases” (witng’a)- The doctor’ feet are washed "So as to purify them” (nakwitotesha) for there isan element of impurity in Wubwong', in its ibaldry and aggressvenes:) But water has ad tional senses corresponding to its peculiar properties. In that wat fe coot (atta) oF “fresh” (atonal, it stands for “beng alive (lorhends), ne opposed to the burning heat of fie, which, ike eves Incans dying" (larfila), expecially dying as the result of witeh- Cafe Agata, water, in the form of rain and river, stands for “ine Crease” or “multiplication” (ku-sengut}, for feility in general ‘The symbolism of mpanza i the twinship rites suggests that human fertility tobe connected with the fertility of mature. "The mouf of “eoolness” is also exemplified when the senior female practitioner removes @ piece of black alluvial sol (malaws) ffom the stream immediately below the arch. This piece i placed in the medicine basket and later forms one of the components of the Uillage shrine fr the W/ubwang"s spirit. Informantssay thatthe use of Inve here parallels its use in the girl’ puberty rites. There males Tanda for marital happiness (ule), aterm related to luv, meaning ‘smerey” or “kindness.” In many other contexts its said to be used Decause itis “eool” from its contact with water. Being "cool" it ‘weakens dicate, which, a8 in Joma ritual, are thought to be “hot.” Bart it also linked by informants with fertility, sine erops grow ‘oxuberaatly in "After the bridal night that follows the gir’ puberty ritual, the ovis’ inatructess (whores) pnts some malawa Sil in contact with thebeidesnd the groom, then scatters fragments ofiton the threshold Grevery hut in the village inhabited by @ marred couple. Néembu. Sy thot this means that "the couple now love one another property Sethe instructees wishes o join all the married peoplein the village ‘with that same love.” This notion that marriage should ideally be —=—- Paradoses of Tuinship in Ndembu Ritual o fruity peaceful is stated quite explicitly by Nedembu women, They aay that the sort of husband they prefer isa good-tempered, yrand.working, and quiet-speaking man. Aman like this they sy, will ther ten children.” Thisideal type, asseen by women, isthe exact ‘pposte ofthe male penonality-type extolled inthe hunter’ cls, thecort of man who itis said in & hunters ritual song, “sleeps with fen women a day, sad is a grea thie Indeed, women are recom- trended in such context o give their hearts to chese tough, quarrel- ‘pane, and lustful men ofthe bush, The to antithetical ideals oexist JeNGembu society asin our own, ax any reader of the novel Gove with lie Wind will ecognie. This novel, incidentally, is also based on a (ualitetheme—that ofthe North versus the South, and ofeapitalsm ‘Tesur landowning. Moreover not only the rit union but alo the ‘hnbat ofthe sexes it shown in varius episodes ofthe twin etual “Ths, the mpanza arch represents fr, legitimate love berween ‘man and woman. The male and female principles “exchange” their [uatvs, the opposite aks of the stream are joined by the arch ‘The water of life flows through i, and coolness and health are the prevailing modes. "After the mjanzae made, the patient stan ona log placed inthe riddle ofthe water (ze Figure 19). The female adepts and their daughters line up on the log behind her in order of seniority. The terior male practitioner brings the small ealabach (kine), openly ‘Compared by informants with a phallus (ma) and ofthe type weed to give noviees their raining in sexual technique at the gir’ puberty tel, and takes powdered white clay (ape) out oft, The male Goctors have previously added certain ingredientsto the whit cay seal portions of pel, or pies of animallororganie matte, used as ingredients of contagious magic. In Wabuanyu thee are cased 2 “white” aymbole and include: powdered white portions of the ‘olath beee—ued also ae a charm in hunting eats; some hire ffom an albino (musi), regarded as an stspiciour being; white feathers from the gray parrot (Lal's); and white pigeon feathers (Gsfomjs). These are all connected with hunting and masculinity as wel a8 with whitenes, The white cla isl ers quite explicitly ii Paradoses of Twinship in Néombu Ritual 6 to semen (mate), which, in its turn, ssid to be blood purified by water” The senior practioner Faces the patient, puts the white ‘powder ia i mouth, and blows i over the patient's face and chest. [Next the senior female practitioner, standing just behind the patient, takes some powdered red clay (hinds) fom the shell of large ‘water snail called falta, pusit in her mouth, and blows it over the patient's face and chest. "The act of blowing (irfwnina or fapmble) stands both for ‘orgasm and for blesing with the god things of if (u-inil ni). IKalfords yet another example of the semantic bipolarity of ritual symbols. The blowing on of white, then zed, clay dramatizes the [Ndemib theory of procreation. My best aformant, Muchona, inter- preted the rites fllowe: "The white clay stands for semen and the ‘ed elay for maternal blood. The father frst gives blood to the other, i ‘who keepit in er body ad makesit grow. Semenisthisblood mised land whitened with wate. Te comes ftom the power of the father. Te remains in the mother ssa seed of life” (Lauby kawumi). Muchona, and smie others, took the view that Jt white and red clay shouldbe ‘contained in the eni'sshell to epresent the union ofmale and female portnersin the conception of child. Bat in each of the performances Of Waheang's I witnested, white and red clay were kept in separate containers. What is interesting about Muchona’s view i that in It Ihe stetes the nitive aspect of the rit. 1 Dali prevalsin the public rite that fllows inthe patent’ village “This ceaphaically represented both in the binary structure ofthe tin shrine ad i the explicit opposition of thesexesin mime, dance, ‘and song, The doctor return from the river bearing leafy frond, ke ‘nouns 1-Twin ceremony’ the patient and adept Hine up on login ‘Palm Sunday procasion—one made up largely of women and cild- ‘the team and the doctors prepare to Bow powdered white and red en, however (se Figure 14). Lévi-Strauss would perhaps regard the ‘lay ito the patents ear, presence of the chien in the medicine-gathering—highly anomal- ‘ ous in Ndemba ritual—as a sgn that children were “mediators” —70 The Ritual Process ‘noone 14.'Twin, ceremony: the ritual party returns fom the Fiver ‘bearing frond kes Pal Sunday presi. Detween the men and the women, but Ndembu themselves look on them at symbols (yinjhiila) of ewinship (Wubuang's) and ferity (laze). They want them also to "be strengthened,” forall who fll within the ambit of Wubean's, by birth or bearing, are believed to bbe weakened and in need af mystical invigoatin. "The winship shrine in the village is constructed about five yards in font ofthe patient’ hut. ts made from th leafy branches col lected in the bush, one ftom each medicine species, in the form of Paradoxes of Teinship in Ndenbu Ritual n semicircle about afoot and ahalfin diameter. A partition of branches isimade acre the center, dividing it into two compartments. Each of thee compartments is eventually filled with sets of ritual object. ‘But, at diferent performances I witneeed, the senior ofan had diferent views a how the compartment should be regarded, and this influenced the choice of bec, One schoo of thought held that ‘what called the “lefehand” compartment should contain: (1) 8 oundationofblackeiver mid (mala taken rom under the patent's {eet at che Rites ofthe Rive Source, "to weaken the shes causing the Wabwen's condition"; (a) a black clay pot (2a) doted with ‘white and red clay taken from the phallr-shapedealabach andthe ‘Shell ofthe water mole (ee Figure 13)j and (3) in the pot cold ‘water mixed with bark chips from the medicine ees (se Figures 16 tnd 17)- In contrast, the righthand compartment should contain a smallcslabash ofscralized honey ber (sel), normally man's and ‘hunters drink, sed as steed beverage in unter cults. ti far more intoxicating than other Ndemb bees, end is “heady” quality is considered appropriate tothe sexual esting that charater- {aes the rites, Honey, too, is a symbol forthe pleasure of sexual jnuercouse (ser, for example, the song on p.8o) Ia cis warant, the lefvhand compartment is eganded as female, and the right-hand one as male. Each compartment is called cipon's, meaning “enc sre” or “fence,” unally surrounding a stcralzed space, such a thedwelling place and medicine ut of chief. The patient splashed with medicine from the pot, while the adept, male and female drink the beer together In this orm ofthe ual, the main dualism that of sex ‘Buin another variant—dhe one deserbed on p. 87—the lefehand | compartment is made smaller than the other one. Here the opposi= tions between ferilty and seit. The right-hand compartment of hipong'u represent fertlity and the beneficent and fertleshader; the lefthand compartment is suid to be that of sterile pesos (nam) and th shade ofseile or malevolent persons (eyiditd). A large ‘lay ot, decorated with red and white clay ain the St form of the placed inthe large compartment This setully known asthe “grandmother” (akata yamumbande), and represents the acting” The Ritual Process Paradoss of Tanship in Névmbu Ritual B noon 1: ceremony: the contrition fhe win sine. The ee comed with wite avd dar Tae bet 2 ee Pe ava rn which ath "food” mentioned 0 58 shade who was once a mother of twins The other compartment it ‘heinerestng one for anthropological inquiry. There isan enigmatic phrase inthe narrative of the actual rites (ee below, p. 87): ayke ifoifen chensme, which Biterlly means “shoot of» bundle of Jeave of sterile person.” The term asoma represents a homonye, ally sinister pun, One sense of the word is"*a bundle ofleaves or af oURE 16.Twin ceremony: all the adept! hands elletvly pour ‘water int the medicine pot each ane adding hs "arent" rau” When a hunter wishes to obtain honey, he climbs up a tree to ‘hive (muzona) and draws up after him ona rope bundleof gras or leaves He throws therope vera hough ses re wo this mame bundle, find haul it up under the hive, Tt amokes furiously and the smoke drives out the bees, The blackened remain ofthe bundle are also called name, Nsoma also means a steileor barren person," perhaps” The Ritual Process ‘nouns +7. Twin ceremony: the twin shuine is ed. Iis obviously = ‘inary sine with two compartments, Wound around wih the me tetVubwange vine, the lef compartments the back medicine pot ‘She which can besten the black sun the ght the clash onaining sacrlied honey eer, daobed with red and white cay. {nthe sense in which we speak of "a burntout case." Black is ofen, but not always, the color of sterility in Ndembu ritual Tn Wabwang's, when the adepts return from the bush with their leafy branches, the senior practitioner snatches leaves fom them and ties them into a bundle known as moma yownyikejikoi abulnge Jaga aayana, "the bundle ofthe mischievous shades who flo beat children,” or nsama for short. ‘Then this elimbuki (doctor) takes & falabash cup (hikes or lapanda) of maize ot kafir cor bees and pours iton the nana se libation, saying, “All you shades without Paradoss of Twinship in Néombu Ritual 1% childeen, heres your beer. You cannot drink the beer thats already ‘pouted into this big pot” (in the righthand compartment). "That Ete ber forthe shades who bore children.” He then pats the piece “ofblack river mud inthe clifonpy and lays the nama bundle on op “tie, The malowa back cay i said “to weaken the shades causing lisa.” “Another difference between the two forms of the sliganes “ene ‘donire” is that in the one seeing serial dualism, an arrow is Jnvered behind the pot in the Iefhand compartment, point down- ‘ward (ee Figuse 18) Tie arrow stands fr the patient's husband. “Arrows with thie meaning appear in several Ndembu ritual and the name for bridewelth paid by the husband is snon, “arrow. Ta the rites stresing the dichotomy between frtlity and sterlty ‘the arow snot employed. Tn the latter there seems to be sn equation rade between sterility and twinsip, for twins frequently di; to much is the samme as to0 little. In both types, however the malx tteWWabuang's river reeper is woven Intrally through the vertical leafy branches ofthe shrine. ‘The patient sade to sit on a mat before ths shrine, nd over her shoulders are draped vines of malizalVsbway', to give her fecundity fand especially a good supply of milk (ee Figure 19). She is then eadily splashed with medicine while what Twill all the rites of| the fritfl contest ofthe sexes” rage hilariously inthe dancing place ‘beween the shrine and the patient's ht, [eis considered appropriate ‘tpieers of medicine leaves are seen to adhere to he kin. These are iil oF symbols," ofthe Wabweu'a manifestation ofthe shades, "They make the shad in tie twinship frm “visible” to all though ‘ransubstantiated into leaves “The next aspect of Weheang's to which I would ike to cll atenton isthe eeosesexual joking that sacks two ofits phase. Here we have ‘a exprension ofthe "twin® paradox asa joke or, as Naembu sy,Parades of Teinship in Ndembu Ritual n ‘owns 19-Twin ceremony: the patents shoulder ere drape with ‘at malViban' vines, 10 give her eundiy ated x geod supe of Ink Trea male dectot ca be sen plunging under another dere’ Te give sexual suengh (ee pp 6 ang). “a joking relationship” (ease. The specifi reference ofthe sites Istothe division ofhumanity into men and women, and to the arousl ofsexualdesiveby streting the difference beeween thems inthe form of| f ted into the twin | rh ‘ons (8 Twin ceremony: here an arow i inserted nto the antagonitc behavior. The shades of the dead, in that they are partment The basket bas been paced on topo ey ‘Brown the ef comparimen = Pl believed to give their names and personal characteristics to infants of | both sexes and ina certain sense tobe reborn a them, ina way have2 The Ritual Process ‘no sex It is their generic humanity that i steted, or perhaps theie pemalty But theliving are differentiated by sex, snd sex differences fre, as Glickman (1955) Writes, “exaggerated by custom” (P61. Te syunnung’a, Ndcmbu. are obsessed by the hilarious contradiction that the more thesexesatress their diferences and mutual aggresion, the more do they desire sexual congress. They sing ribald and abelian songs during the collection af “medicine” inthe bush fand toward the end of the public dance, while the patent is being Zprinkled with those medicines, some of which emphasize sexual init and zome of which are dithyrambsin praise of seul union, equently specified as adulterous. ‘These songs are believed to ‘puenuthen”™ (l-klesha) both the medicines and the patient. They vic ako belcved to make the attendees strong, both sexually and bodily. Tim, before singing the ribald songs, Ndembu chant a special formule, “eikoye 10, Rokwawn ule" (“here another thing is one"), which has the effect of legitimizing the mention of matters that otherwise would be what they calla seeet thing of shame or vpovtsty” (lama elakjnda cheno. The same formulas repeated Tr legal cues concerning auch matte ss adultery and breaches of ‘Gxoguay, where sates and daughters or inlaws aly) ofthe paint nd defendants are present. Néemba have a customary phase ‘iplaining Wabwongs sonar. * This singing i without shame because Shamceniness is [a characteristic] of the curative treatment of Waboong'” (kemina hakad! mice malong’s kaWubwang's halaoka chs rong Keo). In brief, Waban is an occasion of licensed Giaeepect and prescribed immodesy. But no sexual promiscuity is ‘ioplayed in actual behavior; indecency is expresed by word and seture aly “The songs, at both phases, are in serial order. Fist, members of ‘each sex belite the sexual Organs and prowess of members of the ‘Sppuitezex, and exiol their own. The women jeeingly assert to their vanande tat they have secret lovers, and the men retort that all hey fet fom the women are venereal diseases consequence of adultery. ‘Aferward both sexes praise in lyrical terms the pleasures of inter- ous aa such. The whole atmosphere is buoyant and aggresively Paradoxes of Tinship in Ndenbu Ritual 19 Joins men and women tivo sot on ther down ee Figure 20). The singing is thought to please the strong and merry Wabwang' shade-maniitation. Nefes mifi vert, “Tam ging away to each her how to sae, ‘ba lima ‘Your moter, toy, your mother how wo srle Keer rmc, “The moon which bat gone appears, ‘nouns 20, Ti ceremony: the men and wore cosy revi one ‘sae, vrai symblise hel cont ofthe exe,‘The Ritual Process, ‘Nami ale hohe. have sen the ram on whom 1 ie Bipot or Come and copulate to leave dass, (Lele man “Fray look at a wet ale don 6 lal \ ‘Meher of pei Mother of pis! ‘osha Nok deli donot lone, have cas alent. ‘umn eo See Gas is am oe whose bith Nin on Tham he er tis. nt mt done ey ange vate ssa pe, Sheraton decid Tonal sono’ bo amie oie Taig nea a wernt witha cpa. ‘alo, Tetra yoor ein, Youn ye Mate © mer! Payot nnn hele eT ete tilt the lander it ios, ‘Xxcene ive and ong recede ny ma ws sat jee Mii grant Caplan nie et ony. Tomson ‘They oman eon, Prato yng en me ict Peiuscog when ou played ith yal Bre debates ae" i Paradoses of Tovnship in Ndenbu Ritual Bt GROSE-SEXUAL AND CROSS-COUSIN JOKING ‘what is conspicuous is the perfer equality Berween the sexes in this Jestng and mutual “yting”—o borrow aterm from the Scotti ‘Chaucerian poets for competitive lampooning verses. There i no thine that this is «ritual of eebeion” in Gluckman’ (1954) sense ‘What i represented in Wabwon's seams rather w be asociated with the conflict between vriocaty, which interlinks male kin together land expel female kin from their natal villages, and matin, which ters the ultimate structural paramountey of descent through women. These principles ae fly evenly balanced in secular lie, ts Thave noggeted in Sci and Contin in an African Suit (195), Néembu explicitly connect Wubuangs joking withthe customary Joking between crose-ousins, Both kinds are called wasen, and oth involve an element of sexual repartee, "The importance of cros-cousnship (au in Ndembu society derives in great part from che oppotition betwen virlcality and ‘nattiliny. For villages tend to contain almost half a many elldren {sister children of men ofthe venior generation of matelineal in (Turner, 1957, Table 10, p. 71), These are grouped together as members of @ single genealogical generation in oppesition to the senior adjacent generation. But cros-cousns are also divided from fone another: children of male villagers compere with their eros ‘ousins for their father favors and atentions.Virlocalityina society ‘with matrilineal descent alo give an individual ewo villages in which thes strong legiimate claims to resie, those repectively of his {ather'sandhismothers kin. In practice, many men are torn between ‘competing loyalties to one or the other, to the father's oF o the tother's sid, Yet, as the child of his father and mother, each man represents the union of both. consider thatthe approximate equality of is through the male and female sides in Ndembu society, with neither vet regarded as ‘asomatically dominant, i symbolized in Wabwenes by the ritual ‘position between men and women. Cros-couinship ithe kinship bond that most fully expreses the feutfl tension between these Principles, for it expreses the residential unity of matriineallyba The Ritual Proves and patistraly linked kin. Cros-cousins of opposite sex are ene ‘couraged to marry, and, before marriage, may indulge in love play find ribald joking with one another. For mariage producer a temporary unity of the sexes, whose diferenes, stereotyped and cexaggerated by custom, have become auciated with equal and ‘oppoted principles of social organization. Hence it isnot inconsctent with the Ndembu way of looking at things that they compare Hab. Teongs crosesenual joking with cros-cousin joking. Iubuanx to, for all ity ribaldry, celebrates the institution of marsage—in the symbolism of the mpanza arch, and of an arrow representing the husband, imerted in the ehipengs shrine. This arrow stands for the patient's husband. In the girl’ puberty rtal, an arrow placed in ‘he midp tee symbolizes the bridegroom, and indeed the term for the main marriage payment is meu, which means "arrow." The procreative urge is domesticated into the service of society through the institution of marriages tha is what the symbolism suggests. And ‘marriage between erose-cousing, both matelateral and pateilateral, isthe prefered form. [Ndemibu society, to repent, ie regulated by to residential principles of almost equal strength: matrilineal dexent and vslocality- patrloality. ‘These principles tend to become competitive rather than coadaptive, az T have argued in Schon and Continuity (1957), land this is partly owing to ecological reasons. Ndembu grow a staple ‘crop, casava, which lurishes on many kinds of sol, and unt forest snimals widely distributed through thee terstory. They do not keep ‘atl, and men attach high value to hunting, which can be earied fon all over Ndembu country. Waters available everywhere. There fs nothing to pin dovn populations to limited trate of territory. Given the existence of to major modes of fliation, there ie no ‘ecological weighting in favor of either principle. It is where an Poradosesof Twincip in Néembu Ritual 8 [Alcan community is anchored to limited tracts of fertile land ‘or can exploit ony single category of movable resources (each ar large livestock), that one tends to find the regular paramountey in many fields of activity ofa single kinship principle of organiza tion: patiliny or matriliny. Under Ndembu ecological conditions, residential flition through male links (husband and father) com- petes Feely with mauling. At one moment a given village may exhibit in its residential composition the dominance of one mode, nd, at another moment, ofthe other believe that this structural competition between major principles of eesidetilflation is © crucial factor in accountng for (1) the sway Ndembu treat twin, and (2) their coneeptualization of duality, interme not ofa pair of similar bt of a pair of opposites, The unity fof such a pair is that of a tensed unity or Geta, whose tension is Conatituted by ineradicsble forces or reais, implacsbly opposed, tnd whose nature as unit s constituted and bounded by the very forces that contend within i. If these mutually involved irrepres- ible belong together in a human being ora socal group, they can flea constitute strong unit, the more 2 if both principles or protagonist inthe confit are consioulyrecognited and accepted. "These are selegenerated natural unis, to be distinguished feom the arbitary flat unites that can be externally reduplcated. But, they ae also not quit like the daletea pair of oppsies of Hegel for Marg of which one party, after mastering the other, gives rise to new contradictions within itl. Given the pesatence of Ndembu logy, the parties to thie tensed unity belong together and in their very opposition, fame it, constitute it. They do nat break each other down; ina way they provoke each other, sin aybolic form ‘he mutually taunting sexes do in Wubwang's Only socioeconomic change can break ths kind of social Gal, In Schism and Cnty T teed to analyze various aspects of thin Kind of unity: matliny versus vslcality; the ambitious individual versus the wider interinking of matrilineal kins the elementary family vers the wterine sibling group, an opposition that may also ‘be seen in terms of tension between patiflal and matrilineal8 ‘The Ritual Process principles; the forwardnes of youth vermis the domineering elders Fotursecking versus responsibilty; sorcerism—ie., hostile felings, eudgen and intrigues-—versur friendly respect for others, ete All these force and prinipls ean be contained within Neembu unity; they belong toi they colori, they are it. What cannot be con- tained are modern prestres and the making of money. ‘What happen, then, in the course of the Wubwangy ritual? The ‘opposing principles are not permanently reconciled or blended. How can they be while Neembu remain atthe level of technology fand with the specific ecology T have described? But, instead of ‘coming against one another in the blind antagonism of material fnterest, “aeeing nothing but themselves,” as it were, they are re. Tested ageinse one another im the transcendant, conscious, re- ‘ogaizant unity of Ndembu society whose principles they are. And form asense, for time, they actually Become a play of forces! instead ‘fa biter bette. The effects of such 2 “play” soon wear of, but ‘the sting i temporarily removed from certain troubled relationships “The ritual episodes T have ditcussed, though only superficially the Rite ofthe River Source, and the Double Shrine with the Fruit Fal Contest of the Sexes—relate to two aspects of the paradox of towinahip. The fest isto be found in the fat thatthe notion 2 ay be regarded as a myatery. Indeed, the Ndembu characterize the Gist epande by a term that largely conveys this sense, ‘This imports, whichis applied to the central and most esoteric epitode Ura stal. The sme word azo means “a secret saying or pas “yor,” such as i used by novices and their guardians in the ir Tumesion lodge. The sites by the stream source are as much = ‘eligiour mystery as those ofthe ancient Greeks and Romans or of stein, M,Heen Barnard of Wellington Unive, New ead ts pl out ne hess hs vewpont tothe Hind ation of Paradoses of Twisship in Néemba Rituals 85 modern Christians, since they relate to hidden or inexplicable Jpatter beyond human reason. The zecond aspect is the Ndembu Feeing that 2 = isan absurdity, a huge ana even brutal joke. So | uch of thelectual is devoted to the procurement of friity of | various sort, yet the mother oftrne has heen endowed with too ose | TSASC meri abou bt che myery and he ary | a RMR) Ris tc Rabu inthe a fae, he | SEENMNii ine majorscusteomplonenary nd anita SEE Spas in eure Yer infu ape f ome, ‘hes athe car emenee het loan | ted fur Tun, 1p. 6-8). Thee lor one | eNotes sand wh s rey oe Seat tpn pty ey He (MoSiytwenied and aap Arie rere ee hy | TIERITSSDY ae trouge ae cnontin ete! lc er | ma Ntcenentl beng feed omen wine hess | ETpteeat ttt mete Bur cacy he tong er ‘peice in ote moe complet bse Hy ably | RECS Sa he argo tieace than ths Sanne! | Seles wie uta scan eth eps the ile | ‘cosmic and social order recognized by Ndembu in its harmony and | blanc, wherein all empirical contradictions are mystcally resolved ‘The disturbance brought about by the Waban manifestation ofthe shades i here stually countered by a portrayal of quintessen~ Vial order, 2 portrayal that is believed to have elcacy and isnot 8 rere assemblage of cognitive sigs. Waban’ i rival that moves regularly from the expreion of Jocose disturbance to that of cami oder and bak to disturbance — tobe finaly reseed bythe transfer of the patient to partial eluron {om secular Iie until the dangerous condition has been removed ‘fom hee. This ccillaton isto some extent homologour with the procssual suture of oma. But the major difference between these ies isthe constant emphasis in Wuhuanyu on opposition between the sexes and the socal principles of iliation derived from the parents86 The Ritual Process “of opposite sex In Jie, the sex dyad was subordinated to the life) death antitheis In Wabtons sexial opposition i the main theme. earth have not a ytallowed the Néemb ope sent Letham about ihe meaning of Wabwan' To give the aie cw ado euble he rader to compe thet iner Juan ih ming wil wane comment T renee fom Fron adepa iter during aa pevrmarce of the Hes trator aterard in nol Sanson in bein with suet acount of he whole procedures reed bya exenadrine Str Nott wl enenie ie ptt) anntor pve ir stata ihe pune lendy dn ‘yr ge Sienihy et ie ve awe ER papier Tp Noaranumteretonewb Ha, ‘Sevier Sentheoe eer ce none ee etary te rode nite Waban ‘hci tl oes ‘Slim eee debe ‘nine aie ‘Scar i luna soi ele al TST won eas ae ee eft yo fii wa Avot a a hci Tryst geith ely Ayame maa oma there ems be] a renewal sd seating of thve former words Paradoxes of Twinship in Ndembu Ritual 8 ety’ ia eng’ si eating (of medicines) [the its must be arormed gsi] lish anne madd in onder hat the baby maybe washed in (them, {gine as mambene nwa pan Sometimes when a woman hat borne wis dag ins meine {hey wl go wih chen othe as rhs ytd yuma ar hd stand er beside te ees and tae er trough tthe water ahem Se cary vines [a the ml waaay crepe) abate alse ama eu Tor draping [ver and under her arms] tel wa their mother yon hms ital arena male Tie the ehlren i jut the ame way—and coney the ‘dlren tothe vile ‘Kel aa a dl ‘When they arrive there athe village, etn pane ans yin they coma (imal enlonur (Gr shin] and pik wp medics dts mt mest Sam de dane daha and put them in medicine tough or ay pu]—one small ‘wough (or pt) ‘its yack casans for grecn shoots rom a bundle of eaves fra tert person eins macion' chia chara ‘hey put in that smal enlnare, Fata i itn cio cee they take (anode) medicine ough and puttin de large cxcote, Awa nig nahn nal ‘Other were dancing wits reper, ln’ ol matte mong ‘hey stip ff the reper and pat them away in the encore,88 The Ritual Process ‘asale enon ine bali ens ‘They rcmain there themes singing and wash the citen [with maine] lise mayen fla pss hem under [hi] les iol aml Wass, ‘hss done inthe late afternoon, when they chase them: ona en ame fen thy sles at nighe eal over. ‘Mefut ina rgana cling' niliha m mae, ‘Everyday they mut wash the iden with medicine in ‘he tough ‘asad ia organ anand fy ater dy unt the ine row up Commentary ‘This account is Wabwong's in nutshell, But, naturally it eaves out many of those fascinating details that for anthropologists constitute the major clues to 2 culture's private universe, It makes clear that the affcsing shade in Walwones is typically a deceased mother of tina (nyempas). She was herself « member of the cult, for in Neembu rial thought, a8 T have noted, only a deceased cult- ember can aft the living in the mode of manifestation treated by that eult, Again, the text makes plain that action is in the ‘matilineal descent line. However, glosses by other informants feast that a male shade can “come through in Wbwanga” if he twas a father of twins ompais) of & twin himself T have never re= ‘corded a single instance ofthis, however. Wabwan's is not thought ofa an independent eprt buts theway in which an ancestalshade ‘makes its elapleasure with the living known, “According to other informants, iti "the women who explain to the men the medicines and curative techniques of Waban (One docter’s sister taught him she was a pana, 8 mother of tovna. He went on to say that both twins had died—and, indeed, i | Paradoxes of Twinship in Ndembu Rita 8 it very common for one oF bath to die, for Ndembu say that a nother wll either fivor one with milk and fod supplies and neglect thee, oF try to feed both equally ona supply that sulicient for only one. Twins are known by special terms: the elder is mbuya, the younger Aape. The child following them in birth onder is called Chitombs, eis his duty o play the tual drams ata performance of Hubwang' Often the cites are performed for clikomba and his mother when he i a toddler, to “make him strong.” A clitombe fan ako Become a Webs doctor. Although men learn the ‘medicines from female adeps inthe cult, they become the principal doctors and masters of ceremonies. One sgn of ther sate is the double hurting-bell (mpusanby), which once more represents the ddality of twins. "The conclusion ofthe rites further emphasizes the sexual division AC sundown, the senor practitioner takes the winnowting bake, ‘which has been ladon the pot inthe“ sale” compartment, put it om the patient'shead, then raises an lowers it several times, Then he puts the remaining ritual equipment onthe basket and holds the ensemble aloft, He next takes the arzow and place t between hie big toe and second toe and invites the patient to old his wai The pair then hop on thir sight legs straight to the patients hut. Two hours later she is taken out and seshed with what remain ofthe medicine inthe elay pot oF medicine ough, Teonclade this description of the rites of the Double Shrine with a ter that describes i fll the episode of hopping with the arrow ou machi, “Twn what inthe ritual Dig ei canes chino’ dei name ‘When the tual of Walon e aleady Grice inthe lt terabon ‘he doctor tae the aro~ ‘The Ritual Process extent mumpsshny jain yatamaends shins Sin pts iin the clevageof the 0s ofthe ef foot. “Si wiz uaasts rali muNS “Treatene comes and eatches him aroun he wae China we firing Ihe doctor shld cate her hsband rombnd waar find mag ‘De woran wil elap er bunband aroun the was gti arson ial td they wil go bopping nt the slants mane yoke mack ve ee wal pa throu the lg Foher people who ar in the hooray (pati nd bd ate ise mila Son Ft onan i wie wil cary = bow and arrow Sto thet hut Chimie waists "The doctor say to them: sind maintains "Geto the ral [a8 man sas to is sheep or goats, ingen ed ing mile fener your ut enter your hut? ‘Gately tant ent gna Hakala hess mila yu ‘ncn they wen nal the people went way to their own villages “Tanai Wehave ished.” Commenter eis worth noting thatthe term for “berween the toes" mumpasakany, is copmologiealy connected wid the term mpas, the ritual word for i aelme' Tn Néembu ritual generally the arrow stands forthe man tr husband and js eld in the right hand, while the bow represents {he woman and is held in che lef hand. Bow ancl arrow together Srabolze marrage. “To hop” (huzntws) stands for sexual inter- creme end has this meaning i the boys’ circumcision rites, when the naeies are forced to hop on one leg as part of their discipline Paradoxes of Tainship in Ndembu Ritual ot during seclusion Tn Wabuogp's the doctor and the patient hop on their sight legs, for the right isthe side of stuength. The phrase “qulinamalinba” is shouted at domestic animals when they are herded into their Kraals at night, Ie signifies the bestal aspect of twinship, which, as a mode of multiple birt, is considered more fapproprate to animals than oven, The tunae! of legs made by the fades wnder which the father and mather of twins must pass resembles that at the circumcision rites under which the junior {guardians ofthe novices mut pat. This tunnel, at we have ven, Js made by the tenor men in Mutonds, and signifies (1) sexual strength for the junior guardians passing beneath it, and (2) the tite de passage rom junioity to seniority. In HVubwang' ie appears to ‘nean, by homology the incorporation of the parents of tins into the cult association of Wabway into which they are born from the bodies ofthe adepes. Conelasion - Forms of Duality ‘The ritual of twinship among the Ndemabu throws into high relief most types of duality recognized by the Ndemb. The cleavage between men and women, the opposition of mean and private srudgery and social feeling, nd between rerilty and fruitfulnes, se shared by Wabwor's and Lome. But Wabuang' has certain special feature of its own. Ie exhibits filly the animalty and the humanity of sex, inthe forms of excenive production of childeen, ss juctapooed to the snysicry of mariage, which unites dmilars and curbs excess The couple are at once praised for thei excep- tional contribution to society and cursed for ther exces in so doing. [At the same time, the deep contradiction between malin) de- scent and patrilaterality emerge inthe boisterous joking relationship Derween the sexes, which is expliidy eompared tothe joking #e- lasonship between crs-cousine, There i a srong strain, moreover,o” ‘The Ritual Process of egalitarianism in the rites; the sexe are portrayed as equal hough opposed. Ths equality exposes something profound in the earn ofall scialsystems—an idee I develop more fully in Chapter ‘ree, An event, uch as twinning, that falls outside the orthodox dassifcations of society is paradoxically, made the ritual ocesion {ran exhibition of values that relate tothe community a8 whole, re homogeneow, unstructured unity that transcends its diferen- ations and contradictions. This theme, of the dualism between “pmucture” and “‘communita," and their wltimate resolution in ‘egcletay” seen as process rather then timeless entity, dominates the next thre chapters of this book. 2, Preseribed Obscenity {Te would be appropriate here to mention an important snd njusly neglected. paper by Profesor Bvant-Pritchard, “Some “Cotective Expressions of Obscenity in Aftca,” recently republished fn be collection of esnys The Paton of Women in Primitive Society (Goa). Ths paper makes the fellowing points (0) There ae cera spe of ebxcene behavior [in Afican society] the cxpresion of which savas collective, Thee are sual pobibiteds bot weet or peeibed on certain eccasonss 1c) These cecuions are all of soil iraporance, and fll roughly under nc hating, Religious Ceremonies and Joint Economie Undertakings (ro, Hee explains the obscenity a follows (G) The withdraval by society of ie aormal prohibitions gives special caps to the soil value ofthe ativigys “h) Tt ae cartes human esi to prescribed channcs of expr sion at period of aman eis (p19) Waboan's fills neatly into this category of rites of preseribed| and stereotyped obscenity, although it contains crucial episodes ‘uolling marrage, whore network of relationships is characteristic: hy inhibitory of expresions of obuceaity. What we are confronted vith in the twinship rites & in fact 2 domestication of chose wild Paradoxes of Twinship in Nderbu Ritual 93 mpulaes, sexual and aggresive, which Ndembu believe are shared ‘by men and animale. The raw energies released in overt symbols cof senuaity and hostility between the sexe: are channeled toward master symbols representative of structural onde, and values and ‘irtues on which that order depends. Every apparition is overcome fortranscended ina recovered unity, a unity that, moreover, is reine Tovced by the very potencies that endanger it. One aspect of etual isshown by these rts to be a means of putting atthe service af the social order the very forces of disorder tht inhere in man's mam- ‘malian constitution, Biology and structure are put jn right relation by the activation ofan ordered succesion of symbols, which have ‘the twin fanetions of communication and efficacy.3 Liminality and Communitas In this Chapter Take up a theme Ihave discuste briefly eiewhere (Turner, 1967, pp-9§-111), note some fit variations, and consider some aft further implications forthe su of culture and socien ‘This theme is in the ist place represented by the nature and char= acteristics of what Arnold van Gennep (1909) has called the *iminal hase” of ies de pasage Van Gennep himeel defined its de panage as “rites which accompany every change of place, state, sil poi- ton and age." To point up the contrast between “state” and “tan sition," I employ “state” to include all his her term, Ie isa more Inclusive concept than “status” or “oie” and refers to any type fof stable or recurrent condition that is culturally recognized. Van Gennep has shovn that ll ites of passage or “‘ransto ‘marked by three phases: separation, margin (or imi, signifying “threshold” ia Latin), and aggregation. The fit phase (of eeparae tion) comprises symbolic behavior signifying the detachment of the individual or group either from an easier fixed point in the social sHructure, fom a set of eultural conditions (a state") fom both During the intervening “liminal” period, the characteris ofthe ritual subject (the passenger") are ambiguous; he pastes through & cultural realm that has Few or none ofthe attributes ofthe pas oF coming sate. In the thied phase (eaggregation or reincorporation), Liminality ond Commanitas the passage is consummated. The ritual subjet, individual or cor porate is ina clatvely stable state once more and, by vires ofthis, has rights and obligations visi others of «clearly defined and “Heuctural” types he i expected to behave in accordance with certain customary norm and ethical standards binding on incume bent of socal position in a sytem of sch positions Liminaliy “The autsibutesofliminality or fliminal pense (“threshold people”) are necenarily ambiguous, since this condition and these prions lade of slip through the network of elasifeatons that nally Tecate states and postions in cultural space. Liminal entities are neither here nor there; they are betwixt and between the postions ‘assigned and arrayed by law, custom, convention, and ceremonial ‘Assuch, their ambiguous and indeterminate attributes are expresied by rich variety of symbols in Use many societies hat ritulie socal and cultural transitions, Ths, liminaity is fequently likened to ‘death, to being inthe womb, to invisibility, to darkest bien ality, tothe wilderness, and toanecipte ofthe sun or moon, ‘Limsinal ents, such es neophytes in initiation or puberty its, may be represented as posesing nothing. They may be digulsed ae ‘monsters, wear oaly a trip of elothing, or even go naked, to demon- strate that as liminal being they have no stats, property, insignis, secular clothing indicating rank or role, postion in a kinship system in short, nothing that may distinguish them fom their fellow neophytes orintiands. Ther behavioe is normally pie or humble; ‘hey must obey their instructors impli, and accept arbitrary pponshment without complaint. I is as though they are being ce- ‘duced or ground dowe to unlirm condition to be fashioned anew fad endowed with addtional powers to enable them to cope with their new station nile. Among themselves, neophytes tend to develop an intense comradeship and egalitarianism. Secular ditinetons of rank and statar disappear or are homogenized. The condition6 The Ritual Process, of the patient and her husband in lboma had some of these atti- buterpasivity, hmlity,near-nakedness—inasymboliemiliew that represented both a grave and a womb. Tn initiations with a long. period of sechison, such as the crcumesion rites of many tribal focietis or induction int secret societies, there i often ich pro- liferation of minal symbols Conmunites ‘What is interesting about liminal phenomens for our present pur- pote is the blend they offer of lowlines: end sacrednes, of homo geneity and comradeship. We are presented, in sch rites, with a moment ia and out of time,” and in and out of secular social structure, which reveals, however Aeetngly, rome recognition (in symbol if not always in language) of a generalized socal bond that has ceased to be and has simultaneously yt to be fragmented into a smultipiciy of sructoral tes. Thee are the ties organized in terms cither ofan cls, or rank hierarchies or of egmentary oppositions in the stateles societies beloved of politcal anthropologists. Its a though there are here two major “models” for human inteselated- ress, juntapoted and alternating. The frst ie of society at struc- tured, diferentisted, and often hierarchical system of politico-legal- conomie postions with many types of evaluation, separating men in terms of “more” or lest.” The second, which emerges reeogniz- bly in the liminal period, i of socery as an unstructured or rudi~ mentary structured and relatively undifferentiated comitatus, com- ‘munity, oF even communion of equal individuals who submit to- iether to the general authority of the stu elders 1 prefer the Latin term “communitas” to "community," to dis: ‘inguish thir modalty of oil relationship fom an “area ofeommon, living." The distinction between structure and communitas is not simply the familiar one between “secular” and “sacred,” oF the, {or example, between polities and religion, Certain fixed ofices ia teal societies have many sacred attributes; indeed, every soci Liminality and Commusitas Pa poston es sone sacred characteristics. But this“ sacred” component Pacquized by the incumbents of positions during Uh rie de patsez, though which they changed portions. Something of dhe sacrednest ‘rth tansient humility and modelesmess goes over, snd tempers {he pride ofthe incumbent of higher postion or afc. Thi isnot simply, as Fores (1962, p. 86) has cogently argued, x matter of iivinga general stamp of legitimacy ta society's structural positions Teistather a matter of giving recognition to an essential and generic ‘human bond, without which there could be mo society. Liminality implies thatthe high could not be high unles the low existed, and Ine who high must experience what is like tbe low. No doubt something of this thinking, a few years ago, lay behind Prince Philips decision to send hit oo, the heir apparent to the British throne to 8 bush school in Australia for atime, where he could earn Bow "ta rough it” Dialectic ofthe Devlopmentl Cyle ‘From all this infer that, for individuals and groups, socal ile i ‘ypeaf dialectical proces that involves suecesive experience of high td low, communitas and siructure, homogeneity and differentia- tion, equality and inequaliy. The passage fiom lower to higher statis i through a limbo of statualeaneasIn such 9 process, the ‘oppor, at it were, constitute one another and are mutually indie ‘pensable. Furthermore, since any concrete tribal society is made up le personae, groups, and eategoris, each of which has its ‘own developmental eyee, at a given moment many incumbencis of Fixed paritions coexist with many passages between postions, In other words, each individual’ ile experience contains alternating ex- posure to structure and communitas, and to tates and transitions (One brief example from the Ndembu of Zambia of rite de pasage ‘that concern the highest satus in that tribe, that of the senior hie8 The Ritual Process Kanongeshe, willbe wsful here It will also expand our knowledge ofthe way the Ndembu wilze and explain thei tual symbols. The peottion of senior or paramount chief among the Ndembu, a in any other Affican societies, 2 paradoxical one, for he represents both the apex ofthe structared politico-legal hierarchy and the total community as an uastructured unit. He is, symbolically, also the tribal teritory itself and allt rexources. Its erty and freedom from drought, famine, divas, and insect plagues are bound up with his office, and with both his physical and moral condition. Among, the Ndemmbu, the ritual powers af the senior chit were limited by nd combined with thote eld by senior headman of the au- tochthonows Mbvela people, who made submission only after long struggle to their Lunda conqueror led by the fst Kanongesha. An important right was vested in the headman named Kafwana, ofthe Humbu, a branch ofthe Mbvela, Thi 35 the right to confer and periodically to medicate the spreme symbol of chiely satus among vibes of Lunda origin, the latunu bracelet, made from human gen> italia and sinews and soaked in the sacrificial blood of male and female slaves at each installation. Kafwana's ritual tile was Chiv- wikankana, “the one who dreses with or puts on the fam" He also had the tile Mana yaKanmgerha, “mother of Kanongesha," bbeeause he gave symbolic birth to each new incumbent of that ofc. ‘Kafana was also sid to tech exch new Kanongesha the medicines of witcherft, which made hiss feared by his vals and suberdinates perhaps one indication of weak political centralization. "The ln, originally conferred by the head of all the Lunda, the ‘Morantiyanvea ho ruled i the Katanga many miles othe north, ‘was ritually teeated by Kafana and hidden by him during iner- regna, The myatial power ofthe lakau, and hence of the Kanon- {gesha-ship, came jointly fiom Mwantiyanvwa the political fountain- hhead an, Kafwan, the ritual source its employment forthe benefit ofthe land and the people was in the hands of a succession of Individual incumbents ofthe ehifainship. Its origin in Mwantiyan- ‘ywa symbolized the historical unity ofthe Ndembu people, and thie police! differentiation into subehiefdoms under Kanongesha; its Liminaity end Commits 9 periodic medication by Kafwana symbolized the laud—of which Kafe erin wa the original “owner and the total community Living on Joh daily invocations made to it by Kanongesha, at dawn and nst, were fr the fertility and continued health and strength ofthe fund, ofits animal and vegetable resources, and ofthe people—in ‘hor, forthe comonwveal and public good. Bu the Ikan: had a pogative aspect; ie could be ssed by Kanoagesha to curse. If he Touched the earth with it and uttered a certain formula, it was boleved thatthe person or group cursed would become baren their land infertile and thelr ganne invisible. In the akan, Sally, Lunda and Mbwela were sited in the joint concept of Ndembu land and fale Tn the relationship between Lunda and Mbwela, and berween Kanongesha and Kafana, we find a ditineton familiar in Aten between the poitaly or militarily strong and the subdued autoch- thonous people, who ace nevertheless ritually potent. Towan Lewis (ofa) has described such structural infrirs as having ‘the power for powersof the weak””(p.141)- One well-known example from the Tterature to be found in Meyer Forte's acount of the Tallens of | northern Ghana, where the incoming Namoos brought chifainship fed highly developed ancestral cult to the autochthonous Tale, ‘who, for ther part ae thought to have important ritual powers ‘connestion with the carth and its caverns. In the great Golb Festival, held annually, the union ofehiefly and priest\y powers i syabolzed by the mystical marriage between chief of Tongo leader fot the Namoos, andthe great earth-pris, the Golibdaana, of the “Tale, portrayed respectively as “husband” and “wile” Among [Ndembu, Kafana i alo considered, az we have sen, symbolically feminine in relation to Kanongesha. I could multiply examples of this typeof dichotomy many times from African source sone, and its range i work-wide, The point I would ike to stres ere is chat there ea certain homology between the“ weaknes"and pany” ol iminaity in diachronic tansions Between states and status, andthe “structural” or synchronic inferiovty of certain persona, troupe, and social categories in polieal, legal, and economici ‘The Ritual Process ayer The “mint” nd the “inferior” conditions are fen aso» reer Trial powers and with the total commnity en a ‘undiferentiates. ne Teva to the installation rites of the Kanongesha of the [Naaaoa, The minal component of sch sites Begins with the con aac ofa small seer of lenves about a mile avay fom the seh lage This hat sown feo fn a erm Niemi care om haf “to di,” fo ite here thatthe ehielect dies eee Tetpmmaonce wae. imagery of death abounds in Ndembu sry For example, the secret and scred site where novice are aad is kaown a flo cf, x term also derived from ‘guns The chit elect, clad in nothing but a raged watson and thee ie, who is either hs senior wife (mad) oF a special 2 re Maan, known as (kan (after the royal bracelet) fr the sarees clad, ae called by Kafwana 0 enter the aft Sheer just ater sundown incidentally, i ako ener een or lkons in thee rites, The couple are led there at TR they were infirm. There they sit erouced in « peste of sa fy) or modesty, eile Uy are washed with medicines aa ctiater brought fom Katukangonyi the sive site where ae chk of the southern Lands diaspora dwet fora while sree journey fram Movantyanva’s capital before separating fo oo in or theres: The wood for tis ie must not be carts an ax bt ound Iyngon the ground. Tht means that ithe sa ofthe er ul and notan arc Ones mre wese the reunion of ancestral Lundabood andthe chthonic powers, reevjan the rte of Kamiya which means Uteraly “10 sp vir inmling words agit hm" we might all hi ite Peak lng ofthe Chie Elec.” It begins when Kafana makes rane eine undesde ofthe chic’ eft arm—on which the fakant aan Ua be drawn on the morrow—presss medicine into the brace ad pene maton the upper sie ofthe arm. The chief incom fue are the free rather roughly to sit on the mat. The aa ox peegoant fr the tes that low are held to destroy wan Moreover, the ci couple mur have refrained fom sex wea couges for several days before the ites. Liminality ond Commute wot “Kafana nov breaks nto homily, as fllows eset! You area mca ad eh fk, one who i bad ener! You {5 nt lve your linn, you ae only angry wit then Meno and hema al yu Boe! Yet ere eb lle you ad we sy tat you ‘socal the cesetp, Pt nvny meant pt ie eg pater intcoure giv them up nuneday! We have gwted Mu biti. You mat eat ith ou lw men, you mat re ch: Dn me pre ich ist or may ee or [Bo inthe hurt eden We have died you and you Oh foro cit. Let our we prep fond forthe people who came be 1 the opt lage Do not be ela, do not keep the ein to {rst hu wth te peopl, oa mat sein em cca sentSpe ne een en se You ma mb ling pepe! “You mst sbeungenero to peopl! elas But you Chief Kanongen, Civaaeno ("on wh rene i tar" of Mirantiyanwa, you hve danced fr Your hip becne Yenc a ya yon lel na You Sent Yumi rol Ohare yu {any yeu te the cheap You mu ge op your sh way sya Be is You ms give op Your selish was, ‘rm ame ang oar the Yum ey ig nae Sra, You mato ig tae ba ny law eave nevi your perl, pili where Your ow eden einvted You muntsy:" iemeans hela with any wie tony T man nse cs un. Fmt nth ret i sin Ii nt kp otek ‘Aeris harangu, any pein who oni ny penn wh conser tat he Ba been wont by he fs ep ele fre ined ‘most fully express his resente ch deal na Sey re i een nc et he rc Thechielt,drng all has sey with down can bea, the pate fal patience” and hum. Kafana ‘Srv ntsc wih meting ne ing Seok ai him Gm) igh, May iran vet me that "acini a lve (dn) on the night See he ae” He rtd fo sing ly Pt cr ety ee al he ee cl ee cams abou he shdes of end che, “who wil sy that heroa The Ritual Process wrong to succeed them, for hase not killed them?” Kafwans his lune, and other important men, sich as village hesden, mane handle the chief and hie wife—who is similarly reviled—and order thom to fetch firewood and perform other menial tasks, The chief nay aot resent any of this or hold it against the perpetrators in times “The phase of reaggregation in this cae comprises the public nstallae tion of the Kenongesha with all pomp and ceremony. While this Mould be of the utmost interest in study of Ndembu chieftanship, Tina to an important trend in current British social anthropology, it des not concern us here. Our present focus is upon liminality and the ital powers of the weak. These are shown under two aspects, ‘Fast, Kafwana and the other Ndembu commoners are revealed 3b Driveged to exert authority over the supreme authority igure af he ibe, I liminalty, the underling comes uppermost. Second, the Supreme political authority is portrayed “as slave,” recalling that supect ofthe coronation ofa pope in western Chrstendors when he ieealled upon to be the “sees zsorim De.” Part ofthe rite has of couse, what Moniea Wilson (1957, Pp. 46-54) has called a “pre~ Shylacie function.” The chief has wo exert sclEconra i the sts That he may be able to have selimastery thereafter in face of the temptations of poster. But the role ofthe humbled chiefs only an feaveme example of a recurrent theme of minal stations. ‘This theme is the stripping off of prliminal and posliminalateibutes Tet us look at the main ingredients ofthe Kumulinil ites. The chief and his wile are dressed identically in «ragged wais-cloth and Share the same hathe—moady, ‘This term is abo applied to boys “undergoing initiation and to a man's Sst wife in chronological order Ufmariage. Tit an index of the anonymous state of “intiand.” “Thee atibutes of exlesinest and anonyanty are highly character~ te of liminality. In many kinds of initiation where the neophytes tre ofboth exes ales and females are dressed alike and referred to Liminaiy end Commaitas 103 by the same term. Tis iste, for example, of many baptismal cexe- Ponies in Chriaten or syncreti sce in Alien: for example, those ef ihe Be cult in the Gabon (James Fernander; personal com= aniction). Is also true of inition into the Néembu funera ‘Duowtation of Chilo, Syenbolclly, all atwibutes that distinguish ‘gorier and groups inthe structured ocal order are herein abey- sree the neophytes ate merely entities in transition, as yt without place or potion. ‘Other characterises ae submissivenes and silence. Not only the chien the rites under discuston, but also neophytes in many nits de usage have wo submit oan authority that is noting les than that ef dhe total community. This community s the repository of the Sthole gamut ofthe culture's vals, norms, atiudes sentiment, and Telaionships i epeesetatve in the specific rite—and these may ‘ary from ritual to situal—represent the generic authority of tradi- ‘on In tba societies, too, speech not merely communication but Sho power and wisdom, The wisdom (mana) that is imparted in There iminality i not just an aggregation of words and sentences; jets ontological value it refashion the very being ofthe neophyte, "That is why in the Chisagu rites ofthe Bemba, so well described by ‘Audtey Richard (1958), the seluded ge is sti to be grown into ‘woman’ by the female elde—and she isso grown by the verbal tnd nonverbal insrution the receives precept and symbol, speci tly by the revelation to her of tribal saa in the form of potery images. "The neophyte in liminaity must be a tabula rasa, a blank slate, con which i inaribed the knowledge and wiviom ofthe group, in those respects that pertain to the new status. The ordeal and huili- tions, often ofa grey physiological character, to which neophytes tee submitted represent partly » destruction of the previous status tnd party a tempering ef ther exence in order to prepare them to Cope with their new responsibilities and retrain them in advance fiom abusing their new privileges. They have to be shown that in themselves the are clay or dt, mere mater, whose form i impres- sed upon them by society.real ‘The Ritual Process [Another lira theme exemplified in the Ndembu icstallation rites somal continence, This is a pervasive theme of Ndembu ‘toa Indeed, the resumption of sexual relations is usually a cere= ‘noni mark ofthe return to zeiety asa structure of statuses, While Thos a feature of certain types of teligious behavior in almost all ‘elec preindustrial society, with it trong stress on Kinship as the bass of many types of group fiat, sexual continence has Muitonal religious force, For kinship, or relations shaped by the ‘liom ot kinship, tone ofthe main factors in structural diferentia- viens The undifferentiated character of Kminaity is reflected by the “Teepatinuance of sexual relations and the absence of marked sexual polarity. Tis insrucive to analyze the homiletc of Kafwana, in seeking to rasp the meaning of mia. The reader wil remember that he ainda the chieheet or hisgelfshnes, meanness, theft anger, witch= ‘aft, and greed All these vices represent the desire to posses for one- Sat what ought tobe shared for the common good. An incumbent of igh status peutanly tempted to use the authority vested in him by aancy to sataly these private and privative wishes. But he should ‘ened his privileges as git of the whole community, whieh in the nl sue bas an oversight over all his actions. Structure and the High offices provided by structre are thus seen as instrumentalites fie commonweal, not as means of peronal aggrandizement, The Ghief must not “keep his ehiefainship to himself." He “must laugh

Você também pode gostar

• Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race

  

  No Everand

  Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race

  Margot Lee Shetterly

  Nota: 4 de 5 estrelas

  4/5 (895)
• The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life

  

  No Everand

  The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life

  Mark Manson

  Nota: 4 de 5 estrelas

  4/5 (5794)
• Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike

  

  No Everand

  Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike

  Phil Knight

  Nota: 4.5 de 5 estrelas

  4.5/5 (537)
• • Revistas
  • Podcasts
  • Partituras
• Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

  

  No Everand

  Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

  Angela Duckworth

  Nota: 4 de 5 estrelas

  4/5 (588)
• The Yellow House: A Memoir (2019 National Book Award Winner)

  

  No Everand

  The Yellow House: A Memoir (2019 National Book Award Winner)

  Sarah M. Broom

  Nota: 4 de 5 estrelas

  4/5 (98)
• Principles: Life and Work

  

  No Everand

  Principles: Life and Work

  Ray Dalio

  Nota: 4 de 5 estrelas

  4/5 (599)
• Yes Please

  

  No Everand

  Yes Please

  Amy Poehler

  Nota: 4 de 5 estrelas

  4/5 (1891)
• The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living

  

  No Everand

  The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living

  Meik Wiking

  Nota: 3.5 de 5 estrelas

  3.5/5 (400)
• Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

  

  No Everand

  Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

  Chris Voss

  Nota: 4.5 de 5 estrelas

  4.5/5 (838)
• Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future

  

  No Everand

  Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future

  Ashlee Vance

  Nota: 4.5 de 5 estrelas

  4.5/5 (474)
• A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius: A Memoir Based on a True Story

  

  No Everand

  A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius: A Memoir Based on a True Story

  Dave Eggers

  Nota: 3.5 de 5 estrelas

  3.5/5 (231)
• Rise of ISIS: A Threat We Can't Ignore

  

  No Everand

  Rise of ISIS: A Threat We Can't Ignore

  Jay Sekulow

  Nota: 3.5 de 5 estrelas

  3.5/5 (137)
• The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer

  

  No Everand

  The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer

  Siddhartha Mukherjee

  Nota: 4.5 de 5 estrelas

  4.5/5 (271)
• Fear: Trump in the White House

  

  No Everand

  Fear: Trump in the White House

  Bob Woodward

  Nota: 3.5 de 5 estrelas

  3.5/5 (738)
• Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America

  

  No Everand

  Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America

  Gilbert King

  Nota: 4.5 de 5 estrelas

  4.5/5 (266)
• The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers

  

  No Everand

  The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers

  Ben Horowitz

  Nota: 4.5 de 5 estrelas

  4.5/5 (345)
• On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal

  

  No Everand

  On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal

  Naomi Klein

  Nota: 4 de 5 estrelas

  4/5 (74)
• The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century

  

  No Everand

  The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century

  Thomas L. Friedman

  Nota: 3.5 de 5 estrelas

  3.5/5 (2259)
• Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

  

  No Everand

  Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

  Doris Kearns Goodwin

  Nota: 4.5 de 5 estrelas

  4.5/5 (234)
• The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America

  

  No Everand

  The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America

  George Packer

  Nota: 4 de 5 estrelas

  4/5 (45)
• The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are

  

  No Everand

  The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are

  Brené Brown

  Nota: 4 de 5 estrelas

  4/5 (1090)
• Angela's Ashes: A Memoir

  

  No Everand

  Angela's Ashes: A Memoir

  Frank McCourt

  Nota: 4.5 de 5 estrelas

  4.5/5 (440)
• Steve Jobs

  

  No Everand

  Steve Jobs

  Walter Isaacson

  Nota: 4.5 de 5 estrelas

  4.5/5 (806)
• Bad Feminist: Essays

  

  No Everand

  Bad Feminist: Essays

  Roxane Gay

  Nota: 4 de 5 estrelas

  4/5 (1016)
• The Glass Castle: A Memoir

  

  No Everand

  The Glass Castle: A Memoir

  Jeannette Walls

  Nota: 4.5 de 5 estrelas

  4.5/5 (1713)
• John Adams

  

  No Everand

  John Adams

  David McCullough

  Nota: 4.5 de 5 estrelas

  4.5/5 (2409)
• The Outsider: A Novel

  

  No Everand

  The Outsider: A Novel

  Stephen King

  Nota: 4 de 5 estrelas

  4/5 (1839)
• The Light Between Oceans: A Novel

  

  No Everand

  The Light Between Oceans: A Novel

  M.L. Stedman

  Nota: 4.5 de 5 estrelas

  4.5/5 (789)
• Brooklyn: A Novel

  

  No Everand

  Brooklyn: A Novel

  Colm Toibin

  Nota: 3.5 de 5 estrelas

  3.5/5 (1937)
• The Sympathizer: A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)

  

  No Everand

  The Sympathizer: A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)

  Viet Thanh Nguyen

  Nota: 4.5 de 5 estrelas

  4.5/5 (121)
• The Woman in Cabin 10

  

  No Everand

  The Woman in Cabin 10

  Ruth Ware

  Nota: 3.5 de 5 estrelas

  3.5/5 (2322)
• Little Women

  

  No Everand

  Little Women

  Louisa May Alcott

  Nota: 4 de 5 estrelas

  4/5 (104)
• A Man Called Ove: A Novel

  

  No Everand

  A Man Called Ove: A Novel

  Fredrik Backman

  Nota: 4.5 de 5 estrelas

  4.5/5 (4610)
• Wolf Hall: A Novel

  

  No Everand

  Wolf Hall: A Novel

  Hilary Mantel

  Nota: 4 de 5 estrelas

  4/5 (3811)
• Manhattan Beach: A Novel

  

  No Everand

  Manhattan Beach: A Novel

  Jennifer Egan

  Nota: 3.5 de 5 estrelas

  3.5/5 (792)
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower

  

  No Everand

  The Perks of Being a Wallflower

  Stephen Chbosky

  Nota: 4.5 de 5 estrelas

  4.5/5 (2104)
• The Art of Racing in the Rain: A Novel

  

  No Everand

  The Art of Racing in the Rain: A Novel

  Garth Stein

  Nota: 4 de 5 estrelas

  4/5 (4200)
• The Constant Gardener: A Novel

  

  No Everand

  The Constant Gardener: A Novel

  John le Carré

  Nota: 3.5 de 5 estrelas

  3.5/5 (104)
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

  

  No Everand

  A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

  Betty Smith

  Nota: 4.5 de 5 estrelas

  4.5/5 (1929)
• Her Body and Other Parties: Stories

  

  No Everand

  Her Body and Other Parties: Stories

  Carmen Maria Machado

  Nota: 4 de 5 estrelas

  4/5 (821)
• Sing, Unburied, Sing: A Novel

  

  No Everand

  Sing, Unburied, Sing: A Novel

  Jesmyn Ward

  Nota: 4 de 5 estrelas

  4/5 (1103)