$4.95 Revelation and Divination in Ndembu Ritual ANTHROPOLOGY Revelation and Divination In Ndembu Ritual VICTOR TURNER Drawing on two and a half years of field work, Victor Turner offers two thorough ethnographic studies of Ndembu revelatory ritual and f divinatory techniques, with running commentaries on symbolism by a variety of Ndembu informants. Although previously published, these essays have not been readily available since their appearance more than a dozen years ago. Striking a personal note in a new introductory chapter, Professor Turner acknowledges his indebted- ness to Ndembu ritualists for alerting him to the theoretical rele- vance of symbolic action in understanding human societies. He believes that ritual symbols, like botanists' stains, enable us to detect and trace the movement of social processes and relationships that often lie below the level of direct observation. The Series SYMBOL, MYTH, AND RITUAL General Editor: VICTOR TURNER This series provides a forum for current research on myth, ritual, and symbolism in anthropology and other related fields. The primary purpose is to introduce broadly comparative and theoretically signif- icant anthropological studies on the role of symbols. Also included, however, are works in other scientific or humanistic disciplines that are seriously and creatively concerned with comparative symbology. The series maintains a balance between descriptive and analytic studies; the authors are both younger scholars and established fig- ures of international reputation. CORNELL PAPERBACKS Cornel! University Press OTHER BOOKS BY VICTOR TURNER REVELATION AND Dramas, Fields, and Metaphors: Symbolic Action in Human Society The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-structure DIVINATION IN The Drums of Affliction The Forest of Symbols: Aspects ofNdembu Ritual NDEMBU RITUAL Lunda Medicine and the Treatment of Disease, Occasional Papers of the Rhodes-Livingstone Museum, No. 15 Essays in the Ritual of Social Relations (with D. Forde, M. Fortes, and M. Gluckman) VICTOR TURNER Schism and Continuity in an African Society: A Study ofNdembu Village Life Lunda Rites and Ceremonies, Occasional Papers of the Rhodes-Livingstone Museum, No. 10 The Lozi Peoples of North-Western Rhodesia Editor of: Profiles of Change: African Society and Colonial Rule Political Anthropology (with M. Swartz and A. Tuden) Cornell University Press ITHACA AND LONDON TO MUCHONA, friend and educator Copyright © 1975 by Cornell University All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information address Cornell University Press, 124 Roberts Place, Ithaca, New York 14850. First published 1975 by Cornell University Press. Published in the United Kingdom by Cornell University Press Ltd., 2-4 Brook Street, London WiY iAA. First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 197S International Standard Book Number (cloth) 0-8014-0863-6 International Standard Book Number (paperback) 0-8014-9151-7 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 75-1623 Printed in the United States of America by Vail-Ballou Press, Inc. Foreword Recently both the research and theoretical concerns of many anthropologists have once again been directed toward the role of symbols—religious, mythic, aesthetic, politi- cal, and even economic—in social and cultural processes. Whether this revival is a belated response to developments in other disciplines (psychology, ethology, philosophy, linguis- tics, to name only a few), or whether it reflects a return to a central concern after a period of neglect, is difficult to say, In recent field studies, anthropologists have been collecting myths and rituals in the context of social action, and im- provements in anthropological field technique have produced data that are richer and more refined than heretofore; these new data have probably challenged theoreticians to provide more adequate explanatory frames. Whatever may have been the causes, there is no denying a renewed curiosity about the nature of the connections between culture, cognition, and perception, as these connections are revealed in symbolic forms. Although excellent individual monographs and articles in symbolic anthropology or comparative symbology have re- cently appeared, a common focus or forum that can be pro- vided by a topically organized series of books has not been available. The present series is intended to fill this lacuna. It is designed to include not only field monographs and theoret- 8 Foreword Foreword 9 ical and comparative studies by anthropologists, but also tion. The texts are my considered selection from field mate- work by scholars in other disciplines, both scientific and rial and best demonstrate my theoretical position concerning humanistic. The appearance of studies in such a forum en- ethnographic description and interpretation. courages emulation, and emulation can produce fruitful new VICTOR TURNER theories. It is therefore our hope that the series will serve as a University of Chicago house of many mansions, providing hospitality for the practi- tioners of any discipline that has a serious and creative con- cern with comparative symbology. Too often, disciplines are sealed off, in sterile pedantry, from significant intellectual in- fluences. Nevertheless, our primary aim is to bring to public attention works on ritual and myth written by anthropol- ogists, and our readers will find a variety of strictly anthro- pological approaches ranging from formal analyses of systems of symbols to empathetic accounts of divinatory and initia- tory rituals. "Chihamba the White Spirit: A Ritual Drama of the Ndembu" originally appeared as Rhodes-Livingstone Paper No. 33, 1962; and "Ndembu Divination: Its Symbolism and Techniques" originally appeared as Rhodes-Livingstone Paper No. 31, 1961, Rhodes-Livingstone Institute, Lusaka. Each was reprinted in 1969 by Manchester University Press for the Institute for Social Research, University of Zambia. I am retaining the vernacular in the texts, not only for the sake of those familiar with Bantu languages, but also for American, English, French, and Italian symbolic anthropol- ogists who are currently engaged in an extensive and lively debate on the explanation, interpretation, and translation of symbolic forms among different cultures. Readers not inter- ested in these controversies can skip the vernacular texts; but responsibility to professional colleagues demands their reten- Contents Introduction 15 PART ONE I CHIHAMBA THE WHITE SPIRIT: A RITUAL DRAMA OF THE NDEMBU 1. Chihamba the White Spirit 37 2. Some Notes on the Symbolism of Chihamba 159 3. Some White Symbols in Literature and Religion 179 PART TWO I NDEMBU DIVINATION: ITS SYMBOLISM AND TECHNIQUES 4. A Preliminary Analysis of Ndembu Divinatory Symbolism 207 5. Some Kinds and Methods of Ndembu Divination 243 Appendix 339 Bibliographical References 343 Index 345 Illustrations REVELATION AND DIVINATION IN NDEMBU RITUAL PLATES i. Yikng'a rattles 48 | 2. An adept draws a cross on her arm 49 3. Adepts chase candidates 94 4. Ritual joking 95 5. Candidates sit with their backs to Kavula 96 6. Kavula—candidate's view no 7. Kavula—adept's view III 8. Doctor applies castor oil to tree 124 9. Doctor anoints the wounds of the white spirit 125 10. Doctor "sings at the root" 126 11. Preparation oiyibi shrine 127 12. Preparation of candidate for symbolic execution atyibi 128 13. Theyibi shrine left as a memorial 129 14. A candidate's personal kantonğa shrine 130 15. An Angolan diviner and the tools of his trade 287 16. Disfigurement of the Angolan diviner's hand 288 FIGURES 1. The divining objects 294 2. The divining objects 300 3. The divining objects 304 4. The divining objects 307 Introduction The two essays reprinted here, neither readily accessible in its original form, together present an important theme of the religious ritual of the Ndembu tribe of North-West Zam- bia (Northern Rhodesia during the time of research). This theme is kusolola, making visible, whether as the disclosure of what has previously been concealed (divination), or as the- manifestation of what resists conceptualization in the linguis- tic terms available to the Ndembu (revelation). Divination is specially concerned with uncovering the hidden causes of ills brought about by the immoral or self-serving thoughts, words, and deeds of incumbents of positions in an institu- tionally structured social system. Revelation is the exposure to view in a ritual setting, and by means of symbolic actions and vehicles, of all that cannot be verbally stated and clas- sified. Thus divination is a mode of analysis and a taxonomic system, while revelation is a prehension of experience taken as a whole. The action sequences of these two processes of exposure are likewise antithetical. Divination proceeds by a sequence of binary oppositions, moving stepwise from classes to elements. Revelation, on the contrary, begins with author- itative images or root metaphors, manifested as sets of con- nected symbols, and is culturally contrived to give those ex- posed to it a sense of what Walt Whitman might have called "the rondure, the cohesion of all." Divination is dualistic, 15 16 Introduction Introduction 17 revelation nondualistic. Divination seeks to uncover the pri drives of those who seek personal gain at the expense of the vate malignity that is infecting the public body, while revela corporate welfare. Revelation and divination both unmask, tion asserts the fundamental power and