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87 At the Back of the Black Man's Mind By R. E. Dennett
We have already seen that Maluango is called Nkici ci, as the Tepresentative of Nzambi
on earth. In the same way the chiefs, who in this capacity are termed the " eyes of the
people," are also known as Bakici Baci; they are the representatives of Maluango in the
same way that Maluango is the representative of Nzambi.
The name Bakici Baci is applied by the natives to the powers connected with the groves,
and with the groves are connected sacred lands and rivers and sacred trees, -the
seasons, the omens, and the sacred animals. The Nkici ci of a grove is conceived as
resident no less in the seasons and in the omens than in the rivers or lands connected
with the respective groves.
It will be shown in the sequel that the sacred groves are grouped together in sets of
four, which we denominate "families." The members of these families are conceived by
the natives to be genetically related to each other; beyond this the families themselves
are regarded as standing to each other in a similar relation.
The formula of these genetic relations must be clearly borne in mind by the reader who
wishes to follow the ideas of the Bavili on the subject. It may be expressed in the
following way:-
that is to say, we have outside the formula a cause, C, which produces (within the
formula) a female cause; this, allied to a male cause, produces an intermediate female
effect, which again being replaced by an intermediate male cause gives rise to the last
two terms of the formula as a product, male and female; these two produce an effect, E,
outside the formula again.
I now proceed to deal with the groves in detail. I may, perhaps, assume that the reader
is now to some extent familiar with the idea of the categories. At any rate, I hope that
the occasional digression on the subject of the beliefs and practices connected with the
groves, will not obscure the important point of their position in the general scheme of
the Bavili philosophy.
1. The Mpungu Group is especially associated with the category of liquids.
MPUNGU is used with the word ZAMBI when it is translated by the missionaries as
almighty. They associate NZAMJBI MPUNGU with the sky, and therefore by a natural
transition with rain.
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