Zande circumcision ritual
104 x 78 mm | Print gelatin silver
There are records relating to alternative images that we do not have scans for in the database:
1998.341.169.1 - Negative film nitrate , (104 x 78 mm)
1998.341.169.1 - Negative film nitrate , (104 x 78 mm)
Date of Print:
Unknown
Previous PRM Number:
EP.A.169
Previous Other Number:
92 5 (49) [frame 10]
Accession Number:
1998.341.169.2
Description:
A group of seated circumcision initiates, two of whom have mats encircling their upper bodies and under their feet who are awaiting ritual gifts.
Others are wearing straw hats that have unfinished brims.
Photographer:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Date of Photo:
1927 - 1930
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Western Equatoria Yambio
Group:
Zande
PRM Source:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Acquired:
Donated 1966
Other Owners:
E. E. Evans-Pritchard Collection
Class:
Ritual , Basketry , Clothing Headgear
Keyword:
Ornament Body , Mat , Headdress
Activity:
Ritual Activity
Event:
Ceremony Circumcision
Documentation:
Original catalogue lists in Manuscript Collections. Additional material in related documents files. [CM 27/9/2005]
Primary Documentation:
PRM Accession Records - [1966.27.21] G PROFESSOR E.
E.
EVANS-PRITCHARD; INST.
OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY, 51 BANBURY RD.
OXFORD - S.
SUDAN, AZANDE TRIBE.
Box of negatives in envelopes.
Nos.
1 - 400
Added Accession Book Entry - [In pencil in column] Catalogue room.
[1966.27.23] G PROFESSOR E. E. EVANS-PRITCHARD; INST. OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY, 51 BANBURY RD. OXFORD - S. SUDAN, AZANDE TRIBE. Box of prints in envelopes, nos. 1 - 400 (prints of negatives in 1966.27.21)
Manual Catalogues [typewritten, entitled "Zande Photographs (E-P)"] - 169. Circumcision Ceremonial (Shows boys seated with mats round heads and under feet waiting for gifts). 92/5 (49)
Added Accession Book Entry - [In pencil in column] Catalogue room.
[1966.27.23] G PROFESSOR E. E. EVANS-PRITCHARD; INST. OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY, 51 BANBURY RD. OXFORD - S. SUDAN, AZANDE TRIBE. Box of prints in envelopes, nos. 1 - 400 (prints of negatives in 1966.27.21)
Manual Catalogues [typewritten, entitled "Zande Photographs (E-P)"] - 169. Circumcision Ceremonial (Shows boys seated with mats round heads and under feet waiting for gifts). 92/5 (49)
Other Information:
In The Azande (OUP, 1971) p.113 E.
E.
Evans-Pritchard notes that 'when Czekanowski carried out his researches in the years 1907-8 circumcision was in process of being introduced and had indeed become so much the fashion that adults were undergoing the operation...
It is remarkable that in so short a time the practice had come to be regarded as so much a Zande custom that aboro pito 'the uncircumcised', had become a scornful epithet used in reference to other peoples....
My informants said that it [circumcision] came to them from the Amadi...
Mgr Lagae says that the Azande of the south were initiated into the practice by the Mangbetu and the Abarambo, those of the north by the Amadi.' P.
Baxter & A.
Butt (London AIA, 1953 pages 73-4) discuss C.R.
Lagae's published accounts of circumcision among the Azande, noting that it takes place near a stream and away from settlement, the period of seclusion being about two months and the boys residing in specially made huts there.
The period is brought to a close with a feast and dancing, after which the boy takes a new name and social position.
They state 'When all the boys' wounds have healed, the sponsors send word to the homesteads, and the parents make ready a feast and prepare to receive the boys with appropriate rites and gifts.' (Ibid page 74) [Chris Morton 16/10/2003]
Recorder:
Christopher Morton 16/10/2003 [Southern Sudan Project]
