Nuer sheep sacrifice

58 x 55 mm | Negative film nitrate

There are records relating to alternative images that we do not have scans for in the database:
1998.355.128.2 - Print gelatin silver , (56 x 54 mm )

Date of Print:

Unknown

Previous PRM Number:

EP.N.III.57

Previous Other Number:

64 2 (A162)

Accession Number:

1998.355.128.1

Description:

Men stand to watch a tethered sheep in its death throes after it has been sacrificed by the master of ceremonies, who holds his arms aloft. A large hammer lies discarded in the foreground after being used to knock in the tethering peg. Castrated sheep and goats were frequently used in sacrifice in place of oxen, with particular care taken to note the way the beast falls, since this may indicate the success or potential failure of the sacrificial purpose. Evans-Pritchard describes having witnessed a Lou sheep sacrifice at Yakwach for a girl possessed by a lion-spirit, a cow also being dedicated to the spirit to placate it.

Photographer:

Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard

Date of Photo:

1935 July

Region:

[Southern Sudan] Upper Nile Sobat River Yakwach

Group:

Nuer Lou

Publication History:

Contemporary Publication - Reproduced as Plate XI (facing page 228) in E. E. Evans-Pritchard's Nuer Religion (Oxford University Press 1974 [1957]) with the caption 'Death of victim and end of invocation' [Chris Morton 2/6/2004]

PRM Source:

Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard

Acquired:

Donated 1966

Other Owners:

E. E. Evans-Pritchard Collection

Class:

Ritual , Religion

Keyword:

Animal Sheep

Activity:

Ritual Activity

Event:

Sacrifice

Documentation:

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

Primary Documentation:

Accession Book Entry [p. 98] 1966.27 [1 - 24] G[ift] PROFESSOR E. E. EVANS-PRITCHARD; INST. OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY, 51 BANBURY RD. OXFORD 1966.27.1-16 S. SUDAN. NUER TRIBE. Sixteen negative albums containing negatives and prints of photographs taken by donor during field-work. All listed in albums. Added Accession Book Entry - [p. 98 in right hand column, in pencil] Catalogue room.

Manual Catalogues [index taken from album book III, ms ink] - 57. Sacrifice

Note on negative ms ink - "A162"

Other Information:

Image context - In E. E. Evans-Pritchard's Nuer Religion (Oxford University Press 1974 [1957]), page 65, he notes that 'While I was living in a cattle camp at the same village of Yakwac...a girl of the lineage was taken hold of by the lion-spirit and had hysterics. Her family sacrificed a sheep to the spirit and dedicated a cow to it, for the seizure was thought to have been due to their failure to dedicate a cow to it earlier; and the girl was restored to her normal self.' [Chris Morton 2/6/2004]

Recorder:

Christopher Morton [2/6/2004] [Southern Sudan Project]