You Will See In The Fetish Huts Above
Mentioned Dishes Of Plantain And Fish Left Till They Rot.
Dr.
Nassau says the life or essence of the food only is eaten by the
spirit, the form of the vegetable or flesh being left to be removed
when its life is gone out.
In cases of emergency a fowl with its blood is laid at the door of
the Fetish hut, or when pestilence is expected, or an attack by
enemies, or a great man or woman is very ill, goats and sheep are
sacrificed and the blood put in the Fetish hut as well as on the
gateways of the village. These sacrifices among the Fan are made
with a very peculiar-shaped knife, a fine specimen of which I
secured by the kindness of Captain Davies; it is shaped like the
head of a hornbill and is quite unlike the knives in common use
among the tribes, which are either long, leaf-shaped blades
sharpened along both edges, or broad, trowel-shaped, almost
triangular daggers. All Fan knives are fine weapons, superior to
the knives of all other Coast tribes I have met with, but the
sacrifice knife is distinctly peculiar. I found to my great
interest the same superstition in Congo Francais that I met with
first in the Oil Rivers. Its meaning I am unable to fully account
for, but I believe it to be a form of sacrifice. In Calabar each
individual has a certain forbidden thing or things. These things
are either forms of food, or the method of eating. In Calabar this
prohibition is called Ibet, and when, in consequence of the
influence of white culture, a man gives up his Ibet, he is regarded
by good sound ju-juists as leading an irregular and dissipated life,
and even the unintentional breaking of the Ibet is regarded as very
dangerous. Special days are set apart by each individual; on these
days he eats only the smallest quantity and plainest quality of
food. No one must eat with him, nor any dog, fowl, etc., feed off
the crumbs, nor any one watch him while eating. I suspect on this
day the Ibet is eaten, but I have not verified this, only getting,
from an untrustworthy source, a statement that supported it.
Dr. Nassau told me that among Congo Francais tribes certain rites
are performed for children during infancy or youth, in which a
prohibition is laid upon the child as regards the eating of some
particular article of food, or the doing of certain acts. "It is
difficult," he said, "to get the exact object of the 'Orunda.'
Certainly the prohibited article is not in itself evil, for others
but the inhibited individual may eat or do with it as they please.
Most of the natives blindly follow the custom of their ancestors
without being able to give any raison d'etre, but again, from those
best able to give a reason, you learn the prohibited article is a
sacrifice ordained for the child by its parents and the magic doctor
as a gift to the governing spirit of its life.
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