Ritual anointing of Zande widows
61 x 40 mm | Print gelatin silver
Date of Print:
Unknown
Previous PRM Number:
EP.A.300
Previous Other Number:
12 3 (4)
Accession Number:
1998.341.300.2
Description:
Two widows (dekurugbo) in the foreground (with shaven heads, one with string around torso) being ritually anointed with oil at the termination of their mourning period, when a feast is held.
After a husband's death widows would have been expected to marry either his brother or another close male relative (levirate).
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:
Toilet , Ritual , Ornament
Keyword:
Hair , Ornament Body
Activity:
Ritual Activity
Event:
Ceremony
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)"] - 300. Ritual anointing of widows. (Small size). 12/3 (4)
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)"] - 300. Ritual anointing of widows. (Small size). 12/3 (4)
Other Information:
In Man and Woman among the Azande (Faber & Faber 1974, page 169-170) E.
E.
Evans-Pritchard quotes an unidentified Zande source who says that 'When the widow is living in such poverty and misery the relatives of the dead appoint a woman among them who is to anoint the widow with oil at the end of the period of mourning...
this termination of the mourning period is done when the magic to kill those responsible for the dead man's death has done its work.'
Recorder:
Christopher Morton 30/10/2003 [Southern Sudan Project]
