Ritual Cosmos: Sanctification Of Life In African Religions

272 Pages·1985·8.682 MB·English

by  Evan Zuesse

RITUAL
COS M O S
THE SANCTIFICATION OF LIFE IN AFRICAN RELIGIONS
EVAN M. ZUESSE
library
Z9
1979
Ritual Cosmos

RITUAL
COSMOS
The Sanctification of Life
in African Religions
EVAN M. ZUESSE
Ohio University Press: Athens, Ohio
Copyright © 1979 by Evan M. Zeusse
Printed in the United States of America
All rights reserved
First paperback edition printed 1985
99 7654
Ohio University Press books
are printed on acid-free paper ©o
This book is printed on recycled paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Zuesse, Evan M
Ritual Cosmos
Bibliography: p.
1. Africa--Religion. 2. Ritual 3. Occult
Sciences - Africa I. Title.
BL2400.Z83 299'.6 79-13454
ISBN 0-8214-0814-3 (pbk)
NY 19 '99
To Ingrid
The fruit-bearing tree is lovelier and more perfect than
that without fruit, and the living stream that fructifies and
is in constant motion is incomparably more beautiful
than standing, even though crystal-pure, water.
Judah Abravanel, Vikkuach Al Ha-Ahavah
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction: The Fundamental Orientation of African Religions
PART ONE
Forms of Hunting Religion and Ritual
Chapter 1: Religion and Ritual among the Pygmies
The Spatial Context of Epulu Mbuti Life, 18; The Morning Fire
Ceremony, 24; Animals, Women, and the Nature of Taboos, 31.
Chapter 2: Renewal of Time in Mbuti Religion
The Molimo Festival and the Two Modes of Liminality, 43; Con¬
cluding Remarks, 53.
Chapter 3: Feminine Symbolisms and Taboo in Hunting and
Early Agricultural Religions
Agriculture and the Transformation of Feminine Imagery: The Lele,
63.
PART TWO
Space and Time in Agricultural Religions
Chapter 4: Maiden and Serpent: Rituals of Space among the Ila
The Ila Universe, 77; The Ila Home, 79'; The Ila Village and
Country, 86; Supreme Being and the Earth: The Problem of the One
and the Many, 98.
Chapter 5: The Primordial Madness: Time and Rituals of
Sacrifice
The New Year’s Festival of the Ila, 112; The King Who Must Die:
A Sacrificial Victim, 117; Sacrifice as the Unification of Space and
Time, 125.
PART THREE
The Structures of Ritual Symbolism
Chapter 6: Esotericism and Bodily Knowledge 135
Ascending Symbolism, 136'; Ascending Symbolisms, Initiation, and
the Centered Self, 144.
Chapter 7: Initiation and the Meaning of “Knowledge” 151
Varieties and Levels in Esotericism, 156; Esotericism and History,
162.
Chapter 8: World Out of Joint; Millenary Cults and the Conflict 166
of Experience and Knowledge
Chapter 9: Conclusion; The Unification of Symbolisms in Ritual 176
PART FOUR
Ritual Encounters of Self and Other
Chapter 10: The Experience of Possession Trance 183
Some Sociological and Psychological Approaches to Possession
Trance, 183 ; The Experience of Possession, 194.
Chapter 11: Divination and Transcendental Wisdom 206
Liminality and Social Structure in Divination, 214.
Chapter 12: Witchcraft 223
Concluding Remarks, 232.
Chapter 13: The Sanctification of Life through Ritual 238
Selected Bibliography 245
Index
251