Click to download PDF version: 3.87MB - Global Grey

More documents

Recommendations

Info

81 At the Back of the Black Man's Mind By R. E. Dennett 8. KACI-NUNI = wife and husband, really "primeval dawn" and "I have absorbed." These words are not only used for man and wife but also for negative and positive powers; inferior and superior, as when one man comes up to another to ask him for a favour and calls himself the other's NKACI. NKACI is also used for the word NGULINKACI meaning one's uncle on the mother's side. Thus the mythologist may easily become confused. The natives say that the sun calls the moon his mother, but MAMA (mother) may mean his aunt by marriage. He is also said to be the husband of the moon; this may mean that he is superior to her just as Maluango, though the king of the offspring province, considers himself superior to KAKONGO, the mother province, from whence his wife comes. These double words, which with one exception are compounded of elements of contrary meaning, may be regarded as one particular case of a formula which runs through their philosophy. To sum up we have- 1. MAMU-NZAMBI-concerning god palaver. 2. MBUNGU-NTWALI-the heads of maternity connected with ideas of water. 3. NKALA-NGO-the crab and the leopard connected with ideas of earth. 4. MANIA-MATALI-cold and hot stones connected with ideas of fire. 5. MAULA-NXIENJI-the two stars connected with ideas of motion and procreation. 6. NONGA-NZAU-hunting the elephant, connected with ideas of plenty. 7. BULU-NTU-beast and man connected with ideas of birth. 8. KACI-NUNI-wife and husband ideas of opposites. Put into a generalised form we may say that the philosophy of the Bavili can be expressed by the formula 1 +6+ 1; six categories, which, as will be shown in the subsequent chapters, reappear in the arrangement of the groves and other symbols of Nzambi, and outside these categories at the one end the idea of Nzambi, regarded as cause; at the other the idea of man regarded as effect. In the case of the compound words the order adopted is not based on any information drawn from the natives: all that has been gathered from them is the distinctive character of these eight words and the ideas which they connect with them. We now pass on to consider the seasons, and here not only has it been possible to elucidate the native ideas connected with the seasons and their names, but to get from the natives further details as to the genetic relation held to exist between the various months and seasons. COSMOLOGICAL IDEAS. In the last resort the Bavili are monists: they reduce everything ultimately to a manifestation of Nzambi. From the abstract Nzambi proceed Nzambi Mpungu, Nzambi www.globalgrey.co.uk
82 At the Back of the Black Man's Mind By R. E. Dennett Ci and Kici. These three elements of the trinity appear in Bavili philosophy as Xi, Ci, and Fu. (It is desirable to note Xi and Ci are respectively female and male, whereas Nzambi Mpungu and Nzambi Ci are male and female.) Xi means passive matter or things pertaining to the maternal principle. Ci is the paternal or active principle. Let us take an example. The sea is regarded as a male principle; from it proceeds rain which falls on the earth, and the earth is regarded as a female or passive principle; the rain fertilises the earth and causes it to bring forth fruits. Fu is, properly speaking, habit, custom, or sequence; we may, perhaps, express it in one word by evolution, understanding thereby rather the process by which the individual is produced than the life history of a species. In another sense it may almost be said to be the individual himself. Thus, when the rain has fallen upon the earth, it forms on the one hand springs and rivers, and on the other causes vegetation to spring up. Both the rivers and the vegetation result from the interaction of earth and sea: the process of production and the product are both Fu. In order to prevent misconception I expressly state that these ideas are not derived directly from the natives, but from philological considerations. These three ideas are naturally strictly abstract and out of all relation with the material universe. Xi and Ci having produced Fu cease to operate; Fu, on the other hand, continues. Under the name Vu it becomes active in space and time, and may be called the cause of the material universe, Vu=time, season. TEMPORAL IDEAS. (a) The Divisions of the Year. Properly speaking, the year falls into three divisions, Mawalala, Xicifu and Mvula. Of these, Mawalala is a period of rest, Xicifu a period of preparation, and Nvula an evolutionary period or period of production. just as in the cosmological ideas we have a progression of three factors, Xi, Ci and Fu, so in the same way in temporal ideas, Mawalala and Xicifu produce Nvula. just as Fu in its turn became a cause, so Nvula produces Mawalala of the succeeding year. (b) The Seasons and Months. Of the three divisions of the year, Mawalala is itself both a season and a month; Xicifu falls into two seasons of two months each, and Nvula into four seasons of two months each. Properly speaking, the seasons only ex'ist as factors in six groups of four, the other three being in each case the two months, and the product specially associated with the seasons. These groups of four are related just as our cosmological series, Xi, Ci, Fu, and Vu; they consist of a principle, male and female causes and a product. 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:
Page 20 and 21:
Page 22 and 23:
Page 24 and 25:
Page 26 and 27:
Page 28 and 29:
Page 30 and 31:
Page 32 and 33:
Page 34 and 35:
Page 36 and 37: 31 At the Back of the Black Man's M
Page 106 and 107: 101 At the Back of the Black Man's
Page 136 and 137:
131 At the Back of the Black Man's
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?