IDNO

N.102168.MF

Description

In the foreground there appear to be four Tallensi women wearing funerary costume. The tail made of vesiga (dyed grass) is just visible on the woman in the central foreground. To the left a small child wearing a girdle is stands looking at the women. In the background there is a thatched and rounded hut. To the right there are various bowls of different sizes.

Place

W Africa; Ghana; Upper East Region [Gold Coast; Northern Territories]

Cultural Affliation

Tallensi

Named Person

Buntuya

Photographer

?Fortes, Meyer

Collector / Expedition

Fortes, Meyer

Date

?July 1934

Collection Name

Fortes Collection

Source

Drucker-Brown, Susan

Format

Glass Negative Halfplate

Primary Documentation

Other Information

N.102167.MF - N.102179.MF were kept in the box now numbered C550/.

Context: “The female funerary costume is based on traditional female dress. In much of northeastern Ghana, women used to wear woven grass waistbands with small forked leafy branches attached to the front and rear. This leaf form has been replaced almost entirely by a tail made of dyed grass (vesiga). In some cases the tail is made of leather strands in the same style. As I reported in an earlier article: “In the past, women would receive such elaborate ‘tails’ during courtship as signs of admiration and intent. The grass or leather ‘tails’ were viewed as proper dress for ceremonial occasions. Today they are still used during funerary ceremonies where they are associated with tradition, respect and the idea of individual enhancement” (Smith 1982: 37).” (Smith, F.T., 1987, ‘Symbols of Conflict and Integration in Frafra Funerals,’ African Arts, Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 46-51+87.). [ED 3/12/2007]

Context: “The Frafra of northeastern Ghana comprise a cluster of four culturally, linguistically, and historically related groups: The Gurensi, Tallensi, Nabdam, and Kusasi. In general, the two most important realms of Frafra ceremony are those associated with funerals and agriculture. These relate to the sociopolitical and religious significance of the ancestors and the earth, which govern and structure Frafra life. The agricultural rituals, consisting of both sowing and harvest festivals, vary considerably from ethnic group to ethnic group. Moreover, there is significant variation within the ethnic group, as is the case among the Tallensi. Burial activities and funerals, on the other hand, exhibit only minor differences. Death from the frafra is an event laden with multiple social ramifications and ritual implications. ... Meyer Fortes has noted that Tallensi funerary ceremonies “epitomise the entire social structure and enable one to see precisely how the lineage is constituted” (1945; 31). Frafra funerary ceremonies, which are kin-centred, hemp maintain the social network by dramatizing symbols of social integration. When a frafra dies, the body is quickly interred and a three-day burial rite is held. People are encouraged to bury the corpse on the day of death by the tendanna, custodian of the Earth, “so that it will not be rotten and spoil the land” (Rattray 1932: 319). The critical relationship to the Earth must never be ignored. After the body has been washed, dressed, and prepared for burial, it is carried around the outside of the compound (household) three times if the deceased is male, and four times if female. Throughout northern Ghana, southern Burkina Faso, and northwestern Togo, the number three is associated with men and the number four with women; symbols of gender differentiation are an important component of Frafra ritual activity. The grave, normally located outside the compound, is referred to as “the room” of the deceased. According to Robert S. Rattray, “the entrance to the grave is by a bottle-neck circular hole after which the grave widens out, the whole thing being not unlike a decanter” (1932: 292). The structure of the grave, which in fact strongly reflects domestic architecture, including the entrance, symbolises the continued role in society of the person who had died as well as the cooperation between the ancestors and the Earth. As the room of the deceased, it is constructed of the same material and in the same form as a traditional sleeping room. Moreover, it is located not only on the Earth but within the Earth. Within the grave, a man is placed facing east and a woman facing west.
The deceased’s sons and daughters have their heads shaved as a sign of mourning and ritual purification and assume full responsibility for conducting the necessary mortuary rites. For a man, the sons, especially the elder, assume primary responsibility. Fortes reports that the “most sacred duty owned by son to parent....is the performance of his or her funeral ceremonies. This is the case in spite of the fact that funeral rites are also the concern of the whole lineage and clan” (1945: 122). The children will confer among themselves and direct the senior son to consult with the lineage elders to set a date for the funeral. This will take place anywhere from one to three years after the death. Many factors enter into their decision. Until the funeral is properly held, however, the person’s spirit resides between the world of the living and the world of the ancestors in a state of liminality. Until its transition to the beyond is completed, the spiritual essence of the deceased could menace the living and prevent the reconstruction of the social order. According to one Frafra elder, “It is not good to wait too long before holding a wuure (funeral) because the spirit of the dead person will grow angry” (interview at Zuarungu, January 1973). In addition, it is the funeral that validates the newly inherited roles and property.
The length of a funeral varies according to the deceased’s age and status. For a male elder and or senior woman the ceremony last seven days and requires considerable resources. The funeral ceremony, performed only during the dry season is a major public event. According to Fortes, “it is not uncommon for nearly the whole harvest of a household to be consumed in making the beer and providing the cooked food required” (1949: 180). Three nights before the funeral of a man and four nights before the funeral of a woman, the eldest son will inform the members of the compound that the ceremony will commence. The announcement night is called paligo. Word is then sent to all the neighbours and relatives, especially the person’s married daughters. This event represents the first formal recognition of the death. The compound of a deceased woman’s father is now officially notified.” (Smith, F.T., 1987, ‘Symbols of Conflict and Integration in Frafra Funerals,’ African Arts, Vol. 21, No. 1., pp.46 - 51+87.). [ED 29/11/2007]

Context: The Concept of a Clanswoman. ... The term paγayabaleg sums up the status of a woman as a member of her patrilineal maximal lineage and clan. It can best be translated as ‘woman of the clan’; and it refers to a woman of the clan or maximal lineage whether she is residing at her father’s house or living with her husband. Paγayabaleg denotes the general status of clanswomen irrespective of what segment of the clan she might belong to. At all funeral ceremonies, for instance, certain duties and tasks both of a ritual and non-ritual kind fall on paγayabalis. Some of these tasks, such as the gathering of firewood, are usually performed by young unmarried paγayabalis. The girls who volunteer for these tasks are treated as a single group, irrespective of what segment of the clan they belong to. Other tasks and ritual duties that have to be carried out by clanswomen fall upon older women, usually married women who return home specially for the funeral. Any woman of the clan who is qualified by her knowledge and seniority can perform these duties. If a married woman living with her husband is asked where she comes from, she always replies: ‘I am paγayabaleg of such-and-such a clan.’...
Though the paγayabalis of a lineage or clan never act together as a single group, since marriage disperses them among other clans, they are often thought of as forming a united body, the feminine counterpart of the men of the clan. This is seen most conspicuously in funeral ceremonies; and we can easily understand why, if we remember that funeral ceremonies are the concern of the whole clan. We have made a passing reference to the role of paγayabalis in funeral ceremonies, but it deserves some amplification. For it is in funeral ceremonies that one constantly hears ‘the paγayabalis’ spoken of as if they were a regular, organized group, sees them called upon to undertake tasks in a purely representative capacity, and observes the allocation of prescribed portions of food to them as of right.
Naturally, this is most noticeable at the funeral of an important member of the lineage or the wife of a lineage elder. Large quantities of beer and food have to be prepared for distribution at various times during the ceremony, and this is the work of the women. All the women assisting in the work ‘at the house of the funeral’ (koor yiri) are divided into two groups in a way which shows clearly the division of the women in whom a lineage or clan has jural and moral interests, into those who belong to the clan by birth and those who are married into it. The paγayabalis form one group. They have separate cooking quarters, and special tasks. The other group consists of the dubεnib, ‘those who stay in the room’. They are the clanswomen of the wives of the bereaved house, who are themselves wives of other members of the clan or of nearby linked lineages or allied clans. They may include the paγayabalis of several clans, except, of course, those of the clan celebrating the funeral. They, too, have their own cooking quarters and special duties and privileges. They are called dubεnib (from dug, room, and bε, to stay or be) because they are identified with the dugdεm, the mistresses of the rooms’, that is, the wives of the bereaved clan who are their clan sisters. Their principal task is to remain indoors with their clan sisters in order to attend to their needs, to console them, and to help them in the duties that would fall upon wives in the situation. Clan sisterhood sometimes has a very wide connection in these circumstances.” (Fortes, M., 1945. Dynamics of Clanship Among the Tallensi. (London: Oxford University Press), pp. 149 - 153.). [ED 14/3/2008]

Bibliographical Reference: Fortes, Meyer, 1945. Dynamics of Clanship Among the Tallensi (London: Oxford University Press).

Bibliographical Reference: Fortes, Meyer, 1949. The Web of Kinship Among the Tallensi (London: Oxford University Press).

Bibliographical Reference: Fortes, Meyer, 1987. Religion, Morality and the Person: Essays on Tallensi Religion (London: Oxford University Press).

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Jocelyne Dudding, 15/8/2007]
[Alicia Fentiman, 29/4/2008]