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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | On Masks and Audible Ghosts: Some Secret Male Cults in Central Nigeria |
Author: | Isichei, Elizabeth |
Year: | 1988 |
Periodical: | Journal of Religion in Africa |
Volume: | 18 |
Issue: | 1 |
Period: | February |
Pages: | 42-70 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | Northern Nigeria Nigeria |
Subjects: | African religions cults masks Religion and Witchcraft Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1580836.pdf |
Abstract: | This paper analyses a number of cults in and near southern Kaduna State, also called Southern Zaria, Central Nigeria. It begins with the Abvwoi complex, found among the Kaje, Katab and Kagoro. This is a cult of male ancestral spirits or ghosts, who are not seen but speak through a voice disguiser. This cult is linked with a number of visible manifestations, called masquerades, which are conceptualized as wives or messengers of Abvwoi. The article then discusses the extremely similar and perhaps related cult, Ku, found among a neighbouring people, the Ham. The next section describes four well-documented cases of the adoption of new cults of this kind, the Mbue cult in Kagoro, the Ugurza cult among the Abisi, new masking cults among the Irigwe and new masking traditions among the Amo. Finally, the paper considers what has happened to these cults in present-day Nigeria and what social functions, if any, they filled. Notes, ref. |