Dinka spirit-shrine

82 x 82 mm | Lantern slide glass

MountDimension:

82 x 82 mm

Date of Print:

Unknown

Previous Other Number:

V.e.8 (423)

Accession Number:

1967.26.158

Description:

A buor or spirit shrine situated next to a hut, photographed by the Seligmans at Bor village on the Nile, made for the spirits of the recent dead, at the behest of a tiet or spirit healer. They were made by digging a hole and over filling it with mud into a low mound, with sacrificial ox horns thrust in it and in this instance a sapling also. The Seligmans visited villages in the Bor locality in the dry season of 1910, with Archdeacon Shaw acting as guide and interpreter.

Photographer:

Charles Gabriel Seligman

Date of Photo:

1910 March

Region:

[Southern Sudan] Jonglei Bor

Group:

Dinka Bor

PRM Source:

London School of Economics and Political Science

Acquired:

Donated 1967

Other Owners:

C. G. Seligman slide collection

Class:

Ritual Object , Religion , Shelter

Keyword:

Shrine , Building House

Documentation:

Manual Catalogue in Related Documents File

Primary Documentation:

Accession Book Entry - [1967.26] THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE, HOUGHTON STREET, ALDWYCH, LONDON, W.C.E. PER MR ANTHONY FORGE - SUDAN. Box containing 309 lantern slides (3 1/4” x 3 1/4”) made from photographs taken by the late Professor C. G. SELIGMAN in various parts of the SUDAN. All slides numbered and labelled. Catalogue in file (“Seligman Slide Collection”). Additional Accession Book Entry - [in pencil] 18 Parks Rd.

Manual catalogue entry (thermofax catalogue copy in folder '27-06 Seligman Slide Collection') - "V.e.8. Dinka shrine at Bor"

Note on lantern slide ms ink - "V.e.8. Dinka shrine at Bor. 423. CGS."

Other Information:

In C.G. & B. Seligman's Pagan Tribes of the Nilotic Sudan (London, Routledge 1932), page 204-5, they note that 'The buor is constructed by digging a hole about a foot deep and filling this with mud, enough being used to project well above the surface, where it is moulded into shape...the horns of the bullock sacrificed to the dead are thrust into the mould at one end, as also either the peg to which the sacrificed beast was tethered or a stick or young sapling six or eight feet tall, the tethering rope being hung from this.' [Chris Morton 13/10/2004]

Recorder:

Christopher Morton [13/10/2004] [Southern Sudan Project]