IDNO

LS.140680.TC1

Description

On Catalogue Card: Uganda Borders. 55.44 - 48.
Africa, East.
Didinga. (5 slides)
Didinga dance, for description see photographs. Men and women draw up in separate lines opposite each other. The dance is accompanied by singing only, the participants in the main jumping rhythmically up and down. From time to time girls break away from their line and after (see next card)
55.44 - 48 (cont.)
Taking a few slow tentative steps, accelerate and throw themselves into the arms of a male dancer selected by them, who receives the girl between his knees which are bent and open for the purpose. The impact, if successfully carried out, is accompanied by a sharp crack of the meeting bodies. She rests for a few seconds in the arms of her partner, (see next card)
55.44 - 48. (cont.)
Who then disengages and conducts her back to her own line (see slides 47, 48). To prevent injury from the force of the impact a leather skirt is worn round the waist during this dance, even by unmarried girls. Men decorate themselves with feathers and clay and coloured patterns, women with ochre. Dancing sticks are generally carried by men, but no weapons are permitted.

Place

E Africa; Uganda; South Sudan; Didinga Mountains [Ango-Egyptian Sudan]

Cultural Affliation

Didinga

Named Person

Photographer

Driberg, Jack Herbert

Collector / Expedition

Date

1925

Collection Name

Teaching Slide Collection

Source

Driberg, Jack Herbert

Format

Lantern Slide Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information