symbol and ritual - the forest of symbols, victor turner

Question 1

1 - what is the ritual

Answer 1

• Focused on Ndembu of Zambia

- Example of Ritual = Nkang’a (puberty ritual)

Question 2

1 - the milk tree

Answer 2

o Girl is wrapped in blanket and placed at bottom of mudyi sapling
o Tree is known for white latex, it lets out milky beads when the bark is scratched
o Turner calls it the ‘milk tree’
o Milk tree = symbol of human breasts and breast milk
o Milk tree = also a site of knowledge. The ritual is a process of learning about womanhood
♣ ‘the girl drinks sense as a baby drinks milk’ (53)

Question 3

1 - main theme of puberty ritual

Answer 3

o Ceremony performed when girl is beginning to grow breasts
o Main theme = ‘tie of nurturing between mother and child’ (21)
o Focused not on biological act of breastfeeding but on the ‘social tie of profound significance both in domestic relations and in the structure of the widest Ndembu community’ (21)

Question 4

1 - how does the milk tree link to social cohesion

Answer 4

o Women dance round tree whilst girl sleeps under it
♣ Women are linked in the fact that they all slept under it at some point = female community
♣ Men too are circumcised under milk tree = community united
o Milk tree = matrilineal but also the backbone of social organisation – unites both men and women. Interrelations between genders, unifying force.
o It is key to the initiation of both boys and girls.

Question 5

1 - milk tree as site of opposition

Answer 5

o Milk tree = site of opposition/contradiction
♣ Gendered opposition
• Women have the power in the ceremony – refuse to let men join in with dancing
♣ Opposition between child and mother
• Mother cannot join in with ceremony
• Symbolises mother’s loss of her child
• Mother and daughter exchange bits of clothing – perhaps reflects Ndembu ritual of mourners wearing small portion of deceased’s clothing?
♣ Contradiction in the idea that the ceremony fosters female community and yet, when the girl first approaches the milk tree, she is teased by the older women
♣ ‘this… represents competition between the principles of matriliny and virilocality’ (56)

Question 6

1 - three properties of ritual symbols

Answer 6

o Condensation
♣ ‘many things and actions are represented in a single formation’ (28)
o unification of disparate significate
♣ things are interconnected through shared analogous significance
♣ e.g. tree is linked to breasts of woman
o polarisation of meaning
♣ e.g. natural/biological aspect of puberty vs. implications it has on the moral/social order of the Ndembu society i.e. social hierarchy, relations between e
♣ genders etc.

Question 7

2 - three levels of meaning in symbol

Answer 7

o Level of indigenous interpretation (exegetical meaning)
♣ Obtained through conversation with informants
o Operational meaning
♣ Its meaning in use – how they use symbols
o Positional meaning
♣ The relationship of a symbol to other symbols

Question 8

2 - what is the ritual

Answer 8

• E.g. Mukanda, circumcision ritual
  o Circumcised under a mudyi tree (symbolises mother-child relationship)
  o Lifted over cutting of muyomba tree (shrine to village ancestors)
  o Placed still bleeding on mukala log
  ♣ Represents elders’ wish for quick healing (‘comes from the fact that the mukala gum quickly coagulates like a scab’ 51)
  ♣ Also represents life of man as a hunter who must shed blood of animals
  o Uncircumcised boy = unclean. Same view held of menstruating women

Question 9

2 - songs during ritual

Answer 9

o Circumcisers perform a song with three main themes
♣ ‘killing’ of novice by circumciser
♣ conflict between circumciser and the boy’s mother
♣ impact of Mukanda on nature of Ndembu society
o song accompanied by dance
♣ violence of dancing parallels growling of lions
♣ opened legs and crouching = position of boy during circumcision

Question 10

2 - ceremony and gender divide

Answer 10

o Ceremony emphasises gender divide. Women not involved
♣ Belief in uncircumcised men as unclean causes them to be associated more with the women’s sphere of activity
♣ It is through the ceremony that this association is terminated and the boy is included in the male community – can eat with them etc.
♣ ‘when the foreskin is removed by circumcision the effeminancy of the child is symbolically removed with it. The physical operation itself is symbolic of change of social status’ (268)
♣ having too many uncircumcised boys in a village = cause for anxiety and physical discomfort. Boys may be becoming too attached to mothers

Question 11

2 - three fold symbolism of ceremony

Answer 11

♣ represents cut of dependency/relationship between mother and son
♣ ritual death and the association with ancestors
♣ incorporation into male community

Question 12

3 - meaning of colours

Answer 12

• Colours are used to symbolise different social groups
• White = feminine. As seen in milk tree
• Red = masculine. As seen in circumcision
• However… this is not necessarily fixed
  o In nkula rite, where a woman is rid of menstrual disorder, red clay is used to symbolise menstrual blood
  o In Wubwang’u rite, performed for a woman expecting twins, the man applies white clay to the patient to represent semen. Women apply red clay to symbolise blood of mother.
  o Gendered associations of colour are reversed.

Question 13

3 - specific symbolism for colours

Answer 13

o	White 
♣	Goodness
♣	Purity
♣	Power
♣	Life (male and female?)
♣	Health 
♣	Bringing forward life (male and female?)
♣	Huntsmanship etc. (male)
o	Red
♣	Blood of animals 
♣	Blood of all women etc. (female)
♣	H… seen in circumcision ritual 
o	Black 
♣	Badness
♣	Lack of purity 
♣	Disease
♣	Witchcraft 
♣	Sexual desire

Question 14

3 - importance of black for men nd women

Answer 14

o Connection between death and maturation
♣ When a girl first menstruates, she has matured (figured as death of previous stage)
♣ Nkang’a ceremony: girl lies motionless for 12hrs. As seen with boys, site of operation = ifwilu (place of suffering/dying)
o Circumcision rites
♣ Site of operation (ifwilu) = place of dying
♣ Where boys are still bleeding, mukala, is associated with spirits. Meaning of mukala = ‘to mature’

Question 15

3 - black and sexual passion

Answer 15

o During seclusion, older women take black bark of trees and put it on the girl’s vulva. Aim = to make her more sexually attractive
o Women with very black skin = more attractive. Better as mistresses not wives

Question 16

4 - Douglas and pollution

Answer 16

o What is unknown/unclear is regarded as unclean
o Could thus argue that transitional beings = polluting
- ‘we may have to distinguish between pollution notions which concern states that have been ambiguously or contradictorily defined and those which derive from ritualised transitions between states’ (97)

Question 17

4 - liminal period

Answer 17

• indeed, during transitory rituals, liminal period = defined as a ‘seclusion site’
• neophytes are disguised/hidden in some way (apply this to Chisungu and Ndembu – girls are wrapped in clothing/covered in clay etc.)
• ‘If the liminal period is seen as an interstructural phase in social dynamics, the symbolism both of androgyny and sexlessness immediately becomes intelligible in sociological terms without the need to import psychological… explanations’ (98)
• transitional beings have nothing, no status etc.
  ‘their condition is indeed the very prototype of sacred poverty’ (99

Question 18

4 - chisungu

Answer 18

• Richards, Chisungu
  o Bemba speak of ‘growing a girl’ when they mean initiating her
  o Shows sense of comradeship present in liminal ceremonies
  o Growing a girl = ontological transformation

Question 19

10 - what is the ritual

Answer 19

• Looks at case study of Ndembu chimuki (doctor)

- Ndembu = ‘amalgam of Lunda invaders from the Katanga and the autochthonous Mbwela and Lukolwe’ (359)

Question 20

10 - social cause of sickness

Answer 20

o ‘all persistent or severe sickness is believed to be caused either by the punitive action of ancestral shades or by the secret malevolence of male sorcerors or female witches’ (360)
o rites of exorcism = key component of social conflict involved
♣ ‘Rites of affliction’ – 292
♣ ‘Therapy then becomes a matter of sealing up the breaches in social relationships simultaneously with ridding the patient of his pathological symptoms’ (360)
o factional rivalry = often starts conflict and claims of ‘disease’
o death prompts accusation of sorcery. Deemed the cause of death

Question 21

10 - divination

Answer 21

o begins with death/reproductive trouble etc.
o starts with conversation in the village about next steps
o consult a diviner = central phase
♣ death, disease etc. due to social relations
♣ ‘diviners try to elicit from their clients responses that give clues about the patterns of current tensions in their groups of origin’ (361)
♣ ‘Divination therefore becomes a form of social analysis’
o decide prescription and carry it out e.g. exorcism/herbal medicines
♣ ‘the herbal medicines employed derive their efficacy, according to the Ndembu, from mystical notions, and native therapy is an intrinsic part of a whole magico-religious system’ (361)
o Looks both backwards as cause and forwards to ‘remedial measures’
o ‘divination therefore becomes a form of social analysis, in the course of which hidden struggles among individuals and factions are brought to light’ (361)

Question 22

10 - therapeutic rites

Answer 22

o There are cult associations that are devoted to specific types of ancestral shades
o Cult members are united in their modes of affliction
o ‘since there are many cults and sine the focal symbols of each refer to basic values and beliefs shared by all Ndembu, it may be said that the total system of cults of affliction keeps alive, through constant repetition, the sentiment of tribal unity’ (362)
o Political decentralisation – villages split and reassemble
o Cults of affliction is counterbalance to this structural instability

Question 23

10 - ihamba cult

Answer 23

o Associated with hunting ritual
o Ihamba means upper central incisor of deceased individual = complex part of beliefs and symbols associated with ritual
o When a gun-hunter dies, their incisors (left – mother’s side, right – dad’s side) are inherited
o Ihamba is put into bed of corn in a pouch (mukata). Above it are two cowrie shells (mpashi) which are known as the ‘eyes’ (mesu). They give the owner of the mukata the same powers as the mesu i.e. ability to see animals
o Mukata is hung up when not in use. Women are forbidden to approach shrine closely
o Key part of Ndemnu ritual is that ‘blood of huntsmanship’ must not be mixed with ‘the blood of motherhood’ or the ‘blood of procreation’ (363)

Question 24

10 - ihamba and hunting

Answer 24

o When a woman is giving birth, husband must remove all hunting gear
♣ ‘behind this principle lies the notion that, for a child to be born, the maternal blood must coagulate around the fetus. Hunters shed blood and cause it to gush and flow. Again, women give life, while hunters take it. The two functions are anthithetical’ (363)
o ihamba = symbol of aggressive power of hunter. Can ‘bite’ people – bites only when there has been moral/customary transgression
o women are excluded from becoming ihamba doctors as doctors must be hunters, and hunters are male. This is paralleled with the idea of the ihamba as a ‘manifestation of a male shade’ (365)

Question 25

10 - impact of modern cash economy on cult

Answer 25

♣ accelerating rate of labour migration to industrial towns
♣ this has ‘created new economic needs and new tensions in traditional social relationships’ (365)
♣ ‘the shades of the hunters may well represent, at one level of social experience, the guilts and anxieties of those who are compelled by changing conditions to act in contravention of traditional standards’ (365)

Question 26

10 - deceptiveness of doctors

Answer 26

♣ whilst they do not admit it, sceptical as to whether tooth is of human or animal. Does not talk about extraction process
♣ members of Ndembu do not doubt that tooth is of their hunter relative

Question 27

10 - therapeutic process: manipulative techniques of ihamba doctor

Answer 27

♣ Health consequences are more founded on magio-religious ideas than empirical basis
♣ Trees etc. used as medicine may not actually have any physical benefit
♣ Medicines are not chosen for their empirical benefits but rather because they are some way associated with the ritual
• E.g. Mufung’u
o Comes from the word ku-fung’a meaning to ‘gather together a herd of animals’
♣ Medicines are used because ‘through analogy, they confer on the patient certain powers and qualities’ (370)
• Analogy comes from name of object/natural properties

Question 28

10 - Ihembi, the Ihamba Doctor

Answer 28

o Royal lineage
o Came from marginal group in political terms
o Did not hold political office but was senior in branch of lineage
o He had become initiated into hunters’ cult
o Earned substantial income as Ihamba doctor due to willingness of people to pay for extractions
o Was fined for exploitation but continued practice
o ‘he was the typical outsider who achieves status in the ritual realm in compensation for his exclusion from authority in the political realm’ (371)

Question 29

10 - ihembi and the case of Kamahsanyi: general

Answer 29

o the diviner is aware of the importance of social hierarchy on ritual
o first thing he does is establish the social class of the client – each political unit has specific traits
o knows about the social composition of a village e.g. matrilineal kin
o finds out about relationship of the client with the headman

Question 30

10 - ihembi and the case of Kamahsanyi: Kamahsanyi’s position in society

Answer 30

♣ Disliked by the village – asked to pay extremely high mpepi when his wives died. Price set by village for husband to use diviner to find out cause of death
♣ Deemed lazy and suspicious – married 3 of his cross-cousins and did not manage to beget children
♣ Effeminate
♣ One of his wives, Maria, had and continued to have an affair with another villager. He was not bothered.
Conceited about appearance, self-confident

Question 31

10 - ihembi and the case of Kamahsanyi: symptoms and diagnosis

Answer 31

♣ Fatigue
♣ Pain in back
♣ Not clear whether they were real/fake. Probable that they were psychosomatic, subconscious way of trying to get attention from villagers
o Diagnosis
♣ Had been bitten by grandpa’s ihamba
♣ Also victim of sorcery/witchcraft
• Declared that his wife Maria and her mother were witches
♣ ‘to imply so bluntly that witchcraft was at work in the village was the sharpest rebuke Ihembi could make and played on the Ndembu villagers’ deepest fears’ (387)
• forced villagers to get on

Question 32

10 - ihembi and the case of Kamahsanyi: second ihamba performance - craving in community

Answer 32

♣ Ritual involves confession: members of village come up in order of sex and seniority to confess ill-feeling toward patient (ritual = social exercise)
♣ Sense of craving in community for the removal of the ihamba from the patient
• Event of mass participation, there are drums, chants, confessions, prayers, sight/smell of blood etc.
• ‘All these elements make a dialectical and dialogical pattern of activity that generates strong sentiments of corporateness, reduces scepticism and maximises sympathy for the patient’ (389)

Question 33

10 - ihembi and the case of Kamahsanyi: second ihamba performance - patient’s kin involvement and social cohesion

Answer 33

♣ patient’s kin involved in ritual
• E.g. Maria is asked to go to mudyi tree (stands for motherhood and womanhood).
o She chews on leaves and ‘spat the juice on her husband’s temples, feet and hands, centers of thought and activity, and tapped him smartly on the back and head with a small hand rattle – ‘to give him strength’. By these acts, she reaffirmed her wifely duties toward the patient and her good will – the reverse of witchery’ (389)
♣ Emphasis on social cohesion during ritual – ritual is a group effort
♣ Group sings as loudly as possible – song has healing power
♣ K is given opportunity to voice his own grievances – talked about how he felt that his matrilineal kin did not help him when he was ill – cathartic process that allows for social reconstruction

Question 34

10 - real role of ndembu doctor

Answer 34

• it seems that the Ndembu ‘doctor’ sees his task less as curing an individual patient than as remedying the ills of a corporate group’ (392)
• patient’s health depends on positive group interrelations
• doctor’s role is more social than medical – needs to re-focus tensions within the group
• ‘once the various causes of ill feeling against K and of his ill feeling against others had been ‘made visible’… the doctor Ihembi was able, through the cultural mechanism of Ihamba, with its bloodlettings, confessions…. Prayers… and build-up of expectations, to transform the ill feeling into well wishing’ (392)