Ebook: Rituals of Kinship among the Nyakyusa

Originally published in 1957, analyses the rituals celebrated by groups of kinsmen on the occasion of births, marriages and deaths within the age villages of the Nyakyusa. the connection between the form of the rituals and the kinship structure is examined. The symbolism of the rituals throws great light on the psychological reactions of this African people to death and birth, sin and misfortune, expiation and reconciliation.

The rituals of kinship express, first and foremost, the differentiation and the unity of agnatic lineages. In all the rituals members of a lineage act together as a distinct group, bound together by common 'blood' which is symbolized by the ikipiki medicine. A lineage includes the living and dead, who have communion together, sharing ikipiki medicine and food and beer, in most of the rituals of the cycle. Lineages are linked by marriage and kinship between them is established by the passage of cattle. The distinction and opposition of lineages is apparent in the ritual of puberty and marriage which expresses both hostility and conciliation. In any society the practical, intellectual, and emotional aspects are mutually dependent; the practical organization is dependent upon, and at the same time supports, an intellectual system, certain cosmological ideas, and attitudes. Among the Nyakyusa order is maintained partly by fear of supernatural sanctions.

The framework of all the rituals is the induction with a formal laying of the litter of banana leaves in a hut into which the participant is brought to live apart from other people; the retreat or seclusion during which he lives and eats apart and is regarded as filthy, for he is 'brooded over' by the shades; and the bringing out when the shades are driven away and he is purified. The nature of the shades is revealed in Nyakyusa rituals. In the Nyakyusa view there is a direct and immediate link between misfortune and wrong-doing. The neglect of the marriage ritual is itself an expression of disrespect for parents or parents-in-law, and a breach of the sex code, of which the basic rule is the separation of the reproductive activities of successive generations.

The book explores the rituals celebrated by kinsmen at death, at the puberty and marriage of a girl, at birth, especially twin birth, and in misfortune. It then deals with the communal rituals celebrated before the annual break of the rains; whenever public misfortune such as drought, flood, famine, or plague occurs or threatens; before battle; and when a chief is succeeded by his sons, and the younger generation take over power from their elders. The book are describes the rituals of the main cultural groups of the Nyakyusa—those of the people of Selya and Masoko and the Lake-shore plain which are similar, and those of the Kukwe which are different, and a few references are made to other variations.