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:
1998.355.263.2 - Print gelatin silver , (84 x 57 mm (3.25 x 2.25 inch))

Date of Print:

Unknown

Previous PRM Number:

EP.N.VI.29

Previous Other Number:

Accession Number:

1998.355.263.1

Description:

A dark image at sunset of a group of men gathered near a colwic shrine, visible as a pole with a forked top, making an invocation before sacrificing a black ox for the spirit of a girl killed by lightning called Nyakewa. The colwic shrine, consisting of a mound of earth surrounded by offerings of tobacco with a sapling of the nyuot tree planted in the centre is visible in other images probably taken the following morning. 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. In all more than twenty animals were sacrificed over several days.

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 , Animal Husbandry

Keyword:

Shrine , Animal Cattle

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 VI, ms ink] - 29. Men

Other Information:

In E. E. Evans-Pritchard's Nuer Religion (Oxford University Press 1974 [1957]), page 57-8, he notes that '[s]hortly 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.. the black ox was speared near the funeral mound..' On page 59, it is mentioned 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 [29/6/2004] [Southern Sudan Project]