Research Items

Abstract

Ancestor Worship in Portuguese East Africa* An account of a village temple and ceremonial of WaBarwe ancestor worship by the Rev. D. Shropshire appeared in Man for May. The temple was situated in a banana grove which was entered through a doorway in a decorated bamboo screen. It consisted of a small house, 7 ft. by 5 ft., with a gabled thatched roof. It was built of poles and reeds and had a small wicket gate of reeds. Within the temple were two clay pots sunk in the ground. A large banana leaf lay on the ground in front of them, and two small pieces of bamboo and a calabash hung from the roof. An empty calabash upside down was inserted in the ground. One of the pots was for offerings to the mothers of the forefathers of the head of the village, the other for the mother of his father. In the ritual of worship the head of the village (or in this instance his deputy) swept the floor of the temple and its precincts. He then placed a reed mat in front of the door of the temple and a new large clean banana leaf inside the temple in front of the two pots. At a house in the village a procession was then formed which made its way to the temple, the wife of the representative of the village headman carrying mealie meal on a wooden plate. On arriving at the temple, all knelt and clapped hands ceremonially in greeting to the ancestors. The deputy then entered the temple and sat on the ground. After further clapping of hands he made offerings of the meal, with an invocation, to each of the pots in turn. The procession then returned to the house from which it started. At the time of the great offering and worship of the ancestors at the sowing season, they offer beer, bananas and rice in addition to the mealie meal. They do not pray to the Supreme Being except when out hunting, in prolonged drought or when the medicine man has failed to make a person well. He is too far away, and on ordinary occasions they pray to the ancestors to intercede with him, instead of addressing him directly themselves.