IDNO

N.19407.ROS

Description

A group of Basabei? girls at their initiation ceremony in Sabei, ‘kneeling in line covered with cow-skins’ (Roscoe, 1924, p. 78). The ‘naming’ ceremony is performed after the girls have recovered from their circumcision. According to Roscoe: "When the girls were healed and ready to go out from their isolation, they were taken to a hut where they went to receive their new names” (Roscoe, 1924, p. 78). The women are standing in two groups; the group to the left appears to be the girls’ relatives? (some wearing printed cloths?). To the right, the girls participating in the ceremony stand in a line, wearing cow-skins?. Many of the women are adorned with metal? necklaces, metal bracelets and a band of cowrie shells around their heads (some of the bands are adorned with a feather). Some of the women hold long wooden sticks. In the background there are two ‘bee-hive huts’.

Place

E Africa; Uganda; Elgon; Mount Elgon; Sabei

Cultural Affliation

?Basabei

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 C31/38/ by the cataloguer. The envelope was kept in box marked C31/ by the cataloguer.
Previously stored on Shelf 4, in group of 4 wooden boxes numbered 180.

Publication: Image published in 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. 78, Plate XIII, with the caption: "Women kneeling in line covered with cow-skins.” See also: Roscoe, J., 1924, p. 78, Plate XIII, with the caption: "Women kneeling awaiting new names.” [ED 25/10/2007]

Context: "Girls, like the boys, underwent a ceremony of initiation, and went through much the same course of preparation and instruction for membership of the clan. They were taken away to some isolated spot for instruction before the time of initiation, and a number of elderly women were chosen for the task of teaching them. They had their own particular songs and forms of dancing, which were conducted by women. The operation was performed on the girls about a week later than on the boys, for they did not take so long to heal and both parties were expected to be ready for the dances and feasts at the same time.
When the time of the operation began, the girls were smeared with the contents of the stomachs of animals killed for the feast and ate the meat of them roasted, as the boys did. Two persons, both women, were required for the operation. The girls were arranged lying in a line a short distance apart, each lying on her back with her head turned towards the east and resting on her right hand. When the operator came, she placed her feet together sole to sole and drew them up until her knees were as far apart as possible. The assistant operator placed her hands on the genital organs and held open the large labia and clitoris. A crowd of women always stood round watching for any sign of fear, and if a girl showed any signs of timidity, even if her great toes twitched, she was branded as a coward. During the ceremonies and the healing no man was allowed near and other girls brought them their food. So far as it was possible to ascertain, death from hemorrhage rarely occurred, though no treatment was given in the case of either youths of girls. The wounds were left to heal without assistance, and almost invariably did so in about ten days.
When the girls were healed and ready to go out from their isolation, they were taken to a hut where they were to receive their new names. As in the case of the youths, when they reached the path which branched off the road and led to the hut, they went down on their knees and crawled on knees and elbows, with cow skins robes over them so that only staffs stuck out. A relative went beside each girl, bearing the ornaments that she would receive when she got her new name. As with the youths, this relative had to see that no part of the body was exposed during the crawl to the house. The girls were asked if they wished to retain their old names, and when they refused by their silence, they were offered new names, to which they agreed. As each was given her new name, she was clothed with a new robe and fat was put on her head. A woman relative then put a large iron ring round the girl’s neck and took the lump of fat from her head.
When both men and women were healed, dancing and feasting began, and they met and arranged their marriages. (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. 78 - 80.). [ED 26/10/2007]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [ED 26/10/2007]