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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Sudan
Index
Each indigenous religion is unique to a specific ethnic group
or part of a group, although several groups may share elements of
belief and ritual because of common ancestry or mutual influence.
The group serves as the congregation, and an individual usually
belongs to that faith by virtue of membership in the group.
Believing and acting in a religious mode is part of daily life
and is linked to the social, political, and economic actions and
relationships of the group. The beliefs and practices of
indigenous religions in Sudan are not systematized, in that the
people do not generally attempt to put together in coherent
fashion the doctrines they hold and the rituals they practice.
The concept of a high spirit or divinity, usually seen as a
creator and sometimes as ultimately responsible for the actions
of lesser spirits, is common to most Sudanese groups. Often the
higher divinity is remote, and believers treat the other spirits
as autonomous, orienting their rituals to these spirits rather
than to the high god. Such spirits may be perceived as forces of
nature or as manifestations of ancestors. Spirits may intervene
in people's lives, either because individuals or groups have
transgressed the norms of the society or because they have failed
to pay adequate attention to the ritual that should be addressed
to the spirits.
The Nilotes generally acknowledge an active supreme deity,
who is therefore the object of ritual, but the beliefs and
rituals differ from group to group. The Nuer, for example, have
no word corresponding solely and exclusively to God. The word
sometimes so translated refers not only to the universal
governing spirit but also to ancestors and forces of nature whose
spirits are considered aspects of God. It is possible to pray to
one spirit as distinct from another but not as distinct from God.
Often the highest manifestation of spirit, God, is prayed to
directly. God is particularly associated with the winds, the sky,
and birds, but these are not worshiped. The Dinka attribute any
remarkable occurrence to the direct influence of God and will
sometimes mark the occasion with an appropriate ritual. Aspects
of God (the universal spirit) are distinguished, chief of which
is Deng (rain). For the Nuer, the Dinka, and other Nilotes, human
beings are as ants to God, whose actions are not to be questioned
and who is regarded as the judge of all human behavior.
Cattle play a significant role in Nilotic rituals. Cattle are
sacrificed to God as expiatory substitutes for their owners. The
function is consistent with the significance of cattle in all
aspects of Nilotic life. Among the Nuer, for example, and with
some variations among the Dinka, cattle are the foundation of
family and community life, essential to subsistence, marriage
payments, and personal pride. The cattle shed is a shrine and
meeting place, the center of the household; a man of substance,
head of a family, and a leading figure in the community is called
a "bull." Every man and the spirits themselves have ox names that
denote their characteristic qualities. These beliefs and
institutions give meaning to the symbolism of the rubbing of
ashes on a sacrificial cow's back in order to transfer the burden
of the owner's sins to the animal.
The universal god of the Shilluk is more remote than that of
the Nuer and Dinka and is addressed through the founder of the
Shilluk royal clan. Nyiking, considered both man and god, is not
clearly distinguished from the supreme deity in ritual, although
the Shilluk may make the distinction in discussing their beliefs.
The king (reth) of the Shilluk is regarded as divine, an
idea that has never been accepted by the Nuer and Dinka.
All of the Nilotes and other peoples as well pay attention to
ancestral spirits, the nature of the cult varying considerably as
to the kinds of ancestors who are thought to have power in the
lives of their descendants. Sometimes it may be the founding
ancestors of the group whose spirits are potent. In many cases it
is the recently deceased ancestors who are active and must be
placated.
Of the wide range of natural forces thought to be activated
by spirits, perhaps the most common is rain. Although southern
Sudan does not suffer as acutely as northern Sudan from lack of
rain, there has sometimes been a shortage, particularly during
the 1970s and 1980s and in 1990; this lack has created hardship,
famine, and death amidst the travail of civil war. For this
reason, rituals connected with rain have become important in many
ethnic groups, and ritual specialists concerned with rain or
thought to incarnate the spirit of rain are important figures.
The distinction between the natural and the supernatural that
has emerged in the Western world is not relevant to the
traditional religions. Spirits may have much greater power than
human beings, but their powers are perceived not as altering the
way the world commonly works but as explaining occurrences in
nature or in the social world.
Some men and women are also thought to have extraordinary
powers. How these powers are believed to be acquired and
exercised varies from group to group. In general, however, some
people are thought to have inherited the capacity to harm others
and to have a disposition to do so. Typically they are accused of
inflicting illnesses on specific individuals, frequently their
neighbors or kin. In some groups, it is thought that men and
women who have no inherent power to harm may nevertheless do
damage to others by manipulating images of the victim or items
closely associated with that person.
Occasionally an individual may be thought of as a sorcerer.
When illness or some other affliction strikes in a form that is
generally attributed to a sorcerer, there are ways (typically
some form of divination) of confirming that witchcraft was used
and identifying the sorcerer.
The notions of sorcery are not limited to the southern
Sudanese, but are to be found in varying forms among peoples,
including nomadic and other Arabs, who consider themselves
Muslims. A specific belief widespread among Arabs and other
Muslim peoples is the notion of the evil eye. Although a
physiological peculiarity of the eye (walleye or cross-eye) may
be considered indicative of the evil eye, any persons expressing
undue interest in the private concerns of another may be
suspected of inflicting deliberate harm by a glance. Unlike most
witchcraft, where the perpetrator is known by and often close to
the victim, the evil eye is usually attributed to strangers.
Children are thought to be the most vulnerable.
Ways exist to protect oneself against sorcery or the evil
eye. Many magico-religious specialists--diviners and sorcerers--
deal with these matters in Sudanese societies. The diviner is
able to determine whether witchcraft or sorcery is responsible
for the affliction and to discover the source. He also protects
and cures by providing amulets and other protective devices for a
fee or by helping a victim punish (in occult fashion) the
sorcerer in order to be cured of the affliction. If it is thought
that an evil spirit has possessed a person, an exorcist may be
called in. In some groups these tasks may be accomplished by the
same person; in others the degree of specialization may be
greater. In northern Sudan among Muslim peoples, the faqih
may spend more of his time as diviner, dispenser of amulets,
healer, and exorcist than as Quranic teacher, imam of a mosque,
or mystic.
Data as of June 1991
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