Research Items

Abstract

Divination on the Congo THE ethnographical collections of the Second Swiss Expedition to Angola (1932–33), now in the Neuchâtel Museum, include a group of thirteen baskets used in divination by various peoples of Angola (Tyokwe, Mbundu, Nyemba, Ngangela), which have been examined and described by Théodore Delachaux (Bull. Schweiz. Gesell. f. Anthrop. u. Ethnol., 16, 1939–40). The contents of the baskets are for the most part numerous and varied in character. They fall into categories, of which some appear in most of the baskets, others are peculiar to individual diviners. Of those which appear generally, the most important are sculptured figures, representing men and women in various attitudes, animals, and common objects such as musical instruments, arms, etc. These objects have a common significance, however far removed from one another their places of origin. Some of them have undergone a process of evolution which would render them unrecognizable if it were not for the occurrence of figures showing the intermediate stages of development. Elsewhere in Africa the receptacle in which the divinatory “bones” are carried appears to have no ritual significance; but in Angola its sacred or magical character is obvious. It was inaugurated by a ceremonial of human sacrifice—usually a relative or child of the diviner (Tyokwe)—or the sacrifice of a goat or cock (Ngangela). Even if the basket passes out of the possession of the original owner, the spirit of the sacrifice remains attached to it, and demands no more than an occasional small sacrifice to renew its force. Certain material parts of the person sacrificed enter into the manufacture of objects in the basket, for example, powder contained in an antelope's horn.