Click to download PDF version: 3.87MB - Global Grey

86 At the Back of the Black Man's Mind By R. E. Dennett
CHAPTER XI. BIBILA, THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE
GROVES
The King as NKICI CI.-The Groves and their order.-Bakici Baci.-The Formula.-The Families
of Groves. -Xikamaci and others. -Categories again.-Names of Groves.-The Devil.
WE have seen that the Bavili philosophy teaches that a sort of genetic connection exists
between the seasons. This idea is fairly intelligible in its application to periods of time,
which involve a process, and therefore a sequence of cause and effect. Though it may
appear to us metaphorical to speak of months as male and female, we need only recall
the names of some of the chemical elements to see that our own forefathers were prone
to deal in ideas of this order, and we can hardly feel surprise that the African intellect
follows in their wake.
The idea is less comprehensible when we try to apply it to the groves-less
comprehensible, that is, to the European. just as in the seasons, we have one group as a
primary cause, then two intermediate causes, and then the effect; so with the groves. It
must not, however, be forgotten that when we speak of the groves we are really dealing
with the powers which the native puts behind them. We have enough examples of
cosmogonies embodied in a mythology to make the Bavili idea, if not comprehensible, at
any rate no more remarkable than many another primitive fancy.
Just as the seasons, months, and products fall into groups of four, which are genetically
related to one another, so the first grove is the primary cause, the second and third the
operative male and female causes, and the fourth is the product.
In this connection it is worthy of note that the order of the groves within the groups,
and of the groups themselves, is not one which I have evolved out of my inner
consciousness; it was given me by the natives themselves. If, therefore, we find it
possible to trace, even imperfectly, the same formula in its application to the groves
which we have just applied to the seasons, I shall, I conceive, have gone far to establish
the genuine native character of the ideas which I am putting before you.
The groves fall into six groups of four each, and just as Mawalala stands outside the
formula of the seasons, so the Lungululubu group stands apart from the rest of the
groves.
In the chapter on the Zinkici have been mentioned the Bakici Baci, and we must now
proceed to explain in detail the ideas connected with these powers. The Zinkici are what
are commonly termed fetishes; the Bakici Baci are unconnected with images of any sort,
and are not subject to human control; at the same time they are addressed by the natives,
not perhaps as independent powers, but as intermediates. The Bakici Baci are
conceived as spiritual; they are the offspring of Nzambi, some being male, others female.
Each Nkici ci has its own grove of the same name as itself, and each has two priests
consecrated to its service.
www.globalgrey.co.uk