Ingessana small shrine house

103 x 76 mm | Print gelatin silver

There are records relating to alternative images that we do not have scans for in the database:
1998.344.83.1 - Negative film nitrate , (103 x 76 mm)

Date of Print:

Unknown

Previous PRM Number:

EP.D.83

Previous Other Number:

C 5

Accession Number:

1998.344.83.2

Description:

A hut with partially derelict wicker walls and no door, known as a punuk or little shrine, being a type of we i tel or house of a god, in the homestead of chief Nurufa. Whereas the punuk was not considered a dwelling place for a god, the greater shrine-huts were, and were consequently treated with great respect and set apart. The custodian of the punuk (usually the chief) was responsible for ceremonies within it to determine festival dates and other ritual activities, but for much of the year the hut was neglected and there are no ritual objects stored within it.

Photographer:

Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard

Date of Photo:

1926 November - December

Region:

Blue Nile Tabi Hills Soda

Group:

Ingessana (Gaam)

NamedPerson:

Nurufa

PRM Source:

Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard

Acquired:

Donated 1966

Other Owners:

E. E. Evans-Pritchard Collection

Class:

Religion , Ritual , Shelter

Keyword:

Building Religious

Documentation:

Original catalogue lists in Manuscript Collections. Additional material in related documents files. [CM 27/9/2005]

Primary Documentation:

PRM Accession Records - Accession Book Entry [p. 98] 1966.27 [1 - 24] G[ift] PROFESSOR E. E. EVANS-PRITCHARD; INST. OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY, 51 BANBURY RD. OXFORD - 1966.27.19 - S. SUDAN, DARFUNG. VARIOUS TRIBES. Box of negatives in envelopes, [1 - 242] & 1966.27.20 - Box of prints of these negatives [refers to object 1966.27.19] [1 - 242], in envelopes.

Manual Catalogues [typewritten, entitled "Ingassana"] - 83. House of the Sun. C.5

Note on print reverse ms pencil - "Punuk (Nurufa) Punuk a ceremonial house C5"

Other Information:

The Ingassana wessuk i tel or houses of God are discussed in detail on pages 102-115 of M.C. Jedrej's Ingessana: The Religious Institutions of a People of the Sudan-Ethiopia Borderland (E.J.Brill, The Netherlands 1995). In particular he clarifies that the Ingassana use of the word tel to describe deities has historically led to their description as sun-worshippers, whereas the sun is in fact one of the most significant of things brought into creation, the word tel in verbal formed meaning to create. Evans-Pritchard senses (although doesn't fully recognise) this distinction in his statement that 'They worship tel, the sun, who made the world and men and all living things in it. Tel seems to be regarded as a beneficent but distant being. I think that in every-day talk the sun is regarded as a natural feature rather than as a deity.' A Preliminary Account of the Ingassana Tribe in Fung Province, Sudan Notes and Records X, 1927, page 83. [Chris Morton 5/2/2004]

Recorder:

Christopher Morton 5/2/2004 [Southern Sudan Project]