Moro Endri rain-maker's grave-shrine

103 x 75 mm | Print gelatin silver

Condition:

Silver sulphide staining [EE 1989]

Date of Print:

Unknown

Previous PRM Number:

EP.M.27

Previous Other Number:

IX 7; handlist no. 239

Accession Number:

1998.345.27.2

Description:

A few stones of a megalithic grave are just visible beneath a bush and grasses, marking the grave site of the famous rain-maker Kiluba and his family. It is here that one of Evans-Pritchard's informants about Moro rainmaking during his 1927 expedition (Mogia) stated that he came to make a fowl sacrifice and perform other rites should rain be required. The Böri clan of rain-makers seems to have been restricted to the southern Moro Endri and perhaps Moro Oggi (Uggi). The identification and description of medicine-men and rain-makers among different groups was an explicit direction given to Evans-Pritchard by C. G. Seligman in compiling the ethnographic survey of the southern Sudan.

Photographer:

Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard

Date of Photo:

1927

Region:

[Southern Sudan] Western Equatoria Amadi District Woonibah

Group:

Moro ?Endri

NamedPerson:

Kiluba

Publication History:

Contemporary Publication - Reproduced in E. E. Evans-Pritchard's article A Note on Rain-Makers Among the Moro , Man, 1938 (April) no.49, 54, with the caption "Graves protected with grass and shrubs". [Chris Morton 3/3/2004]

PRM Source:

Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard

Acquired:

Donated 1966

Other Owners:

E. E. Evans-Pritchard Collection

Class:

Religion , Death , Ritual , Vegetation

Keyword:

Shrine , Grave , Grave Marker

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 "Moro"] - 239. Grave of rain maker

Note on print reverse ms pencil - "Grave shrine of Rain-maker IX-7"

Notes on card mount ms pencil - "SSS overall 8.89"

Other Information:

Ethnographic context - In E. E. Evans-Pritchard's article A Note on Rain-Makers Among the Moro, Man, 1938 (April) no.49, 54, he states that 'The rain-maker Mogia of Kariba, an old man who had been a soldier in Egyptian Government times, told me that to make rain he cuts the throat of a fowl over the grave of an important rain-maker, named Kiluba. He also washes his face from a pot of water and sprinkles water on the grave with a length of kwono creeper. Kiluba's grave is a simple mound and is surrounded by the graves of members of his family. In the dry season the grasses and shrubs near the graves are not burnt like the surrounding bush. Care is taken to protect them against fire, for it is said that were they to be burnt there would be drought.' [Chris Morton 3/3/2004]

Recorder:

Christopher Morton 3/3/2004 [Southern Sudan Project]