RITUALS OF REBELLION IN

SOUTH-EAST AFRICA
., The Frazer Lecture, r952
 RITUALS OF REBELLION
IN
SOUTH-EAST AFRICA

THE FRAZER LECTURE, 1952

by
Published by the University of Manchester
at THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
316-324 Oxford Road, Manchester 13
MAX GLUCKMAN
1954 Professor of Social Anthropology in the
University of Manchester

Delivered at the University of Glasgow

on April 28th, r953

MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY PRESS

 RITUALS OF REBELLION IN
SOUTH-EAST AFRICA
I
IR JAMES FRAZER'S The Golden Bough sets out to explain the
S ritual of the priest-king of the Italian grove of Nemi. He
begins his monumental work by describing how,
in this sacred grove there grew a certain tree round which at any
time of the day, and probably far into the night, a grim figure
might be seen to prowl. In his hand he carried a drawn sword,
and he kept peering warily about him as if at every instant he
expected to be set upon _by an enemy. He was a priest and
murderer; and the man for whom he looked was sooner or later
to murder him and hold the priesthood in his stead. Such was
the rule of the sanctuary. A candidate for the priesthood couid
only succeed to office by slaying the priest, and having slain him,
he retained office till he himself was slain by a stronger or a craftier.
Frazer thus raised at the very outset of his work the problem
of a priest-king involved in a ' ritual rebellion'. He con­
stantly returns to this theme, as when he describes the election
in many societies at New Year of temporary 'mock-kings'
or 'scapegoat-kings' who were then banished or sacrificed.
In this lecture to honour Frazer's memory I propose to con­
sider in what manner his anthropological descendants interpret
similar rituals of rebellion.
From the grove of Nemi, Frazer's intellectual quest took him
on a journey in which he ranged across the world among
peasants and primitive folk, and through time among the great
civilizations of the past. He traced the relationship of these
priest-kings with a number of widespread agricultural rituals
whereby men conserved 'the spirit of the corn ' in the last
sheaf, or in animals, human beings, or effigies. Sometimes
they destroyed these to return fertility to the soil before sowing.
Frazer argued further that these customs lay at the heart of
Printed in Great Britain by Butler & Tanner Ltd., Frame and London
*
2 Rituals of Rebellion in South-East Africa 3
certain rituals, with their associated myths, of the ancient The modern anthropologist, basing his analysis on detailed
Mediterranean and Near East civilizations. These rituals and observation in the field, is concerned in greater detail with
myths concern the story of a god, sometimes a deified mortal, the ceremonial roles of persons, categories of persons, and
who was slain or died, and then resurrected by the love of a social groups, in relation to one another. Frazer could not
goddess who was mother or wife to the dead, or enamoured have pursued these problems for he lacked the relevant evi­
of him. The best known of these pairs were Adonis and dence ; and if I concentrate on a sociological analysis, it is
Aphrodite, Tammuz and Astarte, Osiris and Isis, Dionysius and not to deny the importance of Frazer's intellectualist analysis.
Demeter, Persephone-she alone a daughter-and Demeter. I shall therefore consider the social components of cere­
Frazer summed up these myths : monies, analogous to those which concerned Frazer, among
the South-Eastern Bantu of Zululand, Swaziland, and Mozam­
[Men] now pictured to themselves the growth and decay of bique. Here there are (in some cases, were) performed, as
vegetation, the birth and death of living creatures, as effects of
the waxing or waning strength of divine beings, of gods and god­ elsewhere in Africa, national and local ceremonies at the
desses, who were born and died, who married and begot children, break of the rains, sowing, first fruits, and harvest. In one
on the pattern of human life. . . . Under the names of Osiris, ceremony the idea of a goddess who is propitiated by the
Tammuz, Adonis and Attis, the peoples of Egypt and ·western rites is clearly expressed ; usually the ceremonies are directed
Asia represented the yearly decay and revival of life, especially to the ancestral spirits of the tribal chiefs or the kinship groups
vegetable life, which they personified as a god who annually died
and rose again to life. 1 concerned. But whatever the ostensible purpose of the cere­
monies, a most striking feature of their organization is the
In these myths Frazer saw men handling dramatically the way in which they openly express social tensions : women
dying and resurrection of vegetation with the change of the have to assert licence and dominance as against their formal
seasons. Typical of these myths is the tale of how the hero subordination to men, princes have to behave to the king as
was slain by a wild boar or an enemy disguised as a wild boar. if they covet the throne, and subjects openly state their resent­
In Syria, the blood of wounded Tammuz, or Adonis, poured ment of authority. Hence I call them rituals of rebellion.
down the rivers to the sea, as those rivers in their spring spate I shall argue that these ritual rebellions proceed within an
carried red soil with them that discoloured the coastal waters. established and sacred traditional system, in which there is
This is the ceremony to which Milton refers in his Ode on the dispute about particular distributions of power, and not about
Morning of Christ's Nativity: the structure of the system itself. This allows for instituted
protest, and in complex ways renews the unity of the system. _
In vain the Tyrian Maids their wounded Thamuz mourn.

Ceremonies were performed to aid the dying hero, and with

him the vegetation. II
Frazer undoubtedly oversimplified the problem. 2 But there
is great value in his relation of the stories of the dying god The Zulu had no developed pantheon. Their ideas of the
both with widespread agricultural customs, and with customs High God were vague and there was no ritual address to him.
connected with priest-kings. In this demonstration Frazer, Heaven was believed to be responsible for certain devastating
like most of his contemporaries, was interested in the intellectual phenomena, such as lightning. It was controlled by special
patterns which he believed must lie behind all these customs. magicians. The only developed deity in their religion was
4 Rituals of Rebellion in South-East Africa 5
Nomkubulwana, the Princess of Heaven, who was honoured by of these rites among the Zulu required obscene behaviour by
the women and girls of local districts in :Zululand and Natal, the women and girls. The girls donned men's garments, and
when the crops· had begun to grow. The performance of herded and milked the cattle, which were normally taboo to
these agricultural rituals by women on a local scale contrasts them. Their mothers planted a garden for the goddess far
with great national sowing and first fruits rites, which were out in the veld, and poured a libation of beer to her. There­
mainly the responsibility of men as warriors serving the king after this garden was neglected. At various stages of the
on whom the ritual centred. ceremonies women and girls went naked, and sang lewd songs.
The women no longer perform their ritual to honour the Men and boys hid and might not go near.
goddess Nomkubulwana, so I did not observe it during my own Certain of the ancient ceremonies which Frazer analysed­
work in Zululand. 3 But the goddess herself still visits that were also marked by lewd behaviour, particularly of women,
pleasant land. She moves in the mists which mark the end and the planting of special gardens by women. Thus Frazer
of the dry season and which presage the beginning of the rains. described ' the gardens of Adonis ' as useless as those of
From their homes on the hills the Zulu look over these mists, Nomkubulwana
which lie in the valley touched by the light of the rising sun,
and they comment on the Princess of Heaven's beauty. A baskets or pots filled with earth, in which wheat, barley, lettuce,
missionary in Zululand wrote : fennel, and various kinds of flowers were sown and tended for eight
days, chiej!y or exclusively by women. Fostered by the sun's heat, _the
She is described as being robed with light as a garment and having plants shot up rapidly, but having no root they withered as rapidly
come down from heaven to teach people to make beer, to plant, away, and at the end of eight days were carried out with the
to harvest, and all the useful arts. . . . She is a maiden and she images of the dead Adonis, and flung with them into the sea or
makes her visit to the earth in the Spring of the year. She is also into springs. 6
described as presenting the appearance of a beautiful landscape with
verdant forests on some parts of her body, grass-covered slopes These similarities can easily be pushed too far. 7 But all
on others, and cultivated slopes on others. She is said to be the I wish to stress here is that in many classical ceremonies at
maker of rain. 4 this season, as in Africa, a dominant role was ascribed to the
women, and a subordinate role to the men-' Bacchantic ' is
According to Father Bryant, a Catholic missionary who has a word we owe to this arrangement. These elements appear
been the foremost student of Zulu history and culture, in ceremonies throughout the South-Eastern Bantu tribes.
she is supposed to have first given man form. The Zulu say she Thus we are told of a ceremony to drive away crop-pests
moves with the mist, on one side a human being, on one side a among the Tsonga of Mozambique:
river, on one side overgrown with grass. If no rites were performed
for her, she was offended and blighted the grain. From time to Woe to the man who walks along the paths ! He is pitilessly
time she appeared in white to women and gave them new laws or attacked by these viragos, who push him to one side, or even mal­
told them what would happen in the future. The rainbow is the treat him and none of his fellows will go to his assistance. They
rafter of her hut-she dwells in the sky and is connected with rain. 5 all keep ;ut of the way, for they well know what would be in store
for them, should they meet the savage crowd! 8
Nomkubulwana is thus clearly a goddess of the same kind as
the corn-goddesses and corn-gods of the ancient world. Father This temporary dominant role of the women-a dominant
Bryant explicitly compares her with these deities and draws role that was publicly instituted, indeed approved, and not
parallels between their respective rites. The most important exercised tactfully in the background-contrasted strongly
6 Rituals of Rebellion in South-East Africa 7
with the mores of these patriarchal peoples. Hence it is my woman stepped over a fireplace where magic had been pre�
first example of a ritual of rebellion, an instituted protest pared, she fell ill. Though the menses were the source of
demanded by sacred tradition, which is seemingly against the children, so that the menses could be beneficial, usually during
established order, yet which aims to bless that order to achieve their menstrual periods women were a constant threat of
prosperity. To understand how this rebellion worked we must danger. In this condition they could spoil magic, blight
contrast the women's behaviour here with their accustomed crops, kill cattle, and rob the warrior of his strength and the
behaviour. hunter of his skill. Terrible ills afflicted a man who had
In the first place, it is important to grasp that the men did intercourse with a menstruating woman. In religion women
not merely abstain from participation in the ceremonial, and were equally suppressed and as potentially evil. They moved
regard it as a women's affair. The men were convinced that to reside under the protection of their husbands' stranger
the ceremony would help produce bountiful crops : old Zulu ancestors, whom they could not approach directly. They did
men complained to me in 1937 that the neglect of the cere­ not, like men, become ancestral spirits doing good for their
mony accounted for the poor crops of today. The men wished children in return for sacrifices. For as spirits women were
the ritual to be performed, and their own positive role in the capriciously evil : male ancestors did not normally continue
ceremony was to hide, 9 and to allow the girls to wear their to afflict their descendants after sacrifice had been made, but
garments and do their work while elder women behaved with female spirits might continue to cause malicious ill. The
Bacchantic lewdness as against the usual demand that they Zulu vaguely personify the power of Heaven in storms, and
be modest. they distinguish two kinds of Heaven. The first, marked by
Secondly, the ceremonies were performed by the women sheet-lightning, is good, and male ; the second, marked by
and girls of local districts, while the men as warriors in the forked-lightning, is female, and dangerous. Finally, as men
king's regiments joined in great. sowing and first fruits cere­ could learn to become good magicians, so they could learn
monies for national strength and prosperity. The direct in­ to be malignant sorcerers, deliberately choosing to be wicked.
terests of women and girls were confined to their home districts, But women's inherent wickedness attracted to them sexual
and here they took action to get local prosperity. Their familiars who turned them into witches and demanded the
ceremonial actions, marked by dominance and lewdness, were lives of their relatives. In Zulu myths it was Eves who intro­
effective in contrast to their usual subordination and modesty. duced killing by sorcery into Paradise. Most Zulu charges
I cannot here describe this contrast in detail, 10 but state briefly of witchcraft were made against women-against sisters-in-law
that they were in every respect formally under the tutelage and daughters-in-law, and between the fellow-wives of one
of men. Legally women were always minors, in the care of man or the wives of brothers.
father, brother, or husband. They could not in general One path to good ritual action was open to women. They
become politically powerful. They were married out of their could be possessed by spirits and become diviners : go per
own kin-group into the homes of strangers where they were cent of this kind of diviners were women. However, this
subject to many restraints and taboos. In ritual their role possession was an extremely painful illness which might endure
was not only subordinate, but also highly ambivalent and for years, and often killed the patient. The symbol of a suc­
usually evil. They could perform good magic, as when a cessful initiation was the right to carry shield and spear, those
pregnant woman burnt medicines whose smoke benefited the badges of manhood.
crops. But they could not become magicians·; indeed, if a Thus the standardized beliefs and practices of the Zulu
 in South-East Africa 9
8 Rituals of Rebellion
Cattle come into this series of conflicts, firstly as the main
stressed the social subordination and the inherent ambivalent
property, beside position, over which men fought. Land was
position of women. Women potentially threatened evil by
_ then plentiful. Another potent source of quarrels was women.
ntual means. Yet in practice they not only were useful as
However, women and cattle were in a sense identified, though
the main cultivators of gardens, but also they were esse�tial
-and perhaps therefore-taboo to each other, since a man
for the procreation of society. The agnatic lineage-a group
required cattle to give as marriage-payment for his wife.
of males descended through males from a male founding
Cattle, the herding of which formed, with warriorhood, the
ancestor�was_ the dominant enduring group in Zulu kinship
admired Zulu roles, were thus not only taboo to women, but
and fannlial life. Women of the lineage were married else­
also the apparent symbol for their transfer from the security
where to produce children for other lineages. As the Romans
of their natal home to the uncertainties of a strange village
said, mulier finis J_ami!iae est. But the men who as a group
_ and to the vicissitudes of conjugal life. Though marriage
w�re socially fertile m that their children perpetuated their
was the goal of all women, in the years of courtship Zulu
existence, were on the other hand physically sterile. Under
girls were liable to suffer from hysterical attacks, which were
the rules w1:ich :orbade men to marry their kinswomen, they
blamed on the love-magic of their suitors. When a girl
had to obtam wives elsewhere in order to get children. For
married, cattle moved into her home to replace her, and her
mulier et origo etfinisfamiliae est. Thus the male group depended
brother used these cattle to get his own bride. The stability
on stranger women for its perpetuation. When these women
of her brother's marriage, established with these cattle,
married into the group they were hedged with taboos and
depended on the stability of her marriage and on her having
restraints. For while the group's continuity and strength
children ; for theoretically if she were divorced-though in
�epended on its offspring by these women, its very increase practice divorce was extremely rare among the Zulu 12-or
m numbers threatened that strength and continuity. A man
if she were barren, her husband could claim the cattle with
wh� _has two sons by his wife produces two rivals for a single
which his brother-in-law had married. The cattle thus came
position and property ; and his wife is responsible for this
to symbolize not only the manner in which a girl became a
dangerous proliferation of his personality. If he has two
wife, but also the conflict between brothers and sisters with
wives, each with sons, the cleavage, like the proliferation, is
the brother heir to his sister's marriage as well as to the g�oup's
greater. Hence the role of women in producing children both
cattle. From this position the sister was excluded by virtue
strengthens and threatens to disrupt the group, and this ambi­
of her sex. For had her brother's and her sexes been reversed,
valence is expressed in the manifold beliefs I have recited
she would have been heir to cattle and social predominance,
Since struggles between men over property and position, which and he qestined to perpetuate a group of strangers and not
threatened to disrupt the group, were fought in terms of their his and her own natal group.
�tt�chment to the agnatic group through stranger-women, 11 This is part of the social background in which we must
1t 1s not surprising that charges of witchcraft were brought
try to understand the Nomkubulwana ceremonies with their
frequently by fellow-wives, jealous not only of their husbands'
protest of women's rebellion. They took place when women
favours but also for their sons, and by both men and women had embarked on the arduous and uncertain agricultural
against sisters-in-law and daughters-in-law. Moreover, -the tasks of the year and promised a good harvest from the one
men of the group, because of their unity, could not attack
goddess in the array of virile ' gods ' and ancestors. The
each other directly with accusations of witchcraft, but one young girls, still in their natal homes,· acted as if they were
could attack another indirectly by accusing his wife. **
IO Rituals of Rebellion in South-East Africa II

their brothers : they donned male clothing, carried weapons social roles of the participants in the ceremonies-which
(like the possessed diviners), and herded the beloved cattle. Frazer did not know-we can push our analysis along paths
Their brothers remained in the huts, like women. The other than the single intellectualist path which Frazer fol­
younger married women, 13 with lewd behaviour, planted the lowed. For him this sort of ceremony was a response to
goddess's field: as men at the capital ceremonially sowed a man's thinking about the universe : with more knowledge,
field for the king. A dropping of normal restraints, and in­ we can see that it reflects· and overcomes social conflict as
verted and transvestite behaviour, in which women were domi­ well as helpless ignorance.
nant and men suppressed, somehow were believed to achieve
good for the community-an abundant harvest. Clearly a
wealth of psychological and sociological-even physiological­
mechanisms are contained in that ' somehow were believed to III
achieve good '. I have not time to enter into these mechan­
isms, of which indeed as yet we understand little. Here I The Nomkubulwana ceremony is one of many domestic
stress only that the ceremonial operates seemingly by an act rituals which exhibit these processes ; I have selected it for
of rebellion, by an open and privileged assertion of obscenity, 14 treatment here because it involves a deity of the type to which
by the patent acting out of fundamental conflicts both in the Frazer devoted so much attention. Among the neighbouring
social structure and in individual psyches. Swazi and Tsonga, and in the Transkei, these women's rites
In this interpretation the Prinoess of Heaven has disappeared are associated with the driving away of an insect pest ; and
into the background, like-as Frazer might have said-her there is a similar ritual among the Zulu for Nomkubulwana.
morning mists when the sun has risen over the hills. Yet The Transkeian Thembu women to the south also perform
clearly she lies at the heart of the ceremony. As Frazer the cattle-herding rite at a girl's puberty ceremony. Some
pointed out of her sister and brother deities in the ancient ceremony of this kind seems general to these patriarchal
world, she symbolizes the vast seasonal· change which comes South-Eastern Bantu. Other domestic ceremonies also ex­
with spring, and that swing of the seasons within which man's hibit the theme of rebellion. 15 Howeve;, I turn now to
life is set. On this swing of seasons-and on the seasons being analyse a great national ceremony connect with crops and
good and bountiful-depend the crops, and social life in turn kingship, in which the theme of rebellion in the political
depends on these. The goddess, with her privilege of granting process is made manifest.
or withholding a bountiful harvest, thus relates social life to The Zulu. kingship was broken after the Anglo-Zulu war
the natural world in which it is set. She does so in an anthro­ of 1879; but happily the kindred Swazi still perform national
pomorphic form which is appropriate to her role in linking ceremonies which are very similar to those the Zulu used to
a patriarchal society, pressing heavily on the hard-working perform. Dr. Hilda Kuper * has given us a brilliant des­
women, with its wooded, grass-grown, then scantily cultivated, cription of them. 16
environment. Her figure is only partly human, for it is also * I am grateful to Dr. Kuper, and to the Director of the International
partly woods, grass, river, and gardens. She is a woman, but African Institute, for permission to quote at length from Dr. Kuper's
a maiden and unmarried, yet fertile. She makes the rain. An African Aristocracy. Dr. Kuper has also criticized my summary of the
ceremony and added valuable points. She considered I should stress
She taught all the useful arts and gives laws to women who other points I had to omit for: lack of space : these are stated in footnotes
do not make laws. But when we know something about the 16 and 30.
12 Rituals of Rebellion in South-East Africa
The Swazi incwala ceremony has been taken by most ob­ is angry and proud ', and these conflicting emotions are said
servers to be a typical first fruits ceremony, and indeed no to impregnate the ingredients for the ritual. The bull is slain
one should eat of some of the crops before it has been per­ and strips of its skin are twined about the ' princess ' cala­
formed. In most South African tribes a breach of this taboo bashes. Then in the evening ' the Priests of the Sea ' set off
0

threatened ritual danger not to the transgressor, but to the under the royal ancestor's blessing to get the waters of the
leader whose right of precedence ' was stolen '. There is sea and the great bordering rivers, and plants from the tangled
evidence that many broke the taboo : if caught, they were forests of the Lebombo Mountains. This was formerly a
punished by the chiefs. The sanction on this taboo itself hazardous journey into enemy lands but ' the waters of the
states the main theme of rebellious conflict with which we world [were required] to give strength and purity to the
are here concerned. The king had thus to race his subjects king '. As they go through the country the grave priests
' to bite the new year ', the passage into which was marked practise licensed robbery on the people.
by the sun's turn at the tropic. But the king must also ' race On the day of the night when the moon will be dark, the
the sun ' and begin the ceremony before the solstice itself. calabashes are placed in a sacred enclosure in the royal cattle­
This requires some calculation as the king must go into his kraal. Some of the priests pillage the capital. The 'little
retirement when the moon is on the wane, and symbolizes ceremony ' has begun. The age-regiments of veterans from
that man's powers are declining. The nation resides on the the capital of the king's dead father's queen-mother assemble
land and is dependent on the cosmic forces, but it must utilize in the kraal as the crescent of the weak moon. Amid the
and even subdue them. Here too the king is concerned to lowing of the cattle they slowly chant the sacred royal song :
prevent other nations stealing a march on him.
The ceremonies vary according to the age of the king : You hate the child king,
they are reduced to a few rites if he succeeds as a boy and You hate the child king (repeated).
I would depart with my Father (the king),
blossom in his maturity. But only the king among the royal I fear we would be recalled.
clan can stage the ritual. When two princes organized their They put him on the stone :
own ceremonies this led, in Swazi historical thought, to great -sleeps with his sister :
-sleeps with Lozithupa ([the] Princess) :
disasters : national armies were sent to punish them for this You hate the child king.
treason. Certain immigrant provincial chiefs of other clans
retain their own first fruits ceremonies, which they stage later, The words are repeated in varying order over and over again.
but they keep away from the king's incwala. During the chanting the regiments from the capitals of the
Two calabashes are prepared for the ceremony. Each king and his queen-mother enter the kraal and the army
calabash is known as 'Princess' (inkosatana), and seems to forms a crescent. Queens and princesses, and commoner
be connected with the Princess Inkosatana, who, according to women and children, stand in separate ranks, distant accord­
Dr. Kuper, is ' a sky deity whose footprint is the rainbow, and ing to status. All chant a second sacred song :
of whose mood lightning is the expression '. This suggests
further some relationship with Nomkubulwana. The calabashes You hate him,
are prepared by hereditary ritual experts kno� as ' The Mother, the enemies are the people,
You hate him,
People [Priests-M. G.] of the Sea '. A pitch black bull is The people are wizards.
stolen from the herd of a subject not of the royal clan. 'He Admit the treason of Mabedla-
 Rituals of Rebellion in South-East Africa
You hate _him,
You have wronged, strengthening the earth '. The people chant the national
bend great neck, anthem; nO"o/ full not of hate and rejection, but of triumph :
those and those they hate him,
they hate the king. Here is the Inexplicable.
Our Bull ! Lion ! Descend.
This song too is sung again, and is followed by songs ' rich Descend, Being of Heaven,
Unconquerable.
in historical allusions and moral precepts ', but which may Play like tides of the sea,
be sung on secular occasions. Dr. Kuper cites one : it too You Inexplicable, Great Mountain.
speaks of the king's enemies among the people for it urges Our Bull.
revenge on those who were believed to have killed his father, They disperse. Fire burns all night in the enclosure.
King Bunu, by sorcery. Before the sun rises the men assemble again in the kraal
Come let us arm, men of the capital, and chant the songs of rejection. They shout, 'Come, Lion,
the harem is burnt, awake, the sun is leaving you,' ' They hate him, the son of
the shield of the lion has disappeared Bunu,' and other insults to stir the king to activity. With
(repeated). the rising sun the king enters the enclosure, and it is encircled
Meanwhile the king is in the sacred enclosure. The Priests
by the army. Again they sing,
of the Sea come with medicines to treat him, and women avert King, alas for your fate,
their eyes for ' to look on the medicines of the king can drive King, they reject thee,
King, they hate thee.
one mad '. A pitch black bull is killed in the enclosure, and
the army moves from the crescent shape to that of the full Foreigners and those of the royal clan are expelled and the
moon against the enclosure, while a young regiment goes spitting ceremony is again performed. The ritual is over.
behind it. While the king is treated with powerful magic There remains an essential 'work of the people for king­
he is surrounded by his subjects. The army chants a royal ship '-. The warriors weed the queen-mother's gardens, but
song which is sung at all important episodes in the king's life : their work is described by a term for working with little
energy, with play and dawdling. The regimental leaders urge
King, alas for your fate,
King, they reject thee, the warriors to strenuous effort and scold slackers, but, still,
King, they hate thee. it is called working without energy-I suspect it is at least
an unconscious protest against work for the state. The army
The chant is silenced ; foreigners who do not owe allegiance dances ; and then the people are feasted according to rank.
to the king, and men and women of the royal clan and women This ends the little ceremony, and during the ensuing fort­
pregnant by these men, are ordered away. Dr. Kuper con­ night the people practise the songs and dances for the great
siders ' that the king at the height of his ritual treatment ceremony which is performed when the moon is full, and
must be surrounded only by his loyal and unrelated subjects '. man's powers with it rise to a new status. People from all
The leader of the Sea Priests shouts : 'He stabs it with both over the country assemble for these days of national celebration.
horns. Our Bull ' ; and the people know that the king has The themes I am analysing have emerged in the little
spat medicine to break the old year and prepare for the new. ceremony, so for lack of time I summarize the great ceremony,
The crowd applauds, for the king 'has triumphed and is which Dr. Kuper has described with unsurpassed artistry.
16 Rituals of Rebellion in South-East Africa 17
On the first day young warriors, pure and undefiled by sexual Dr. Kuper was given two apparently conflicting interpreta­
relations, make an arduous journey to get green everlasting tions of this rite. The first was that the royal clan wants to
and quick-growing shrubs. Then they dance with the king. migrate again. ' They want their king to come with them,
After they have rested, on the third day the king is treated they want to leave the . people whom they distrust in the
with powerful medicines. Another stolen bull, whose theft country where they stayed a little while.' The second inter­
has made its commoner owner ' angry ', is killed by the youths pretation was : 'The [royal clan] show their hatred of the
with their bare hands : and he who was not pure is liable king. They denounce him and force him from their midst.'
to be injured. Magically powerful parts of the bull are taken I think both interpretations are correct, for both are stressed
to treat the king. The fourth day is the great day, when, in the next act. 1 7 The song changes :
to quote Dr. Kuper, ' the king appears in all his splendour,
Come, come, King of Kings,
and the ambivalent attitude of love and hate felt by his Come, father, come,
brothers and his non-related subjects to him and to each other Come king, oh come here, king.
is dramatized '. · The king goes naked save for a glowing
ivory prepuce-cover to the sacred enclosure through his people, The ·princes lunge with their sticks against the small doorway
and beat their shields in agitation, draw back slowly and beseech­
as they chant the songs of hate and rejection. His mothers ingly, try to lure him out, beg him with praises : 'Come from
weep and pity him. He spits medicines so that his strength your sanctuary. The sun is leaving you, You the High One.'
goes through and awakens his people. Now he bites the new
crops ; and next day the various status groups of the nation The king emerges as a wild monster, his head covered with
do so in order of precedence. In the afternoon, the king, black plumes, his body with bright green, razor-edged grass
surrounded by men of the royal clan, dances at the head of and everlasting shoots. These and other accoutrements have
the army. They change their song: ritual associations. He ' appears reluctant to return to the
nation. He executes a crazy elusive dance.' Then he returns
We shall leave them with their country, to the sanctuary, and again the princes cry to him to come
Whose travellers are like distant thunder, out, ' king of kings '.
Do you hear, Dlambula, do you hear?
They draw back, pause, sway forward. At last he responds.
and the women reply, At his approach they retire, enticing him to follow, but after a
few steps he turns back and they close behind him again.
Do you hear?
Let us go, let us go. The warriors dance vigorously, beating their shields, for' they
keep their king alive and healthy by their own movements.
The words and the tune are wild and sad [say the Swazi] like
the sea 'when the sea is angry and the birds of the sea are tossed on The mime goes on with increasing tension ... [the king] is
the waves '. The royal women move backwards and forwards in terrifying, and as the knife-edged grass cuts into his skin he
small, desperate groups. . . . Many weep. The men's feet stamp tosses his body furiously in pain and rage.'
the ground vigorously and slowly, the black plumes wave and The pure youths at last come to the front: they carry
flutter, the princes come closer, driving the king in their midst. special large black shields. The song changes to triumph :
Nearer and nearer they bring him to his sanctuary. The crowd
grows frenzied, the singing louder, the bodies sway and press Thunder deep,
against the enclosure, and the king is forced within. That they hear the thundrous beat.
18 Rituals of Rebellion zn South-East Africa 19

The youths pummel their shields as the king dances towards to his mother and his own queens ; and the nation united
them, but they retreat from him. He retires two or three against internal enemies and external foes, and in a struggle
times more to the sanctuary, and then emerges carrying a for a living with nature. This ceremony is not a simple mass
gourd, which though plucked the previous year is still green. assertion of unity, but a stressing of conflict, a statement of
Foreigners and royalty again leave· the amphitheatre. The rebellion and rivalry against the king, with periodical affirm­
king again retreats, tantalizing the men : then suddenly he ations of unity with the king, and the drawing of power from
lurches forward, and casts the gourd on to a shield. The the king. The political structure, as the source of prosperity
men stamp their feet, hiss, and thump their shields : and all and strength which safeguards the nation internally and extern­
disperse. ally, is made sacred in the person of the king. He is associated
Some informants told Dr. Kuper that in the times of wars the with his ancestors, for the political structure endures through
recipient of the gourd, who thus received the powerful vessel the generations, though kings and people are born and die.
symbolizing the past, would have been killed when he went The queen-mother links him with past kings, his queens with
to battle; and she suggests that he may be a national scape­ future kings. Many other elements are present, but again we
goat, ' a sacrifice to the future '. see that the dramatic, symbolic acting of social relations in
The king is full of dangerous magical power. That night . their ambivalence is believed to achieve unity and prosperity.
he cohabits with his ritual wife, made blood-sister to him, so
that commoner and royal blood meet in her to make her
sister-wife to the king. All the population on the next day is IV
in a tabooed state and subject to restraints, while the king sits
naked and still among his powerful councillors. 'On this day First, I must again pay tribute to Sir James Frazer's deep
the identification of the people with the king is very marked.' insight. He stressed that these agricultural ceremonies were
For example, people who break the taboo on sleeping late are connected with the political process, and that the dying god
reprimanded, ' You cause the king to sleep ', and are fined. was often identified with secular kings. He drew attention also
The queen-mother is also treated with medicines. to the rebellious ceremonial, for he described the widespread
On the final day certain things that were used in the cere­ installation of ' temporary kings ' who were sacrificed or
mony are burnt on a great pyre, and the people dance and mocked and discharged after a few days' of ostensible rule.
sing, but the sad songs of rejection are now taboo for a year. He could not draw, from his inadequate material, the con­
Rain should fall-and usually does-to quench the flames. clusions which we are drawing. It might be possible to test
There is feasting and revelry at the expense of the rulers, and the hypothesis I have advanced on the classical material, but
gay love-making. The warriors weed the royal fields, and I doubt if the data are available. Professor Frankfort's learned
then disperse to their homes. analysis of the Egyptian ceremonies can tell us only that
The ceremonies themselves exhibit their main symbolism in
the Royal Princes, and also the Royal Kinsmen, participated in
Dr. Kuper's vivid account. One can feel the acting out of the force. In addition some reliefs show figures designed as ' men '
powerful tensions which make up national life-king and state or ' subjects '. They represent the crowds of onlookers who, though
against people, and people against king and state ; king allied certainly excluded from the comparatively restricted area in the
with commoners against his rival brother-princes, commoners temple, watched the processions to the harbour and perhaps partici­
allied with princes against the king ; the relation of the king pated in other ways which we cannot now reconstruct. 18
20 Rituals of Rebellion in South-East Africa · 2I

Untrained observers and native accounts in primitive societies revolutionaries. King and rival prince and subject all accepted
have generally failed to record these important elements in the existing order and its institutions as right. Contenders for
ceremonial. Hence I venture to suggest that Near Eastern power against established authority sought only to acquire the
and classical ceremonies may have been similarly organized same positions of authority for themselves. Professor Frank­
to exhibit social tensions. fort describes a similar structure in Ancient Egypt. Pharaoh
• maintains an established order (in which justice is an essential
element) against the onslaught of the powers of chaos'. This
order was maat-usually translated as ' truth ', but ' which
V really means " right order "-the inherent structure of creation,
of which justice is an integral part'. It was so ' effectively
We are here confronted with a cultural mechanism which recognized by the people, that in the whole of Egypt's long
challenges study by sociologists, psychologists, and biologists : history there is no evidence of any popular rising ', though
the analysis in detail of the processes by which this acting of there were many palace intrigues. 20
conflict achieves a blessing-social unity. 19 Clearly we are The acceptance of the established order as right and good,
dealing with the general problem of catharsis set by Aristotle and even sacred, seems to allow unbridled excess, very rituals
in his Politics and his Trage4,,-the purging of emotion through of rebellion, for the order itself keeps this rebellion within
' pity, fear and inspiration'. Here I attempt only to analyse bounds. Hence to act the conflicts, whether directly or by
the sociological setting of the process. inversion or in other symbolical form, emphasizes the social
I would chiefly stress that the rebellious ritual occurs within cohesion within which the conflicts exist. Every social system
-an established and unchallenged social order. In the past the is a field of tension, full of ambivalence, of co-operation and
South-Eastern B.antu people may have criticized and rebelled contrasting struggle. This is true of relatively stationary­
against particular authorities and individuals, but they did not what I like to call repetitive 21-social systems as well as of
question the system of institutions. Zulu women undoubtedly systems which are changing and developing. In a repetitive
suffered severe psychical pressure in their social subordination system particular conflicts are settled not by alterations in the
and their transference by marriage to stranger-groups, but they order of offices, but by changes in the persons occupying those
desired marriage, children, well-cultivated and fertile fields to offices. The passage of time with its growth and change of
feed their husbands and families. In the Nomkubulwana ritual population produces over long periods realignments, but not
they became temporarily lewd viragoes, and their daughters radical change of pattern. And as the social order always
martial herdsmen ; but they accepted the social order and did contains a division of rights and duties, and of privileges and
not form a party of suffragettes. Here I think is an obvious powers as against liabilities, the ceremonial enactment of this
pointer-and it is not necessarily wrong because it is obvious order states the nature of the order in all its rightness. The
-to one set of social reasons why these African ceremonies ceremony states that in virtue of their social position princes
could express, freely and openly, fundamental social conflicts. and people hate the king, but nevertheless they support him.
They possessed, not suffragettes aiming at altering the existing Indeed, they support him in virtue of, and despite, the conflicts
social and political order, but women seeking for good husbands between them. The critically important point is that even if
to give them children. Swazi princes do not actually hate the king, their social position
Similarly, in African political life men were rebels and never may rally malcontents to them. Indeed, in a comparatively
22 Rituals of Rebellion in South-East Africa 23
small-scale society princes by their very existence have power In Europe we can no longer ritually reject the king alone,
which threatens the king. Hence in their prescribed, com­ for there are too many among us, even in this United Kingdom,
pelled, ritual behaviour they exhibit opposition as well as who reject and hate the kingship and the social order it defines :
support for the king, but mainly support for the kingship. therefore, to quote Dr. Kuper,
This is the social setting for rituals of rebellion. 22 royalty [is] blatantly extolled, the virtues of the nation [are]
Here is one answer to Dr. Kuper's discussion of the songs magnified, and the country [is] glorified.
of hate and rejection with which the Swazi support their king.
There may be a few among us who accept the kingship but
The words of the Incwala songs are surprising to the European, believe another should occupy the throne. Generally, in
accustomed at national celebrations, to hear royalty blatantly ex­ various parts of the Commonwealth, as in my homeland of
tolled, the virtues of the nation magnified, and the country glorified.
The theme of the Incwala songs is hatred of the king and his rejection South Africa, it is the Crown itself, and not its incumbent,
by the people. [A Swazi wrote] : 'The [one] song or hymn is an which is resented. Some South Africans desire independence
indirect allusion to the king's enemies not necessarily from outside, from the Crown : · throughout the Commonwealth there are
but may be from members of the royal family, or among. the tribes­ revolutionaries who wish for republics organized in quite dif­
men. The line, "he hates him ! ahoshi ashoshi ahoshi "-is ferent orders. On the whole no one struggles against a
intended as a thrust against all who may not join in the Incwala,
whose non-participation is regarded as an act of rebellion, hostility particular sovereign.
and personal hatred to the king.' Of the [rejection song he wrote] : This simplified contrast illuminates the social setting of the
' It is a national expression of sympathy for the king, who, by reason Swazi ritual of rebellion. Swazi polity was a system in which
of the manner of his choice, necessarily provokes enemies within there were rebels, not revolutionaries. Should a particular
the royal family. . . . The songs show the hatred evoked by the king be a tyrant, his people's redress was not to seek to establish
king, but they also demonstrate the loyalty of his supporters. The a republic, but to find some good prince whom they could
people who sing the songs sing with pain and suffering, they hate
his enemies and denounce them.' [Another Swazi] said : ' I establish as king. They were constrained both by belief and
think these songs are magical preventives against harm coming custom, and by the structure of groups in which they united
to the king.' for rebellion, to seek for their saviour leader in the royal family.
When the king walks naked to the sanctuary through his people, For it was firmly believed that only a member of the royal
family could become king. In these circumstances of a
the women weep and the song of hate rings out with penetrating rebellion against a bad king for not observing the values of
melancholy. Later, when [Dr. Kuper] asked the women why they kingship, the rebellion is in fact waged to defend the kingship
had wept, the queen-mother said : ' It is pain to see him a king.
My child goes alone through the people ', the queens said: 'We against the king. The people have an interest in the values
pity him. There is no other man who could walk naked in front of kingship and fight for them. In short, since the rebellion
of everybody,' and an old man added : 'The work of a king is is to put a prince, who it is hoped will observe these values,
indeed heavy.' in the king's place with the same powers, a rebellion para­
It is the particular king who is hated and rejected by some doxically supports the kingship. Further, as the leader of a
that has to be pitied and supported by those who are loyal. rebellion is a member of the royal family, rebellion confirms
People may hate the kingship in reseni..ing its authority, but that family's title to the kingship. Therefore a prince can
they do not aim to subvert it. For, ' it is the kingship and invite commoners to rebel and attack his kinsman king with­
not the king who is divine '. 23 out invalidating his family's title. In this situation rulers fear
 Rituals of Rebellion zn South-East Africa 25
rivals from their own ranks, and not revolutionaries of lower
system to hold them together and their system of communica­
status : and each ruler, in fear of his rivals, has a great interest in
tions was poor. Each territorial segment was on the whole eco­
conforming to the norms of kingship. Every rebellion there­
nomically autonomous and lightly controlled from the ce�tre.
fore is a fight in defence of royalty and kingship: and in this
The territorial segments therefore developed, on the basis of
process the hostility of commoners against aristocrats is directed
local loyalties and cohesion, strong tendencies to break out
to maintain the rule of the aristocrats, some of whom lead the
of the national system and set up as independent. But in
commoners in revolt. 24
practice the leaders of these territorial segments often tended
All these alignments are dramatized in the ritual of rebellion, _
to struggle for the kingship, or for power around it, rather
together with unity against nature and external foes. The
than for independence. Periodic civil wars thus strengthened
king is strengthened as king: and the kingship is strengthened
the system by canalizing tendencies to segment, and by stating
in his person, through association with kingly ancestors, with
that the main goal of leaders was the sacred kingship itself.
the queen-mother, and with inherited regalia which symbolize
Hence when a good Zulu king had reigned long and happily
the throne's endurance. But his personal isolation, and the
two of his sons fought for his heirship during his lifetime. In
conflicts that centre on him as an individual incumbent of the
other nations (e.g. Ankole) there was a free-for-all civil war
throne, dramatically express the real alignments of power­
between potential heirs. In others (e.g. Zulu) a peaceful king
struggle in the system, and intensify actions and emotions
would be attacked by someone claiming he was a usurper.
expressing loyalty. While the king is a minor few ceremonies
Frequently segments of the nation would put forward their
are performed ; the men do not assemble and the songs of
own pretenders to the throne, each segment ready to die
hate are not sung. The king's personal position is too weak
behind its true prince.
to allow conflict to express dramatic unity in complementary
This suggestion is strengthened by the fact that rarely in
opposition.
Africa do we find clear and simple rules indicating a single
The rebellious structure of this type of stationary society has
prince as the true heir. Frequently the rules of s1:ccession �re
long been noted by historians. 25 But this ritual of rebellion
in themselves contradictory in that they support different heirs
suggests that we may push the analysis further. The great
(e.g. Bemba), and more often still they operate in prac�ce
ceremony which was believed by the Swazi to strengthen and
uncertainly (e.g. Swazi and Zulu). Almost every success10n
unite their nation achieved these ends not only by massed
may raise rival claimants. Or the heir is selected from the
dances and songs, abstentions and festivities, but also by
royal family (Lozi). Or else the kingship rotates between
emphasizing potential rebellion. If this emphasis on potential
different houses of the royal dynasty which represent different
rebellion in practice made the nation feel united, is it not
territorial segments (e.g. Shilluk and Nupe). Another device
possible that civil rebellion itself was a source of strength to
is the dual monarchy with rule split between two capitals, one
these systems ? I cannot here present all the evidence that
of which may be ruled by the king's mother or sister (e.g. Swazi
supports this bold statement. These were states based on a
. and Lozi). 26 The very structure of kingship thrusts struggles
comparatively simple technology with limited trade connec­ _
between rival houses, and even civil war, on the nation ; and
tions. They had not goods to raise standards of living and the
it is an historical fact to state that these struggles kept com­
rich used their wealth largely to feed their dependants ano
p�nent groups of the nation united in conflicting allegi�nce
increase their followings. Hence the societies were basically
around the sacred kingship. When a kingdom becomes mte­
egalitarian. They also lacked a complex integrating economic
grated by a complex economy and rapid communication
 Rituals of Rebellion in South-East Africa
system, palace intrigues may continue, but the comparatively sanction of deities or royal ancestors. The Lozi have no
simple processes of segmentation and rebellion are complicated hunger period and no great ceremonies. 27
by class-struggles and tendencies to revolution. The ritual of The women's ceremony, and the king's ceremonies at sow­
rebellion ceases to be appropriate or possible. ing and first fruits, are clearly agricultural rituals. Some of
the social and psychical tensions they cope with are associated
with stages of the agricultural cycle, and the food which it is
VI hoped to produce or which has been produced. But these
tensions are related through the ritual actors to the social
Certain points remain to tie up our argument. First, why relationships involved in food production. Agricultural suc­
should these ceremonies take place at first fruits and harvest ? cess depends on more than the fickleness of nature, though
I suggest that there are real socially disruptive forces work­ fickle nature is personified in all the ceremonies. The goddess
ing at this season, which require physiological and psycho­ Nomkubulwana is a nature-spirit who may grant good crops or
logical study. In all these tribes the first fruits come after a not. She is a nature-spirit for women not only because she
period of hunger. Quarrels may arise because of the sudden is connected with crops, but also because women act as a body
access of energy frorri the new food, for it is after harvest that iil neighbourhoods. These neighbourhoods contain women
wars are waged and internecine fighting breaks out. Even from many different kinship-groups of diverse ancestral origin,
before that the expectation of plenty, especially of beer, un­ and in any case women cannot approach the ancestors who
doubtedly leads to a violent outburst of energy in the men, are primarily held responsible for prosperity. The Nomkubul­
who are quarrelsome at this time. Some people in fact eat wana ritual is thus a land-cult, and her garden is planted far
the new food before the ceremony is performed. There is, if out in the veld. Like this garden, Nomkubulwana herself re­
crops are good-and many South African tribes held no mains outside the ring of society : she does not enter the
ceremony if they were bad-the jubilant ending of uncertainty. ceremony. She is propitiated when the crops begin to grow
In this background difficulties arise where one family's crops and when they are attacked by pests, so that the women and
are ripe while another family lives still in hunger. The taboo their goddess are associated with the most uncertain 28 stages
on early eating allows each family to move into plenty at of agriculture, when the women's work is heaviest. Here
roughly the same time. The very move into plenty observably celebrants reverse their role drastically. This suggests for
produces a charge of emotion in the society. As food supplies psychological study the possibility that the marital situation of
are drawn on in these subsistence economies, each household women produces great strains and that these are never well
tends to withdraw into itself. After first fruits and harvest subdued. They show in women's liability to nervous dis­
wider social activities are resumed : weddings, dances, beer­ orders, hysteria in fear of magical courting by men, and
drinks, become daily occurrences and attract whole neigh­ spirit-possession. 29 Sociologically, the ritual and the nature­
bourhoods. This great change in the tempo of social life is spirit seem to be related to the potential instability of domestic
accompanied by relief because another year has been passed life and groups.
successfully, while the heavy demands of the ritual, and its The first fruits ceremony is a political ritual organized by the
slow and ordered release of conflicting emotions and pent-up state which is an enduring group : hence it exhibits different
energy, control behaviour by the programme of ceremonies beliefs and processes. The Bantu believe that the ancestral
and dances, stressing unity. All are performed under the spirits of the king are in the end primarily responsible for the
 Rituals of Rebellion zn South-East Africa 29
weather, and for good crops. These spirits have been in life short, prosperity-it must have food. This is trite and obvious
part of the society, and they are always about certain sacred enough. But it is perhaps less obvious to point out that com­
spots inside men's habitations. They may be wayward in their munal interests in the procuring of food may conflict with the
actions, but they are inside society. The ruling king is their interests of particular individuals. For to obtain food, men
earthly representative who supplicates them in a small-scale need land and hoes, and cattle; they need wives to cultivate
ceremony at sowing; and again the first fruits ceremony to their gardens. Particular individuals or groups may come
celebrate a successful season (the Zulu called the ceremony into conflict over items of land, or implements, or cattle, or
' playing with the king ') involves the king and his ancestors. women. Hence individual interests in the food that is so
The ritual is organized to exhibit the co-operation and con­ essential stand in a sense in opposition to the community's
flict which make up the political system. After this ceremony interests that all its people be prosperous and have plenty of
there follows a series of separate offerings of the first fruits by food. Thus elements of conflict arise over the very food that
the heads of all political groups, down to the homestead, to is so desired. These conflicts are settled because in holding
their own ancestors. But the women make no offering from and cultivating land, in herding cattle, and in marrying wives,
the harvest to Nomkubulwana, ·who, by another set of beliefs, men are involved not only in technical activities, but also in
granted fertility. The period of agricultural certainty-first actions which have a legal and moral aspect in associating
fruits and harvest-is thus associated with the king and the them with their fellows. They must on the whole fulfil their
political system, for despite the· conflicts it contains, from year obligations and respect the rights of others ' or else the material
to year the political system is ordered and stable, beyond the needs of existence could no longer be satisfied. Productive
stability of domestic units. However, the uncertainty and labour would come to a standstill and the society disintegrate.'
wildness of nature may enter into the king's ceremony, though The greatest common interest is thus in peace and good order,
it is the king who personifies it. This is when, at the climax and the observance of Law. Since the political structure
of the ceremony, he appears dressed in rushes and animal skins guarantees this order and peace, which will allow food to be
-a monster or wild thing (Silo)-executing a frenzied inspired produced, the political structure becomes associated with food
dance, since he is not taught it. But even as a nature-spirit, for the community at large. At the ceremony the new food
the king is enticed into society by his allied enemies, the princes, is opened to all the nation, though some subjects may steal
until he throws away the past year in a last act of aggression, it. Thus the political order of interconnected rights and duties
the casting of a gourd on to the shield of a warrior who will ., is made sacred : and the king who represents that order enters
die. Then he becomes king again, but in tabooed seclusion the divine kingship. Perhaps we may now go further, and
which marks his subordination to the political order. The add that conflicts between individuals and the political order
king is the servant of his subjects. Nature is subdued by the as a whole are demonstrated in the ritual of rebellion. Every­
political system, in a ritual which is timed by the surest of one, including the king himself, is restrained by the order's
natural phenomena-the movements of sun and moon. authority against his individual gratification. 31 Even the king
Professors Fortes and Evans-Pritchard have suggested a more approaches the kingship with care : restraints on the Swazi
specifically sociological hypothesis, to explain how social co­ king are very heavy on the day when he is associated most
hesion in the political ceremony is associated with the new closely with his people. His personal inadequacy and his
crops. 30 If the community is to achieve any of the things liability to desecrate the values of kingship are exhibited in
it values-good fellowship, children, many cattle, victory, in the insults he suffers.
 Rituals of Rebellion zn South-East Africa
denouncing him before everyone, blaming his actions, stigmatizing
them as base and cowardly, obliging him to explain, destroying the
VII reasoning in his answers, dissecting them and unmasking their
falsehood; then proudly threatening him and ending with a
In order to make my analysis by contrast, I have suggested gesture of contempt. I have also seen, after such discussions, the
that modern political ceremonies may not take this form king's party and that of the opposition on the point of hurling
themselves on one another. I have seen that the voice of the
because our social order itself is questioned. Clearly this con­ despot was no longer heeded, and that a revolution could have
trast only skirts the problem. There are tensions between too exploded then and there had a single ambitious man come forward
many diverse political and other groups in our society to be to profit by the indignation of the party opposed to the king. But
dramatized simply, and, paradoxically, because of the very what surprised me no less, was the order which succeeded the end
fragmentation of our social relationships we do not have as of this kind of popular tribunal. 33
well developed or as frequent rituals which involve the appear­ We need not be surprised, after our analysis, for clearly no
ance of persons according to their social roles. The individual revolutionary leader could come forward at that point. The
under pressure has some scope for escape by altering his role attack on the king was demanded by tradition ; and it natur­
or joining other types of social relationships. Again, our ally culminated in the warriors exhorting the king to lead
monarch reigns, but does not rule ; and though Swazi and them to war.
Zulu kings perforce acted through, and were constrained by, We are left with a number of important problems. Were
officials, they ruled as well as reigned. In our society the the rituals effective, as a cathartic purging, only for the period
parliamentary system and local government provide two among of their performance and shortly afterwards? Or did they
many secular mechanisms to express opposition overtly. These animate persistent sentiments to hallow the succeeding wars
secular mechanisms also exist in Bantu society, and it is and great tribal hunts, and the enduring secular institutions
notable that political rituals of rebellion barely occur among of power, which united and maintained the nation? Does
the Lozi of Northern Rhodesia whose governmental organiza­ the tendency to rebellion require ritual expression if the social
tion, unlike that of the South-Eastern Bantu, provides elabor­ structure is to be maintained ? Why is the reversal of roles
ately for the tensions between various components of the state. 32 so important a mechanism in this process? How does the
Nevertheless, there is point to stressing that ' ritual rebellion' ritual itself keep within bounds the rebellious sentiments which
can be enjoined by tradition, as a social blessing, in repetitive it arouses? 34 Why should some ceremonies not exhibit this
social systems, but not in systems where revolution is possible. rebellious process, and why should ceremonies thus organized
This emerges clearly in an early French traveller's account of not occur in many situations of conflict? Here I suggest that
the Zulu first fruits ceremony. He comments on this ceremony rebellious rituals may perhaps be confined to situations where
in analysing their so-called despotic government : strong tensions are aroused by conflict between different
It is at the time of the general assembly of warriors (towards structural principles, which are not controlled in distinct
December 8th) when the maize ripens, that lively discussion takes secular institutions. 35 But the answer to all these problems
place. There are free interrogations which the king must im­ lies in comparative research, and here we must always follow
mediately answer, and in a manner which will satisfy the people. in Sir James Frazer's footsteps.
I have seen at that time ordinary warriors come leaping out of
their ranks, transformed into orators full of spirit, extremely excited,
not only returning the fiery glance of [king] Panda, but even
 Notes 33
they recorded the ceremony among Zulu settled in Swaziland. Dr.
Kuper writes that obscenity, transvesticism, and other features of the
Nomkubulwana ritual appear in a Swazi ceremony to drive away an insect
pest; and that Umlendagamunye, the messenger of the Swazi High God,
NOTES has some of Nomkubulwana's attributes. I refer to the Tsonga and
1
Transkeian ceremonies in my paper on 'Zulu Women in Hoe Culture
Adonis Attis Osiris: Studies in the History of Oriental Religion, London: Ritual', op. cit. Zulu girls of a neighbourhood also went naked, singing
Macmillan (1907), second edition, pp. 3-6.
2
lewd songs, to attack a man who had impregnated one of them.
Professor H. Frankfort has recently argued that Frazer neglected many 16 In Chapter XIII, 'The Drama of Kingship', of An African Aristocracy: _
significant differences, for ' the gods as they confront us in the religions Rank among the Swazi, London: Oxford University Press (1947). I have
of the ancient Near East express profoundly different mentalities': analysed the material on the Zulu in ' Social Aspects of First Fruit
' Excursus : Ta=uz, Adonis, Osiris', in Kingship and the Gods, Chicago: Ceremonies among the South-Eastern Bantu', Africa, xi (January, 1938),
University of Chicago Press (1948), at pp. 286-94. See also his Frazer but Dr. Kuper's observations show that there were serious mistakes in
Lecture for 1950, The Problem of Similarity in Ancient Near Eastern Religions, the records of Zulu ceremonies. There are a number of important
Oxford: Clarendon Press (1951). differences between Zulu and Swazi political structures, of which the
3 I have published an analysis of others' descriptions of these ceremonies:
most relevant is the existence of a dual monarchy in Swaziland under
see 'Zulu Women in Hoe Culture Ritual', Bantu Studies, ix (1935). the king and the queen-mother. The queen-mother has an important
4 Samuelson, R. C. A., Long, Long Ago, Durban: Knox Printing Co.
and essential role in the ceremony, though she does not take the same
(1929), p. 303. leading role as in the earlier rain ceremony (see Kuper, 'The Swazi
5 B ant, A. T., The Zulu People as th
ry ey were before the White Man Came, Rain Ceremony', Bantu Studies, ix (1935)). She links the king to his
Pietermaritzburg: Shooter & Shuter (1949), pp. 662 ff. male ancestors, as shown in the discussion of the Nomkubulwana ritual.
6 op. cit., pp. 194 ff. (my italics).
7 See Frankfort
But I lack time to deal with her place as it deserves, and concentrate
's warning, cited footnote 2. on other themes. Similarly, I do not stress the role of the king's ritual
8 Junod, H. A., The Life of a South African Tribe, London: Macmillan
queen, mated to him by blood. Dr. Kuper, writing in co=ent on this
(1927), ii, p. 441.
paper, stresses the queen-mother's role: ' Both aspects-female and
· g For an analysis of how a ban on certain persons attending a ceremony male-are joined together for national unity ; one cannot be complete
may be their positive contribution to it," see my ' The Role of the Sexes without the other. Throughout the ceremony there is this ambivalence
in Wiko Circumcision Ceremonies', in Social Structure: Studies presented between the sexes and stress on their complementary roles which over­
to A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, ed. M. Fortes, Oxford: Clarendon Press (1949). comes hostility.' I may add that in this period many societies have a
10 See my 'Zulu Women in Hoe Culture Ritual', op. cit.
11 This fact is strongly emphasized in Tsonga ceremonies at the building
taboo on marriage, to emphasize this theme. This stresses the strains
that marriages, which in simple societies link independent sets of kin,
of a new village: Junod, H. A., op. cit., i. pp. 320 ff. create. (See discussion of the Nomkubulwana ritual.) Like quarrels,
12 Many of these beliefs and- customs occur also in matrilineal societies:
they should not occur in the period of ritual unity between first fruits
but women are involved in different types of tensions (see below) arising and harvest.
out of their reproductive role: see my comparison of ' Kinship and 17 Dr. Kuper considers that this act strengthens the second interpretation :
Marriage among the Lozi of Northern Rhodesia and the Zulu of Natal' I do not agree.
in African Systems of Kinship and Marriage, edited by A. R. Radcliffe­ 1s Kingship and the Gods, op. cit., pp. 82 ff. The standard books on the
Brown and C. D. Forde, London: Oxford University Press (1950). classical ceremonies are full of information which suggests that these
13 Older women, as mothers of grown sons, had securer positions.
ceremonies were possibly thus organized, but it seems that there are not
14 On this theme see Evans-Pritchard, E. E., ' Some Collective Expressions
data to answer adequately the critical questions: who did what, when,
of Obscenity in Africa', Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, lix where, how, with what? See, e.g., Harrison, J., Prolegomena to the Study
(1929). of Greek Religion, Cambridge : University Press (1�22, �rd edition) and
15 For examples of these ceremonies see footnote 20 below. Dr. H. Kuper
Themis : A Study of Greek Religion, Cambridge: Uruvemty Press ( 1912) ;
informs me that the Swazi have no developed ceremony for the Princess Farnell, L. R., The Cults of the Greek States, Oxford: Clarendon Press,
of Heaven, though it has been reported to me by Dr. P. J. Schoeman 5 vols. (1896-1909) ; Cumont, F., Les Religions.Orientales dans le P_aganisme
(personally) and by Dr. B. Marwick in The Swazi, Cambridge: Romain, Paris: Leroux ( r 906) ; Toutain, J., Les Cultes Paiens dans
University Press (1940), p. 230, where it is said she sends disease, and L'Empire Romain, Paris: Leroux, 2 vols. (1907 a�d 1911) ; Nilsson,
naked girls herd cattle to get rid of an insect pest. It is possible that _ _
M. P., Greek Popular Religion, New York: Columbia Umvers1ty Press
32
34 Notes Notes 35
(1940); Murray, Gilbert, Five Stages of Greek Religion, Oxford: J. E. A., The Constitutional History of Medieval England, London: Black
Clarendon Press (1925). I have not here considered analyses of cults (1948), pp. 155-65.
26
in regions where, as in West Africa, small independent political units are See on the points in these last paragraphs: Nadel, S. F., A Black Byzan­
linked together in politico-ritual unity by a cycle of ceremonies at tium (Nupe), London: Oxford University Press (1942), pp. 69 ff.;
different shrines to single 'deities '. If sacrifice at each shrine is to I. Schapera's 'The Political Organization of the Ngwato of Bechuana­
be successful, sacrifice must be offered at all shrines: yet the rites land Protectorate', K. Oberg's 'The Kingdom of Ankole in Uganda',
emphasize independence and hostility. Nevertheless a system of over­ A. I. Richards's 'The Political System of the Bemba Tribe', and
lapping circles of 'ritual peace' is thus established: see Fortes, M., M. Gluck.man's 'The Kingdom of the Zulu of South Africa', all in
The Dynamics of Clanship among the Tallensi, London: Oxford University African Political Systems, op. cit; Gluckman, M., 'The Lozi of
Press (1945) and'Ritual Festivals and Social Cohesion in the Hinterland Barotseland in North-Western Rhodesia', op. cit., pp. 23 f., and'Succes­
of the Gold Coast', American Anthropologist, xxxviii (1936). This type sion and Civil War among the Bemba', Rhodes-Livingstone Journal, 16
of analysis might clarify the interrelations of cults of the gods and god­ (December, 1953); Kuper, H., An African Aristocrac;y, op. cit., pp. 88 ff.
desses of city-states at some periods of Greek history, and other rituals. Kern (Kingship and Law in the Middle Ages, op. cit.) also stresses ' the lack
I suggest that it might be worth trying to apply these types of analysis . . . of a strict claim to the throne for any individual member of the
to the classical material. ruling line' in the early Middle Ages, especially in Germany. This
19 raises the problem whether there are any systematic social changes
I cite a few examples of similarly organized ceremonies in Africa to
show how widespread is this cultural mechanism :-(a) The Harvest associated with the emergence of a single clearly defined heir to the
Festivals of the Gold Coast Tallensi-Fortes, The Dynamics of Clanship throne.
27 This problem is analysed at length in my ' Social Aspects of First Fruits
among the Tallensi and 'Ritual Festivals and Social Cohesion in the
Hinterland of the Gold Coast', op. cit.; (b) Forde, C. D., 'Integrative Ceremonies among the South-Eastern Bantu', op. cit. Dr. Kuper also
Aspects of Yako First-Fruits Rituals ', Journal of the Royal Anthropological stresses this important point: An African Aristocracy, op. cit., p. 224.
Institute, Ixxix, (1949); (c) every ceremony described in Junod, H. A., See also Junod, H. A., op. cit., ii, p. 10--'Although no taboo prevents
op. cit.; (d) Hoernle, A. W.,'The Importance of the Sib in the Marriage any owner of a field from eating the green mealies whenever it suits him,
Ceremonies of the South-Eastern Bantu', South African Journal of Science, Mboza asserts _that people who have obtained green mealies before the
xxii (1925); (e) Gluckman, M., 'The Role of the Sexes in Wiko Circum­ other inhabitants of the village, do not precede them in an enjoyment
cision Ceremonies', op. cit.; (f) the installation of a Ngoni headman of this much appreciated food: " It would cause jealousy amongst them."
-Barnes, J. A., in 'The Village Headman in British Central Africa', This reason is perhaps at the bottom of the luma taboo. Moreover they
with Gluckman, M., and Mitchell, J. C., Africa, xxix (1949); (g) the fear lest they might have to share their good luck with all their friends ! ';
installation of a Shilluk king-Evans-Pritchard, E. E., The Divine and Richards, A. I., Land, Labour and Diet in Northern Rhodesia, London :
Kingship of the Shilluk of the Nilotic Sudan, The Frazer Lecture, 1948, Oxford University Press (1934), pp. 374 ff.
28
Cambridge : University Press. N.B. The Swazi queen-mother takes the lead in the rainmaking cere­
2° Kingship and the Gods, op. cit., pp. 9 and 51-2 et passim. mony, with the king attending on her; he is leader in the first fruits
21'Analysis of a Social Situation in Modern Zululand ', Bantu Studies xiv rites.
' ' 29
Dr. S. Kark, who ran a Health Centre in Southern Natal, reports this in
1 and 2 (March and June, 1 940).
22
I suggest that G. Bateson did not fully appreciate this point in his analysis unpublished manuscripts; Lee, S. G., 'Some Zulu Concepts of Psycho­
of Naven (Cambridge : University Press, 1936), an analogous ritual genic Disorder', South African Journal for Social Research (1951), pp. 9-16;
process among the Sepik of New Guinea. Kohler, M., The Jzangoma Diviners, Ethnological Publications of the
23 Professor E. E. Evans-Pritchard in his Frazer Lecture, 1948, The Divine South African Department of Native Affairs, Pretoria: No. 9 (1941) ;
Kingship of the Shilluk, op. cit., at p. 36, has discussed this situation. Laubscher, B. J. F., Sex Custom, and Psychopathology, London : Routledge
24 See my essay ' The Kingdom of the Zulu of South Africa ' in African (1937).
30'Introduction ' to African Political Systems, op. cit., pp. 16 ff.
Political Systems, edited by M. Fortes and E. E. Evans-Pritchard, London:
31 See my' The Lozi of Barotseland in North-Western Rhodesia', op. cit.,
Oxford University Press (1940), at p. 42, and the Editors' Introduction
at p. 13. See also my 'The Lozi of Barotseland in North-Western pp. 45-6, on this theme generally.
32 Ibid., pp. 23 ff.
Rhodesia ', op. cit., at pp. 19 ff. 33 A fairly free translation from Delegorgue, A., Voyage dans l'Afrique
25 See e.g., Kern, F., Kingrhip and Law in the Middle Ages, Oxford: Blackwell
(1948), translated from the German by S. B. Chrimes. Kern emphasizes Australe, Paris: A. Rene et Cie, 2 vols. (1847), ii, p. 237.
34 See quotation from Delegorgue above. Cf. the way in which an African
the constraint of Law on the king and the subjects' right of resistance,
rather than the role of rebellion in the political process. See Jolliffe, sacrificial gathering is the appropriate occasion for people to vent their
 Notes
grievances and confess their ill-feeling ; indeed, they must do so in order
to be in that amity with their fellows which the ritual requires : see,
e.g., Fortes, M., The Dynamics of Clanship among the Tallensi, op. cit.,
p. 98, and Junod, H. A., op. cit., i, p. 160.
30 See the reference above at p. to the absence of these rituals among
the Lozi, who have an elaborate arrangement to express oppositions in
the state.

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