Essay on the Types of Ndembu Rituals observed in India.
Victor Turner did 21½ years of fieldwork in Mwinilunga, during which time he observed attended and gathered information about many Ndembu rituals. As he says, “It was an astonishing and enriching experience to note the contrast between the relatively simple and monotonous economic and domestic life of these hunters and cultivators and the ordered arrangement and colorful symbolism of their religious life.” (Turner, 1967:87), Ndembu rituals are basically of two types according to Turner, namely: 1) life crises rituals and 2) rituals of affliction.
1) Life-crises rituals:
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These mark “an important point in the physical or social development of an individual such as birth, puberty or death.” (Turner, 1967: 87). In all types of societies, a number of rituals exist which mark the shift from one stage of life and social status to another. These ‘crisis’ ceremonies are concerned not only with the individuals around whom very are centered, but they also mark changes in various social relationships.
To take an example from Indian society, the rituals of marriage mark a change in a person’s social status. He/she is no more just a son or daughter, but a husband or wife. Relationships with parents, with siblings and friends undergo subtle changes as a result of this life-crisis ritual.
The phase of irresponsible childhood and adolescence is over and the individual becomes a ‘family man or women’. Life-crisis rituals of the Ndembu include the initiation ceremonies of boys and girls. The form and purpose of these rituals differs with gender. Boys are circumcised (the foreskin of the male sex organ, (the penis) is removed) but the corresponding procedure, clitoridectomy (cutting off the female’s clitoris) is not performed for girls.
The initiation ceremony for girls called ‘Nkang’s involves a day-long ordeal, during which the girl has to lie absolutely still for an entire day, covered with a blanket beneath a tree known as ‘milk-tree’. Boys are circumcised collectively. Boys are initiated before puberty whilst the girls are initiated at the onset of puberty.
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The main purpose of the initiation rite for boys is the inculcation of tribal values, hunting skills and sexual instruction, whilst the girls’ initiation rites symbolise preparation for marriage and motherhood. Initiation qualifies a man to enter hunting cults and a woman to enter fertility cults. Whilst men’s role as hunters highly ritualized, women’s role as cultivators is not emphasized. In a nutshell, initiation rites stress productive activity for men and reproductive activity for women.
However, one of the tribal values that permeates both the rites is that of respect for elders.
2) Rituals of Affliction:
Rituals of ‘affliction’ are roots in the major theme of Ndembu religious life, namely that; classes or misfortunes are associated with the activities of the spirits of the dead of “shades”. It is believed that shades of dead relatives come out of their graves to trouble or afflict their kinsfolk because they (the shades) have been forgotten, neglected or displeased.
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Being “caught” or afflicted by a shade makes an individual, the center of a great ritual gathering. If cured, one can become a minor “doctor” and later help to cure other similarly afflicted. As Turner says, “the way to religious fame is through affliction” (Turner, 1967: 10). There are three types of applications identified by the Ndembu. These are as follows:
i) A hunter’s shade may cause problems in hunting;
ii) A women’s shade may cause reproductive disorders (like excessive menstrual bleeding, repeated abortions and infertility) in her kinswomen;
iii) Shades of both sexes may causes illnesses like pains, shivering, loss of weight etc. to kin of either sex.
To handle these afflictions corresponding sets of rituals exists, namely, (i)’hunters cults’ for (ii) above ‘fertility cults’ for and iii) curative cults. Let us briefly describe these cults:
(i) The Hunting Cult:
Hunting is invested with tremendous ritual significance for the Ndembu. It is more than a mere sport or an economic activity, it is a calling. It is believed that a supernatural force “tells” a Ndembu youth that he is to become a great hunter through dreams about the shade of a hunter relative. These dreams are followed by bad luck at hunting, in other words, affliction.
The afflicted hunter enters the hunter’s cult through the performance of rituals. As his performance of rituals increases, his bad luck at hunting is believed to decrease, and over a period of time, he gains mastery in the art of huntsman ship.
Mastery in huntsman ship is thus linked to greater and greater involvement in the performance of hunting rituals which the Ndembu believe confer increasing supernatural power on the young hunter. This power it is believed, enables the hunter to “See animals quickly”, “to draw them where is” and “to become invisible to them”.
(ii) Fertility Cults:
Turner attended a number of rituals concerned with reproductive disorders. His wife was often requested to assist in cases of difficult childbirth or abortions. The Turners observed that many women suffered from anaemia (lack of blood) and their diet too was deficient in protein, which is essential for good health.
However, the Ndembu attributed reproductive disorders to affliction by female shades who come out of the grave and ‘sit’ in the bodies of their female kin until placated by the performance of rituals. Most frequently the offended shade was held to be that of the women’s maternal grandmother or the women’s mothers who had been forgotten by the afflicted women.
Turner regards this as highly significant. He explains that “…women, through whom succession and inheritance are reckoned, go to their husbands villages after marriage, often far away from their own villages, and may, in the course of time cease to remember their older kin on the mother’s side who have died… being “caught” by a matrilineal shades serves as a sharp reminder that their own first loyalty is to their matrilineal villages and that they bear children not for their husbands, but for their mother’s and brothers “back home”. (Turner, 1967:15).
(iii) Curative Cults:
According to Turner, the ‘Chihamba’ and ‘Kalemba’ cults are the only thinly indigenous Ndembu curative cults. Other noted by Turner include ‘Kayongu’, ‘Tukuku’ and ‘Masundu’ which have been borrowed from other tribes. In these cults, doctors administer medicines both to themselves and the patient, after which both undergo fits of trembling.
The Tukuku and Masundu cults have become very popular in Mwinilunga, and are performed for patients suffering from tuberculosis (T.B.). It is believed to be caused by shades of Europeans and other tribals. As part of the treatment, European food is served, European dress is worm and European songs and dances are mimed.
Thus we see that for the Ndembu, ritual informs every aspect of life, right from individual life-cycles to illness and productive activity. Having gained an insight into the nature of Ndembu society and central importance of ritual.