THE SUPYIRE COSMOLOGY THE SUPYIRE PEOPLE AND CULTURE: AN OUTLINE SKETCH

Supernatural spirits There are different races of spirits who live in the bush country, outside of the villages. Those that commonly appear in folk tales are called the bush people. They have long hair, often blond, have white skin and backward turning feet. In one tale, they return home to a baobab tree after a day cultivating their fields. They bring firewood and put down their hoes. Then the hoes pick them up and put them down So mixed up with the magical elements of the stories is the mundane, everyday life they lead. Living as they do in the wild, chaotic untamed bush, they are somewhat dangerous creatures, with potential for causing harm as well as good. The Supyire have also adapted to the existence of jinas, which form part of the world of the neighbouring Bambara people, the majority ethnic group in Mali. Appearing less often in traditional stories than the bush people, less is known about the lives of jinas. Still, they probably wield the greater influence on the course of human life. One diviner said that the jinas need to talk with Kile before he agrees to send the rain. They choose certain people to be their instruments, and at certain times will take possession of them and give them powers, such as the ability to perform divination or play musical instruments during religious festivals. Another race that live in the bush, are the w•rokolobii, 26 known for their evil deeds. According to Joyce Carlson’s research, 27 they will shoot a person on sight, but fortunately they fall asleep very easily, and will sometimes even fall asleep before they are able to discharge their arrow. If you construct a corral or house near the home of one of them, they will eventually kill all your cattle or family. Also hostile towards humans are the faraüi water spirits that can kill a person who falls into a stream, the body being left to float on the water. The Bambara too know this spirit. A more benevolent spirit is your guiding spirit nahafoo, otherwise known as your mîlîgî, a word borrowed ultimately from Arabic where it means angel. It will protect you, but can also punish you if it is neglected and does not receive sufficient sacrificial gifts. 26 A loan word from Bambara. 27 Carlson “The Supyire Pantheon”, p.7. Ancestors The ancestors kw—ubii, literally “the dead ones” are those who lived long honourable lives in society, and have contributed to the continuation of the race through marriage and children. They lead a village life of their own, raising herds and cultivating fields. The more importance a person gains in this life, the greater power he will wield as an intermediary when he has passed on to the village of the ancestors. Particularly powerful among the ancestors are the spirits of twins. A woman who was both a twin and a mother of twins from a Senufo group in Cô te d’Ivoire recounted a creation myth 28 which explains their significan ce. “When [God] created the first man and woman, they became man and wife. When the woman conceived for the first time, she gave birth to a boy and a girl, who were twins.” The balance between male and female is important; twins who are of the same sex are a sign that something is out of balance and not seen so favourably. It is important to give the twins the same gifts; jealousy caused by unequal treatment would endanger the life and health of the family. A small model made of two winnowing baskets joined together represents the family’s twin spirits. When I took a lady who was having a long, difficult labour to hospital, her family members brought along this model, presumably to help give a safe delivery. Fetishes Fetishes are man-made objects endued with supernatural power which families will often hang in a bag in the vestibule, entrance hut to their compound. Alternatively, they house it in its own little hut. Typically a fetish can be made out of gold, or can be fabricated according to some “recipe”. Widespread among the Supyire are fetishes called the Wara, the Kono and K›nr›. They get renowned for having certain powers. For example, the K›nr›, known as the fetish of love, can help to consolidate the love between a man and a woman and be used to produce a product which will increase the fertility of one’s fields. As a certain fetish gains a reputation, people will copy its recipe to make their own fetish that will bear the same name. Often lesser known fetishes with different 28 See Glaze Art and Death in a Senufo Village, p.73. powers will be brought and added to the bag and assimilated to the main fetish, so that if the contents of each K›nr›, for instance, were now examined, they would not be identical. The power of the fetish is greatly feared, for the owner can use it not only to seek his own goo d, but also to harm others. Or it can be used as a sign of one’s power. The story is told by Nawara Sagoro that when Tieba was king of Sikasso in the 19 th century, a certain renowned Senufo fetisher and warrior among the king’s troops, Namon›, used his tail fetish to bind the king and his court. In sacrificing to the fetish, reciting the name of the king, he “tied” them, thus enabling Namon› to go right into the king’s bedroom, shave his head, and escape without waking anyone. This occurred on three separate occasions, until the king suspected Namon› and arranged for him to be killed in battle by his own side. The power of the fetish is also used to serve as a policeman and judge in a small village community. In the case of a theft or suspected adultery, the wronged party will consult the owner of the fetish and ask him to harm or kill the offending party. Every year the owner will organize a celebration in honour of the fetish and maintain good relations with it. Someone will don a mask and a particular outfit to personify the fetish and dance. The fetish mask will also come out to dance at the funeral of its owner. It is often forbidden for women to see the fetish or its mask. The fetish can take action on its own too, especially against sorcery, for sorcery is viewed as most anti-social. Typically the sorcerer nearly always a woman can transform herself into an animal and drag away the souls of others while they sleep to use them for her purposes, transforming them into animals. This leaves the soul of the victim weak and leads to sickness or death. A member of the family of an old lady who died in the 1970s related how when she died, she was said to have been killed by the Kono. The Kono mask had been out dancing not long before her death and a cat had been spotted during the celebration. So when the old lady died, it was deduced that she had transformed herself into the cat to get close to the fetish and the fetish had punished her. Her clothes were then left on the roof of the fetish house to rot as a sign of what had happened. Life force Robert Carlson 29 writes that every living thing in Supyire cosmology is “endowed with a kind of impersonal life force called ¤…m…. This force can harm other animals or things and is thus potentially the cause of disease and even death. Certain animals and people, such as pythons and albinos, have more ¤…m… than others. You can get sick even by walking past the place where a python has been coiled up, even if it is no longer there. Hunters must protect themselves in various ways against the ¤…m… of their prey. Soldiers and policemen, too, who may kill someone in fulfilling their duties, are also subject to attack from the ¤…m… of their victims.” Conclusion Although tradition holds great weight among the Supyire, 30 it would be wrong to give the impression that they hold to an unchanging body of orthodox doctrine. What is outlined above should only be taken as a rough guideline of beliefs. Many of the details are somewhat vague, and the lines blurred. So in one conversation Robert Carlson recorded between two old men, one of them is heard arguing that Kile and the jinas are one and the same. In the mind of one diviner interviewed, jinas and bush people were the one and the same. The same blurring can be seen in that the same word kile has three meanings: First, the Creator God is Kile. Second, the sky is called kile. And third, if you find anything considered extraordinary in nature, such as a skin shed by a python, 31 or the nest of a rare bird called kileükuu , God’s chicken or two chameleons mating, you can take them home, and they become a kile. They are considered as a manifestation of God, and have supernatural powers. This little kile can receive sacrifices like a fetish, but it is more the god of an individual or a family, and as such has less influence on the community as a whole. 29 Carlson, Robert “External Causation in Supyire Culture”, Notes on Anthropology 3:3 1999 7-14 p.11. 30 See above, p.12. 31 A woman named Siri, hearing that a man had found a snake skin exclaimed “U a kile ta” which can be tra nslated “He has found a god” from anthropological notes by Ruth Herber passed on to Joyce Carlson. Nawara Sagoro explained that finding a python skin fits into the category because normally the python swallows its skin once shed. In the 1950s a new religion involving a powerful fetish swept through the area. Before a village could adopt it though, it had to get rid of certain other fetishes, and a considerable number were burnt. So, despite the weight of tradition, when the Supyire have encountered something new which proves itself to be powerful, they have adapted it, and then adopted it into their own unique pantheon.

2.6 THE ROLE OF THE INTERMEDIARY

The importance of an intermediary in Supyire life is not restricted to dealings with the supernatural. If a Supyire travels to another village for business of any form, he needs to go through his intermediary, called a jatigi. The jatigi is responsible for housing and feeding the guest if he is staying a while. He will go with his guest on whatever business he is intent and will repeat his guest’s words to the third party, even if they have been already been clearly understood. Once the relationship is established it is usually life long. “To leave a village is better than to change jatigi ” is a proverb that expresses disapproval of the fickleness of someone who changes from one intermediary to another. Another important relationship is that of narafoo plural: narafeebii. A person is a narafoo for his or her mother’s home village. A narafoo does not reside in his mother’s village, since at marriage, it is customary for the bride to come to live in her husband’s village. The word nara has as its primary meaning “to lean away from”. These are people who are obliquely related to the mother’s patriclan, related to it, but leaning away from it, as it were. The narafeebii in the village of their mother’s patriclan are always treated indulgently like children, no matter how old they are. At the same time, they are frequently given the role of mediator in matters of ritual or dispute. In resolving a dispute, one can call on the services of a narafoo. If it is a particularly serious dispute, one may need others who are totally outside the family, such as members of the castes the blacksmiths and griots, or the Fulani, a light skinned nomadic race who herd cattle across West Africa. In the most serious cases, one might have to resort to requesting the help of a zìükunü› plural zìükunmpii. There are traditional links between those bearing certain surnames; for example, the Sagoro and the Bogodogo families are zìükunmpii. So are those bearing the name Jamutene and those called Jabate. Zìükunmpii are expected to insult and banter each other for example, accusing them of eating green beans. The only time there are any serious dealings is when one is called on to come and help resolve a family dispute. Immediately the reconciliation has taken place, the zìükunü› insults all the parties, left, right and centre, and then gets on his bicycle and leaves the village without a further word to anyone.

2.7 LIFE CYCLE OF A SUPYIRE

Birth Oftentimes, a woman will seek supernatural help in order to conceive. Although Kile is the source of life, each child is thought to have come from a certain place. So, if the mother had prayed for a child from the family’s little god kile, she might well name him Kilen› “God-man”; if from the fetish of love the K›nr›, the child may be named K›nr›cwo “K›nr›-girl”. The child is actually not usually named until he has survived the first week, probably due to the high rate of infant mortality in the past. At the naming ceremony, he is presented to the ancestors of the village, who then take note of him to protect him and to keep him from straying from traditional ways. If a mother loses a succession of two or three babies, it is said that it is the same child that keeps returning. The jinas are blamed for the death of some children, especially beautiful children they are thought to want for themselves. In order to try and deflect the attention of the jinas away from him, the child following one who has died in infancy may be given a name such as “Ugly child”. So there is some belief in reincarnation, but it is not clearly defined, and does not play a central role in Supyire thought. A child born into the family of an elderly person who has recently died is sometimes named after him. Circumcision The custom of circumcising both boys and girls continues without exception. It is a rite that enables the child to develop into a full adult which for the Supyire is synonymous with being married. The foreskin and the clitoris respectively are seen as being characteristic of the opposite sex, and as being inappropriate for the boy or girl. Therefore they are cut from the body. H. Sawyerr suggests that circumcision in