THE CITLT OF NYAKANG AND THF, niVINF. KINDS OF THF SHir.r.UK 227 



king should himself come to their village for this ceremony, and the above short description 

 is mainly from notes made at Fenikang. But whatever the theory, the usual practice at 

 the present time is for the king to send the animals given to Nyakang to the slirines, 

 and for the head of the harll h.-eiK/ Ni/iikciini to jiray for rain as they are sacrificed. 



I am indebted to Yang Jok, one of the most important of the Shilluk chiefs and head 

 of the whole Nyalwal district (in which Tonga is situated), for the following account of 

 tlie i-ain ceremony as it is held at Ashop, where stands one of the kciii/d yi/dh-iiinj. A bullock 

 or Imll and a hen are killed before the shrine of Nyakang, each animal being killed by one 

 of the biir'il li;riiij Xi/akaug. Before the ceremony the ground within the shrine enclosure 

 and that outside the fence is swept clean by a number of old women. Drums are placed 

 in the open space near the centre of the village and men and women dance vigorously, first 

 holding spears and other weapons, then raising their hands, singing and praising Nyakang. 

 If there is a tree in the open space the sacrificial bullock is tied to it. At the end of 

 tlie dance the chief of the district pours water, recently brought fi-om the river, into the 

 hollow of his hand and spits into it and sprinkles the bullock with this. The bullock 

 is speared high up in the flank so that the wound is not inunediately fatal and allowed to 

 go free; if he wanders to or from the river it is a good sign, and if be falls on his left side, 

 or goes towards the shrine of Nyakang it is good, but if he falls on his right side it is bad. 

 In theory the bullock should go to the river and come back to die where he was speared, 

 and it seemed that in practice little difficulty was experienced by the clever Shilluk 

 herdsmen in guiding the victim in the right direction. The beast is skinned and cut 

 up where it falls, and the flesh is boiled and eaten by all, except by (i) puerperal women and 

 their husbands and (ii) men or women who have had intercourse during the previous night. 

 Care is taken not to break the bones which, with all fragments, are thrown into the river. 

 The head, one forelimb and the bowels compose the share of the attendants of the shrine 

 who cook and eat their portions with the rest of the community. The skin is prepared and 

 used as a mat in the tiik! of Nyakang, where the sacred spear is kept with which the 

 sacrificial animals are killed. 



The Hiincst Festival. It is usual to bring ears of ripening dura and to thrust them 

 into the thatch of certain of the shrine tukl, I believe specially of the hut in which the 

 senior guardian lives. When the dura is cut everyone brings a portion to the Imi-if Imnuj 

 Nyakang. This is ground and made into porridge with water brought from the river. 

 Some is poured out at the threshold of the hut which is specially reserved for 

 Nyakang, and some on the ground within the hut, the outside of which is also anointed 

 with the mixture. Until this has been done no one may eat of the new crop, 



Ceremnnij on tlie accession of the king. Tlie new king should send cattle to each kengo 

 Nijakaug, and also presents of spears and other valuable objects such as ostrich eggs and 

 elephant tusks. Some of the beasts would be sacrificed outside the enclosure, others would 

 be passed into the herd belonging to the slirine. I have no information concerning the 

 details of this ceremony. 



Geremong to heiiefit a sick ma)i. When a man is sick he may bring, or send, a slieep 

 to the nearest shrine of Nyakang, where the attendants sprinkle io with water and spear 

 it. They pray for the sick man, who eats a part of the flesh of the sheep or drinks 

 some of the water in which the meat has been boiled. Tlie rest of the sheep is eaten 

 by the guardians of the shrine and their friends without any ceremony, I)nt the bones 

 and dirt are thrown into the river. 



