Possession, Demoniacal And Other

by T K Oesterreich

  A whole series of ceremonial dances executed by the Veddas is very exactly described in the Seligmanns’ book, and what is more interesting, it also contains a number of photographs of these dances in which shaman becomes possessed or falls on his back.3

  Far more copious than our information about the pigmies is that relating to the shamanistic states of primitive peoples of normal stature, with which we shall now deal.

  Let us first say a few words on African shamanism which the ethnologist Frobenius has studied at first-hand in Central Africa. 1 But his description is not at all clear, so that we have merely a rough sketch. Here, too, the distinguishing feature is belief in spirits which take possession of men and speak by their mouth. From Frobenius’ accounts it is necessary to distinguish clearly, as already remarked, two sorts of possession, voluntary and involuntary. The first has already been discussed and we shall now pass to the second. Possession appears as a rule to consist in visionary apparitions. The chief means of provoking it is music.

  Sometimes possession is desired and the demon is conjured and asked to grant it, but sometimes the latter invades the man’s body of his own initiative and free will. Then the priest can speak to the demon by the mouth of the possessed, communicate with him and hold consultations. This requires music before all things, generally the simple guitar, sometimes the Soudanese violin, the “goye.” Rarely, and then only in the Sahara, have I heard it said that the drum was used. 2

  Owing to the fact that the demons exercise a free and premeditated choice of their preferred ones, the shaman is elected and must carry out his mission often against his will. He is seized by the spirit and suffers possession by him. 3

  The elders of the Bori have strange sacred instruments, namely, the woman a sacred calabash; a korria =mborri; a little bow with arrows. When an old woman (especially the Magadja) wishes to speak with one of the spirits of the Bori who are always in the bush, the following people form the circle: (1) the old woman—i.e., the Magadja—who sings and strikes the calabash; (2) the young Adjingi who usually makes the offering; (3) the old Adjingi …, who before the ceremony has bathed his eyes with a magani (a magic drug) because he would otherwise be unable to recognize and above all to see the Bori which inspires or enters the circle; (4) and lastly, the guitar-player; for in order to obtain inspiration, the possession which is sought and petitioned, it is necessary that a Maimolu or guitarist should play the airs prescribed by Bori custom. This group of four is gathered in a room, and performs the musical rite. Meanwhile the Bori people are seated outside the door awaiting what will take place, that is to say what Alledjenu (summoned by the magic circle of the four persons forming the ring) will seize one of their number and cast him to the ground. For one of those who are seated waiting without will be thrown down by an iska (i.e., wind, spirit), coming from the place where the four are sitting. The man overthrown will then be able to say what will happen (i.e., he will prophesy). The course of events is as follows:

  The four persons are gathered in the room. No one dances. The Maimolu repeats to the guitar the names of all the Alledjenu and converses for a few minutes with each of them. Meanwhile the Magadja is seated on the ground and beats the calabash. She pronounces the names of the Alledjenu with her lips at the same time as they are sounded on the guitar. The Adjingi sits in the place of honour on a fine skin and has a large quantity of kola-nuts before him.

  When in the enumeration of the Alledjenus the name of the Salala (Djengere) who is their chief is pronounced, the Adjingi, because the Salala is his personal Alledjenu (it is clear that Adjingi =Djengere) distributes the kola-nuts amongst those present (and apparently those outside also), after which the Alledjenu who has been evoked enters the circle.

  According to the account in my possession, the Alledjenu does not possess any of the four members of the circle, but no doubt comes into the room after the summons of the Djengere and the sacrificial sharing-out of the kola-nuts, “through the Magadja.” No one can see or recognize him except the old man whose eyes have been previously bathed with the magic brew of magani. He sees the Alledjenu come forth from the circle (if I have understood rightly, from the Magadja) and pass through the room and the people outside.

  As soon as the old man has seen the Alledjenu appear to go out he tells the young Adjingi that the Alledjenu has come, and names him by his name. For his part the Alledjenu, before going out, pays all honour to the elder, presenting him with kola and saying: “Now let me know everything that happens.” This occurs in the room.

  When the Alledjenu, invisible to other eyes, has crossed the room of the four and gone outside where the whole Bori community is gathered beneath the open sky, he takes a man or a woman, according as he likes them personally or favours them on this day, and possesses him. The Alledjenu will only descend upon whom he pleases. He fells this man or woman to the earth. When the person is so strongly affected that he becomes as if insane, the people insult the Alledjenu. (The insults in question are not, however, very serious. They shout: “You are behaving badly!”

  “Do not think that you are amongst animals!” “We will give you nothing to eat, so that you may die.” “You do not behave like a friend,” etc.) When, however, the Alledjenu goes gently to work and leaves the possessed merely stupid and dazed, the members of the tribe praise him and say: “You are our friend! We thank you! We thank you! We thank you!”

  The possessed is then led into the house in which the four form a circle. The rhythmic music is continued. When the somnolence of the possessed has lasted for an hour, he begins to speak to the Adjingi. But it is not the man who speaks, it is merely his voice, and this is changed, for it is the Alledjenu who speaks by his mouth. He speaks about all public concerns, and particularly things which will come to pass (thus prophesying the future). He often tells of a great misfortune which is to occur in the future, but adds by what sacrifice the calamity may be averted and to which Alledjenu the sacrifice should be offered. The Adjingi hears all this from the mouth of the possessed.

  When he has heard everything he goes out to the assembled people of Bori and repeats what the Alledjenu has said through the possessed. The people of Bori shout: “The King must be told I The King must be told!” Then the Adjingi places himself at the head of the procession while all the people follow after. They proceed towards the King’s dwelling, where the Bori shout that the King must hear them. The King’s pages go in and tell him that the Bori people with the Adjingi are without. The King comes out.

  The people salute the King. Then, in the olden times, the latter flung himself at the feet of the Adjingi, the elder of the tribe, and did him honour. The Adjingi commanded the King to arise and asked him: “Shall I tell you what the Alledjenu has said to us?” The King replied: “Can I act against the will of the Alledjenu? Must I not hear from the Alledjenu all that they say to you? Why will you not repeat what he has said to you?” Thereupon the Adjingi relates everything which the Alledjenu has said in the circle. The King must then collect from the people all that is necessary to cover the cost of the sacrifice and levies a Toussa (tax) on everyone.… 1

  In this account, to which many others might be added, we see clearly how the possessed incarnates the spirit: the latter enters into him and speaks by his mouth. He possesses plenary authority, so that the King himself bows before him. Possession here constitutes an essential, even the principal part of the religion, and Frobenius aptly speaks of a “religion of possession.” This is, in fact, no rare phenomenon, but the religion of the Bori, according to Frobenius’ information, is disseminated over a very great part of Central Africa. He believes it to come from the East and even from Persia whence it travelled by way of Palestine to the countries of the East African coast. “It passes across the Middle Nile through the Sudan to the Niger, acquires there in the Hausa triangle a particularly marked, localized and self-referent development of strength, and then dies away towards the east coast.” 2

  Besides Frobenius we owe detailed information o
n the Bori religion to the English investigator Tremearne, already mentioned above, although he writes as an ethnologist and there is reason to regret that he has not envisaged matters from the psychological standpoint proper. This is the more to be deplored as his numerous photographs show that he acquired a comprehensive knowledge of these strange customs and would have had unique opportunities for obtaining psychological data of a remarkable nature. The information which Tremearne has collected on possession-dances among the Hausa peoples is extensive, but on the genesis, course, and extinction of possession he vouchsafes practically nothing. It is always the same with ethnologists; they seek rather to accumulate facts and describe customs than to offer psychological explanations.

  According to Tremearne the Bori is older than Islam amongst the Hausa races. He considers these dances as pre-Islamic,1 and immediately related to the Semitic cults of ancient Carthage and Babylon.2 Amongst the Hausas dances were originally a method of treatment for mental diseases and each of them represents a kind of sickness. In later times this form of treatment was practised by a special class composed of men and women of bad reputation known as Karua. Still later young people, particularly girls, who had not turned out well or who had criminal or morbid tendencies, came under the influence of the Bori. It was admitted that they were under the control of evil spirits which must be driven out. To be accused of Bori is therefore not necessarily a disgrace although many men regard it as a reproach against their wives if the latter have been concerned in it.

  According to the explorer Richardson, Bori must have degenerated long ago, for one evening in the year 1850 he writes:

  “I found that one of our negresses, a wife of one of the servants, was performing Boree, the ‘Devil,’ and working herself up into the belief that his Satanic Majesty had possession of her. She threw herself upon the ground in all directions, and imitated the cries of various animals. Her actions were, however, somewhat regulated by a man tapping upon a kettle with a piece of wood, beating time to her wild manœuvres. After some delay, believing herself now possessed, and capable of performing her work, she went forward to half a dozen of our servants who were squatting on their hams ready to receive her. She then took each by the head and neck, and pressed their heads between her legs—they sitting, she standing—not in the most decent way, and made over them, with her whole body, certain inelegant motions not to be mentioned. She then put their hands and arms behind their backs, and after several other wild cries and jumps, and having for a moment thrown herself flat upon the ground, she declared to each and all their future—their fortune, good or bad.”3

  After the conquest of the Hausa states by Islam at the beginning of the nineteenth century, Bori was, according to Tremearne, forbidden in the large towns but continued to flourish in the small ones and villages. Later, by a kind of bribery of the native authorities, it found its way back into the large centres. In the regions under British government the bribe then became a legal tribute to the Bori practitioner, but in the latter years of the war serious steps were taken towards the complete suppression of these strange ceremonies and it was explained to Tremearne that they no longer occurred. For this reason he found it impossible to take further photographs of Bori, at least in northern Nigeria, where repression seems to have been completely successful. Even in 1913, however, he produced two sketches. It is true that they are of no great significance.1

  In Italian Tripolitania Tremearne later succeeded in obtaining from the authorities, who showed a sympathetic understanding, permission for the celebration of the Bori rites which otherwise no longer occur, and was able to study them very carefully. We are, however, entitled to believe that the natives no longer regard them with their former seriousness, as they would hardly otherwise have lent themselves to such a performance in the presence of a European. In consequence Tremearne was able to take a number of photographs which he published in 1914 in his new book. The photographs which we possess of primitive states of possession are unfortunately all too few in number.

  Let us hear how he describes the whole spectacle:

  The master of ceremonies is called the Uban Mufane; he takes charge of the offerings of the spectators, but they are afterwards divided amongst the musicians (a violinist, and a man who drums on an overturned calabash), and the dancers. A mat is usually spread in front of him, so that those onlookers who wish to give money will know where to throw it—though it is not refused should it fall elsewhere.2

  After all sorts of other ceremonies have been accomplished a goat is slaughtered. Similarly a red cock is sacrificed. Then:

  Immediately some of the dowaki began yelling, and certain ones of them flung themselves upon the ground and began drinking the blood, these being Mai-Ja-Chikki, Kuri, Sarikin Pawa, Jigo, and Jam Maraki. Others smeared their faces and clothes—and their instruments also, in the case of the musicians—with the blood, and the Arifa, having scooped some of it up, sprinkled those near her. The first of the Bori had now mounted, and the persons possessed were forcibly conducted into the dancing-space.

  The first to appear were Kuri (Haj Ali), Jam Maraki (Khameis), and Mai-Ja-Chikki (Khadeza).1 A few other dowaki became possessed as fresh bori arrived upon the scene or got their turn, as the case might be.…2

  Often a particular dancer will have kola-nuts poured into his or her mouth.… Soon after the musicians have commenced, some of the dancers begin to go round and round in a circle with shuffling steps, the hips swaying from side to side, and in a few minutes the strains of the violin and the scents used by the dancers take effect. The eyes become fixed and staring, the dancer becomes hysterical, grunts or squeals, makes convulsive movements and sudden rushes, crawls about, or mimics the actions of the person or animal whose part he is playing, and then jumps into the air, and comes down flat on the buttocks, with the legs stretched out in front horizontally, or with one crossed over the other. The dancer may remain rigid in that position for some time, often until each arm has been lifted up, and pressed back three times by one of the other performers.

  This may be the end of that particular dancer’s part, but often he will continue to act up to his name, his words and actions being supposed to be due to the spirit by which he is possessed, and if it is not clear which spirit it is, the chief mai-bori present will explain, or the performer himself may do so. Finally, in most cases, the dancer will sneeze, this evidently being for the purpose of expelling the spirit. Sometimes, not content with the dashing on the ground, the dancers will claw their chests, tear their hair, or beat various parts of their bodies, and even climb trees and throw themselves down, but all deny that they feel any pain while possessed, whatever they do. Sneezing expels the spirit, as has been said, but it is some days before the effect of the seizure wears off, even if no serious injury has been done, the appropriate diet meantime being kola-nuts and water.3

  The spirits are all summoned by the incense, and expelled by the sneezing, and if any character becomes offensive to the spectators (as did Jato at Tripoli) the Arifa will touch the mount on the back of the neck and under the chin, so as to make him or her sneeze and so get rid of the spirit. The performers, as has been said, are supposed to act involuntarily and unconsciously, in fact, to be “possessed” in every sense of the word.4

  The performances went on until six a.m. next morning, though from six p.m. until midnight only the ordinary dancing was indulged in. Again next day, about two-thirty p.m., it recommenced, and a similar programme was performed, though there were no sacrifices. A third day completed the rites.5

  The number of spirits which cause possession is very great—Tremearne counts several dozen—and the dancers’ gestures are completely different according to the spirit which they represent. These spirits are of very various origin; some come from Islam, others are peculiar to the negro world. In the performances they are incarnated by the participants and the latter act as if they were the spirits in question. Unfortunately it is not clearly apparent from Tremearne’s numerous accounts at what
stage possession proper comes on. It is evident that for some time the participants voluntarily play the part of the spirits and subsequently fall into possession, so that this latter stage is only an intensification of the voluntary ones.

  A few examples will serve to illustrate the actual conduct of the actors. The best idea is really conveyed by the numerous photographs published by Tremearne.

  There is, for example, the Bori Malam Alhaji. He is a scholar and a pilgrim. He pretends to be old and trembling, as if counting little pellets with his right hand, holding meanwhile in the left a book which he reads. He walks bent double, with a crutch, and is all the time tired out and coughing. He is present at all the marriages of the Bori sect. He is always clothed in white.1

  Another spirit is Dan Galladima. He is the son of a prince. There is also Janjare.

  The dancer puts on a large cloth, which comes over his head. He walks along slowly, head bent, and then crossing his feet, he sits down. He is then approached and saluted by everyone. He is the highest judge of the sect, appeals being brought to him from the court of the Wanzanic. If he agrees with the decision of the latter, he remains seated, if not, he jumps up and falls down three times, and then he gives his decision. The tsere consists of the full attire of a prince—viz., a blue robe and trousers, white turban, shoes, and scent.2