IDNO

LS.103374.MF

Description

"Sunzɔp m-maan yεla. A Gbizug elder performs a ritual service for Zubiuŋ-Yakɔra [Zubiunj-Yakcra] by sewing the sheepskin loin cover for the dead at a funeral."

A Tallensi man in the foreground, wearing a pointed straw hat, loin cloth and flip-flops? sewing a sheepskin loin cover outside a Tallensi hut. Another man (to the right) is helping him. There is a wicker? basket in the background. [ED 20/5/2008]

A Gbizug clan elder performs a ritual service for a man named by Fortes as Zubiuŋ-Yakɔra [Zubiunj-Yakcra] by sewing a sheepskin loin cover for the dead at a funeral. Most of the Tallensi dress a deceased male who has fathered children, and is therefore considered to be socially mature, with a sheepskin (Fortes 1945: 122). The elder sits on a stone step outside the entrance to a settlement building holding and trimming the sheepskin, assisted by another man. The elder wears a woven brimmed hat, a loin cloth and leather, sandals. Behind him is a large basket woven with patterned bands which echo the incised geometric decorations of the adobe wall behind. Hanging around the entrance on the wall are animal tails, probably fly-whisks, a metal bell and arrows and quiver. Three men sit in a group behind the elder. [SW 14/3/2007, description from record P.100708.MF, JD 24/11/2017]

Place

W Africa; Ghana; Upper East region; Tongo; Zubiuŋ [Gold Coast; Northern Territories]

Cultural Affliation

Tallensi

Named Person

Zubiuŋ-Yakɔra Tεndaan

Photographer

Fortes, Meyer

Collector / Expedition

Fortes, Meyer

Date

Collection Name

Fortes Collection

Source

Drucker-Brown, Susan

Format

Lanternslide - Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

LS.103373.MF - LS.103379.MF were kept in the box now numbered C567/.

Publication: Image published in Meyer, Fortes. 1945. Dynamics of Clanship Among the Tallensi (London: Oxford University Press), p. 241, Plate XIV, with the caption: "(a) Sunzɔp m-maan yɛla. A Gbizug elder performs a ritual service for Zubiuŋ [Zubiunj]-Yakɔra by sewing the sheepskin loin cover for the dead at a funeral." [ED 20/5/2008]

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. [Elisabeth Deane 20/5/2008]