bush, fear of the spirits, fear of the ancestors, fear of the dark, fear of suffering a bad death, fear of the unknown, and even fear of one’s closest family and neighbours.
Coulibaly
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comments: “The Senufo appear to us profoundly religious and superstitious, paralysed by fear of invisible forces with occult powers, which they
have to deal with day in day out, in all their undertakings. It is that which explains the multitude of sacrifices, offerings, and consultations with the diviners ... ”
In this chapter we have painted broad brush a picture of Supyire society, with the hope that it will help the reader to understand the role of sacrifices, to which we
turn in detail in the next chapter.
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Translated from Coulibaly, Sinali, Le Paysan Senoufo; Abidjan and Dakar: Les Nouvelles Editions Africaines, 1978, p.97.
3. SACRIFICE IN SUPYIRE SOCIETY
3.1 INTRODUCTION
Arriving in the centre of Wabere, the most ancient of all Supyire villages, one sees a very old tree, said to be sacred, under which all the sacrifices are made during
the annual village festival. There is a huge, crescent-shaped, cement sitting area where the men relax and chat, curving around under the tree. Nearby are two small
huts consecrated to the Wara fetish,
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and a mound streaked white from the flour paste poured on it in offering.
The importance of sacrifice in Supyire society is illustrated by the centrality of these sacrificial sites. The diversity of sacrifices will be seen in the wide variety of
reasons for which people carry them out; for the present they can be summarised under the following general headings:
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1. To make requests for the future
2. To maintain good relationships with the supernatural realm
3. To gain knowledge
4. To deal with problems in relationships in the extended family
5. To ward off evil
6. To punish a wrongdoer
7. To gain power through sorcery
8. To dedicate some object or place to the jinas.
The most common and typical sacrifices are those carried out at the annual village festival seeking blessings on the year ahead. In order to give some insight into
the rites, the words spoken at a sacrifice at the annual village festival at Sarazo village are set out below. This was the first of thirty-one sacrifices brought during the
festival. “Hear what the elders have to say.
This is the offering for the new year even today.
37
See p.16.
38
These are discussed more fully on pp.34-46.
Make the village stand by the mortar, make the village stand by the pestle, even today.
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Give the village millet. Give the village more people.
Seek to make the village prosperous. May our village not be dependent on any other.
Multiply the population. May every visitor who comes to the village with a sincere heart, even today,
help him during the day, help him during the night, so that he may be well thought of.
And our village may be well thought of.
We, the people of Sarazo, if we were without the difficulties which beset us today,
could help out another village. Another village would not have to take care of giving us millet.
That should not have to happen. This is not boasting.
Another village should not have to look after us. That would be shameful.
Give us a good rainy season… O yes, give us a good rainy season.”
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In looking at Supyire sacrifice, we will start in 3.2 by describing the surface forms by answering the following questions. To whom are sacrifices made? Who
makes them? What is sacrificed? When are sacrifices made? Where are sacrifices made? On what are sacrifices made? What steps are performed? We will refer to
Escudero’s analysis of the village festival as a starting point in answering these questions.
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This expression “Make the village stand by the mortar, make the village stand by the pestle” means: “Give us women and millet; for without women and millet the sound of the mortar dies out, and the
vill age cannot stand.”
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Escudero, La Célébration Senufo du Katyire et la Célébration de L’Eucharistie, pp.64-69 my
translation.
