Nuer colwic ceremony
84 x 57 mm (3.25 x 2.25 inch) | Negative film nitrate
There are records relating to alternative images that we do not have scans for in the database:
1998.355.173.2 - Print gelatin silver , (84 x 57 mm (3.25 x 2.25 inch))
1998.355.173.2 - Print gelatin silver , (84 x 57 mm (3.25 x 2.25 inch))
Date of Print:
Unknown
Previous PRM Number:
EP.N.IV.49
Previous Other Number:
4
Accession Number:
1998.355.173.1
Description:
A dark image at sunset of a group of men gathered near a colwic shrine, visible as a pole with a forked top, sacrificing an ox for the spirit of a girl killed by lightning called Nyakewa.
This event was witnessed by Evans-Pritchard in 1936.
The colwic shrine, consisting of an mound of earth surrounded by offerings of tobacco with a sapling of the nyuot tree planted in the centre can be seen in other images, probably taken the next day.
Nyakewa was considered to have become a colwic, a spirit taken directly by God.
This specific intervention by the divine was considered so dangerous to all associated with the deceased that sacrifice is made by all relatives, and a special shrine erected with offerings.
Photographer:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Date of Photo:
1936 October - November
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Wahda Nyueny
Group:
Nuer Leek Karlual
NamedPerson:
Nyakewa
PRM Source:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Acquired:
Donated 1966
Other Owners:
E. E. Evans-Pritchard Collection
Class:
Religion , Ritual
Keyword:
[Shrine]
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 IV, ms ink] - 49. ?sacrifice
Manual Catalogues [index taken from album book IV, ms ink] - 49. ?sacrifice
Other Information:
In E.
E.
Evans-Pritchard's Nuer Religion (Oxford University Press 1974 [1957]), page 57, he notes that 'Shortly before sunset a procession of about twenty men arrived bearing in their hands leaves of the tobacco plant and heads of millet..
The procession was headed by the master of ceremonies leading a black ox, a thak ma col.' [Chris Morton 14/6/2004] In Nuer Religion (Oxford University Press 1974 [1957]), page 59, E-P mentions that the colwic ceremony for Nyakewa took place in the same village as the possession of Galuak by the spirit nai, an event that took place during E-P's fieldwork in Nyueny village among the Karlual in 1936.
[Chris Morton 16/6/2004]
Recorder:
Christopher Morton [14/6/2004] [Southern Sudan Project]
