Click to download PDF version: 3.87MB - Global Grey

More documents

Recommendations

Info

63 At the Back of the Black Man's Mind By R. E. Dennett CHAPTER VII. BAVILI PSYCHOLOGY The Soul. -Shadows. -Black Magic. -Ghosts. -The Future of the Soul.Witchcraft. THE SOUL. WHEN I read that according to the observation of Mr. So-and-So the same word is used among a certain people for breath, shadow, ghost, and soul, I do not conclude that the observer in question is wrong. Neither, however, am I led to suppose that these four distinct ideas are one in the mind of those people. I know how hard it is for an observer of primitive, arrested, or degraded people's thoughts to get at their real meaning, and I know that in some cases one word may stand for four distinct ideas. 28 Even in the country in which I have lived, although the white man has been there over four hundred years, I doubt if there are many who could enter into this subject with any great hope of giving you a definite idea of the difference the native draws between life shadow, breath, and intelligence on the one hand, and ghost, soul, and spirit on the other. XI DUNDU OR SHADOW. I remember when it was considered a crime for a person in this part of the country to trample on or even to cross the shadow of another, more especially if the shadow were that of a married woman. This shadow the Bavili call Xi dundu. To-day people are still very particular about passing one another; but a new-comer would be rather reminded of the custom at home that it is rude to pass in front of anyone, and inclined to put this habit down to a native's natural politeness. At night the Xi dundu is said to sleep29 in the body of its owner; and that it is considered a very vital part of man we gather from the fact that should an ndoxi, or dealer in black arts, rob a sleeper of his Xi dundu, he is said to take away his life. The Xi dundu enters and comes out of the body by the mouth (Munu), and is then likened to the (Muvu) breath of a man. When a man dies, he is said to have no shadow, even as he has no breath. Thus, in the mind of the Bavili both Xi dundu and Muvu are part of mortal man, and die with him. But when a person swoons, or has a fit, or is in a trance, they say some ndoxi has taken his Xi dundu, and it is just at his pleasure to return it or not. Should you kill the ndoxi, the Xi dundu in question would escape with another member of the ndoxi's family. Supposing even that you think you know the ndoxi who has secured your friend's shadow, you may not go to him and ask him to return it; you must get two or three zinganga to confirm your supposition, who shall visit the sick person and cry out to the ndoxi to leave the person alone, and then threaten to call out his name if he does not return the Xi dundu; then if it is not returned you must knock some fetish, calling his name out, so that if the ndoxi does not return the Xi dundu he will surely die. 28 Take the word MABILI for instance 29 This belief is obviously derived from the fact that at night a man's shadow disappears. How far the statement in the text requires modification when there is moonlight I am unable to say www.globalgrey.co.uk
64 At the Back of the Black Man's Mind By R. E. Dennett XIMBINDI, OR REVENANT. We have already learnt a good deal about the Ximbindi in the tales in Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort. 30 After death the Ximbindi of a person may rest in the house in which he dies for twenty days, after which it goes off to the woods and lives the very natural kind of life described in the above tales. But the Ximbindi of an ndoxi may haunt the place he died in for ever. It is believed that if a person ever sees the Ximbindi of one of his relations he will die, and should anyone be beaten by a Ximbindi, that person certainly has not long to live. An ndoxi who has the proper medicine (mpanga) is spoken of as having the power of "Nyungala." Such an ndoxi catches and keeps Bimbindi, and sends them out to beat and kill living persons. This ndoxi has also the power to send the leopard to kill people, or the crocodile to drown them and to carry their Bimbindi away under the waters to some island in the river Kongo, where he collects them previous to selling them to the white man, whom they serve as slaves, and make cloth for him beneath the blue sea far away. The girl mentioned in Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort31 as living in Malela, and as having died and been buried there, and then sold in Boma as a slave, and who afterwards came back to her family, was supposed to be under the influence of Nyungala by her parents. Since giving this example of a living Ximbindi I have heard of another case. A girl of the village of Lumbembika, in the upper Lukula river in Kakongo, died and was buried. Some time after this her mother, having made a long journey into the bush, came across her daughter, and asked her how she got there. She said that she had been sold to the chief of that town. After some palavers and delay she was brought back to her town, where she lived as a Ximbindi. She was forbidden to go near the place where she had been buried. The only difference people noticed about her was that her will was not her own, and that her eyes were like those of a person who had been drinking. 32 Xilunzi, or ndunzi, the intelligence, dies, so they say, with man, and a Ximbindi is simply a tool in the hands of the ndoxi and has no ndunzi. NKULU, VOICE OR SOUL OF THE DEAD. The Bakulu, or souls, of the BAVILI have nothing to do with witches, shadows, or ghosts, or breath, or even intelligence; they are the guiding voices of the dead. They prefer to dwell in the heads of some of their near relations, and are placed there as described in the "Death and Burial of the Fjort." 33 If they are not fortunate enough to find such a habitation, they are said to hover about the outer division or verandah of the houses of 30 pp. 11-16, 115, 156 31 p. 11 32 It is by no means impossible that she was under hypnosis 33 Folklore, viii, 136 www.globalgrey.co.uk
Page 2 and 3:
AT THE BACK OF THE BLACK MAN'S MIND
Page 4 and 5:
TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE CHAPTER I
Page 6 and 7:
1 At the Back of the Black Man's Mi
Page 8 and 9:
Page 10 and 11:
Page 12 and 13:
Page 14 and 15:
Page 16 and 17:
11 At the Back of the Black Man's M
Page 18 and 19: 13 At the Back of the Black Man's M
Page 106 and 107: 101 At the Back of the Black Man's
Page 118 and 119:
113 At the Back of the Black Man's
Page 120 and 121:
Page 122 and 123:
Page 124 and 125:
Page 126 and 127:
Page 128 and 129:
Page 130 and 131:
Page 132 and 133:
Page 134 and 135:
Page 136 and 137:
Page 138 and 139:
Page 140 and 141:
Page 142 and 143:
Page 144 and 145:
Page 146 and 147:
Page 148 and 149:
Page 150 and 151:
Page 152 and 153:
Page 154 and 155:
Page 156 and 157:
Page 158 and 159:
Page 160 and 161:
Page 162 and 163:
Page 164 and 165:
Page 166 and 167:
Page 168 and 169:
Page 170 and 171:
Page 172 and 173:
Page 174 and 175:
Page 176 and 177:
Page 178 and 179:
Page 180 and 181:
Page 182 and 183:
Page 184 and 185:
Page 186 and 187:
Page 188 and 189:
Page 190 and 191:
Page 192 and 193:
Page 194 and 195:
Page 196 and 197:
Page 198 and 199:
Page 200 and 201:
Page 202 and 203:
Page 204 and 205:
Page 206 and 207:
Page 208 and 209:
Page 210 and 211:
Page 212 and 213:
Page 214 and 215:
Page 216 and 217:
Page 218 and 219:
Page 220 and 221:
Page 222 and 223:
show all

Click to download PDF version: 3.87MB - Global Grey

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?