Nuer colwic ceremony

84 x 57 mm (3.25 x 2.25 inch) | Print gelatin silver

There are records relating to alternative images that we do not have scans for in the database:
1998.355.175.1 - Negative film nitrate , (84 x 57 mm (3.25 x 2.25 inch))

Date of Print:

Unknown

Previous PRM Number:

EP.N.IV.54

Previous Other Number:

Accession Number:

1998.355.175.2

Description:

A dark image at sunset of a group of men gathered near a colwic shrine, with a man raising a spear to sacrifice a black ox for the spirit of a girl called Nyakewa killed by lightning. 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] - 54. ?sacrifice

Note on print reverse ms pencil - "W. Nuer" & print front border ms ink - "NUER IV/54"

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 [15/6/2004] [Southern Sudan Project]