Nuer fertility ceremony

111 x 105 mm | Print gelatin silver

There are records relating to alternative images that we do not have scans for in the database:
1998.355.296.1 - Negative film nitrate , (58 x 55 mm )

Date of Print:

22/8/1955 by Clarendon Press, Oxford

Previous PRM Number:

EP.N.VI.98

Previous Other Number:

7 [3]

Accession Number:

1998.355.296.3

Description:

As part of the fertility ceremony gorot, a thrown ox with legs bound has grass inserted into its anus by a woman, and is suffocated by more grass pushed into the nostrils and mouth by male youths. Men to the right (one of whom has an amputated right hand) are assisting the process by holding the head and foreleg of the ox down with their feet. The ceremony was done to ensure that a child would be born to a couple (who are both participating in the suffocation) even though they had been married at an early age, probably before the woman had begun menstruation. The Nuer believe that the payment of cattle for marriage in such circumstances may cause barreness unless a gorot ceremony is carried out.

Photographer:

Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard

Date of Photo:

1936 October - November

Region:

[Southern Sudan] Wahda ?Nyueny village

Group:

Nuer ?Leek Karlual

Publication History:

Contemporary Publication - Reproduced as Plate III (facing page 68) in E. E. Evans-Pritchard's Nuer Religion (Oxford University Press 1974 [1957], with the caption "Sacrifice of ox by suffocation" [Chris Morton 1/7/2004]

Notes:

There appears to be three Rolleiflex films identified as film 7, which I have identified according to differences in notation on the print reverse as well as image content. [CM 29/10/2007]

PRM Source:

Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard

Acquired:

Donated 1966

Other Owners:

E. E. Evans-Pritchard Collection

Class:

Ritual , Animal Husbandry , Ritual

Keyword:

Animal Cattle

Activity:

Ritual Activity

Event:

Ceremony Fertility , Sacrifice

Documentation:

Original catalogue lists in Manuscript Collections. Additional material in related documents files. [CM 27/9/2005]

Primary Documentation:

Accession Book Entry [p. 98] 1966.27 [1 - 24] G[ift] PROFESSOR E. E. EVANS-PRITCHARD; INST. OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY, 51 BANBURY RD. OXFORD 1966.27.1-16 S. SUDAN. NUER TRIBE. Sixteen negative albums containing negatives and prints of photographs taken by donor during field-work. All listed in albums. Added Accession Book Entry - [p. 98 in right hand column, in pencil] Catalogue room.

Manual Catalogues [index taken from album book VI, ms ink] - 98. Suffocating ox in sacrifice

Note on print reverse ms pencil - "C Plate IV M8753-3 22/8/55 4 1/4" Wide 100"

Other Information:

Ethnographic context - In Nuer Religion (Oxford University Press 1974 [1957], page 217-8, E. E. Evans-Pritchard describes the ceremony he witnessed in some detail. In particular he notes that 'When a girl is espoused early in life, probably before the commencement of the menses, the premature payment of bridewealth may cause her to be barren unless a special ceremony is performed. In western Nuerland, where I saw it, it is called gorot.. An ox was thrown and its forelegs and back legs tied in pairs. It was then slowly suffocated, grass being first pushed up its anus with a stick, and then into its mouth and nostrils (Plate III).' [Chris Morton 1/7/2004] Archive note - This print was made by Clarendon Press in preparation for publication in Nuer Religion (1956). [Chris Morton 4/2/2005]

Recorder:

Christopher Morton [4/2/2005] [Southern Sudan Project]