IDNO

N.18919.ROS

Description

In the foreground, there is a medicine man in mid-movement [walking towards the camera?]. He appears to be wearing goat-skin in the traditional manner as well as a hat? made from straw?. In the background, to the right, there are five? men? wearing kanzus and to the left, there are two thatched, native-style houses.

Place

E Africa; Uganda; Busoga District

Cultural Affliation

Basoga

Named Person

Photographer

?Roscoe, John R.

Collector / Expedition

Roscoe, John R. [Mackie Ethnological Expedition, Uganda, 1919 - 1920]

Date

1919 - 1920

Collection Name

Roscoe Collection

Source

Format

Film Negative Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

This negative was kept in an envelope marked C29/78/ by the cataloguer. The envelope was kept in box marked C29/ by the cataloguer.
Previously stored on Shelf 4, in group of 4 wooden boxes numbered 180.

Clothing: "The national dress was either bark-cloth or goat-skin, but most of the people preferred skins either of domestic or wild animals because of their durability and freedom from vermin, which increased rapidly in bark cloth.
Bark-cloths, however, were still largely used, and were taken from the same trees and prepared by the same methods as in Buganda.” (Roscoe, J., 1924. The Bagesu and other tribes of the Uganda Protectorate: The Third Part of the Report of the Mackie Ethnological Expedition to Central Africa. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.), p. 113.). [ED 13/12/2007]

Context: "Though the religion of the Busoga was polytheistic and the gods had their temples and their priests (called, as in Kitara, the Bachwezi), there was no definite or systematic form of worship, though certain requests were made through the priests at the temples of the gods. In some places there were sacred hills and rocks which were said to be animated by spirits, and to these the people went in time of need. They built small shrines and made offerings to the spirits of the place, calling upon them for help. At these places as at the temples there was no ordered form or stated time of worship, but offerings and prayers were made when the need arose. ... When people wanted rain, they might apply to a chief, who demanded presents from them. He then sent to the high priest and made known their wishes. As a rule, however, when rain was wanted, the chief applied to certain medicine-men known as Basawa who were important chiefs themselves. The chief provided an animal, usually a bull, and called the medicine man to come with his fetishes. A fire was made before the fence of the chief and prayers were offered for rain after which the bull was killed. The medicine-man took some of the liver and heart of the animal killed, cut them up, cooked them, and threw the pieces around for the ghosts, who in return caused the rain to fall. The meat of the sacrifice belonged to the medicine man. People sometimes tried to bring rain for themselves. They made large fires on which they threw damp grass and leaves so that dense clouds of smoke arose, and they beat drums to initiate thunder. They called upon the ghosts of their fathers and offered them beer which they drank in communion with them. Auguries for discovering a theft or other crime were often taken by means of the ngato Ieathers, which were pieces of leather, nine in number, made of thick cow-hide, and measuring five inches by three. The medicine-man threw these along a strip of leather and by their position read his augury. The office was hereditary and each man taught his skill to his son, who succeeded him.
There were certain men, the Basizi, who made magic for evil purposes and who were dreaded and if caught were burnt to death without mercy. They were said to come by night and dig up dead bodies from which they made medicine. They sprinkled this on gardens and cursed the place and people. When the owners of a garden found that such magic had been used, they left the place in terror and it was allowed to become waste. The Basizi were also said to be able to make fire by clapping their hands. Thus the whole population of a village might be made to flee from the place, which soon became a wilderness.
The new moon was always hailed with delight and people believed that it brought blessing. Mothers took their babies out and tried to make them look at the new moon, for that ensured health and rapid growth.
When there was an earthquake, a woman with child tied a band tight round her waist and all animals with young had bands tied round them, lest the young should be startled and made to jump and bring about premature birth.
When streams had to be crossed, coffee beans were scattered to appease the water-spirit. A woman while menstruating was never allowed to enter a canoe to cross a river, for the canoe would certainly be sunk by the water-spirit. The water spirits had to be appeased before the body of a drowned man could be taken from the river, as is described later in the section upon Death (chapter XVIII).
All big trees were feared because they were the abode of spirits, and the members of a clan were afraid to cut down any big trees on their land. To overcome this difficulty they called in peasants from another place to come and fell the tree and cut it into boards. A goat or a sheep was tied to the tree and was then killed, and the men who had been sent for ate the meat in communion with the tree-spirit before they began to fell the tree. These spirits of trees and of water were of quite a different order from the spirit of men, but though they were not ghosts, they possessed superhuman power and were able to injure people if offended and to make them prosper if pleased.”
(Roscoe, J., 1924. The Bagesu and other tribes of the Uganda Protectorate: The Third Part of the Report of the Mackie Ethnological Expedition to Central Africa. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.), p. 97). [ED 13/12/2007]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Elisabeth Deane 13/12/2007]