Book contents
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- Uganda and British East Africa
- PART I THE BANYORO A PASTORAL PEOPLE
- CHAP. I THE COUNTRY, THE PEOPLE, THE KING
- CHAP. II GOVERNMENT
- CHAP. III CLANS, TOTEMS AND TERMS OF RELATIONSHIP
- CHAP. IV MARRIAGE AND BIRTH
- CHAP. V SICKNESS AND DEATH
- CHAP. VI INDUSTRIES
- CHAP. VII WARFARE
- CHAP. VIII HUNTING, DRUMS AND THEIR USE
- CHAP. IX RELIGIOUS BELIEFS
- PART II THE BANYANKOLE A PASTORAL TRIBE OF ANKOLE
- PART III THE BAKENE, LAKE DWELLERS
- PART IV THE BAGESU A CANNIBAL TRIBE
- PART V THE BASOGA
- PART VI NILOTIC TRIBES. THE BATESO AND THE KAVIRONDO
- INDEX
- PUBLICATIONS OF THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS RELATING TO AFRICA
- Plate section
CHAP. IX - RELIGIOUS BELIEFS
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 September 2011
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- Uganda and British East Africa
- PART I THE BANYORO A PASTORAL PEOPLE
- CHAP. I THE COUNTRY, THE PEOPLE, THE KING
- CHAP. II GOVERNMENT
- CHAP. III CLANS, TOTEMS AND TERMS OF RELATIONSHIP
- CHAP. IV MARRIAGE AND BIRTH
- CHAP. V SICKNESS AND DEATH
- CHAP. VI INDUSTRIES
- CHAP. VII WARFARE
- CHAP. VIII HUNTING, DRUMS AND THEIR USE
- CHAP. IX RELIGIOUS BELIEFS
- PART II THE BANYANKOLE A PASTORAL TRIBE OF ANKOLE
- PART III THE BAKENE, LAKE DWELLERS
- PART IV THE BAGESU A CANNIBAL TRIBE
- PART V THE BASOGA
- PART VI NILOTIC TRIBES. THE BATESO AND THE KAVIRONDO
- INDEX
- PUBLICATIONS OF THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS RELATING TO AFRICA
- Plate section
Summary
The undeveloped state of religious beliefs. Religious beliefs are not nearly so developed in Bunyoro as are those of the Baganda: still, so far as they have advanced, the cult is very similar. The principal gods, whom the people assert to be superhuman, were most probably human beings who for some cause were held in veneration and were deified after death. So far as the present generation of people know, there never have been any material objects to represent the gods: they have ever been merely names, and only a few of the gods had temples in which priests and mediums resided. The influence of a god was confined to some locality, as in Uganda, and it was necessary to have some object to which the mysterious presence and power of the god could communicate itself so as to be taken into other parts of the country. For this purpose fetishes were made and kept in the homes of the people or carried about for particular purposes. Amulets were worn to ward off disease or as a protection against wild animals or reptiles, while others were intended to be used medicinally by scraping or by rubbing them on stones and mixing the powder thus obtained with water for internal use, or by mixing it with butter for external application.
The principal gods. There were innumerable gods in the country, each clan having its favourite god; and in many cases there were gods belonging to private members of a clan, to whom the members resorted for special aid.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Northern BantuAn Account of Some Central African Tribes of the Uganda Protectorate, pp. 89 - 98Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1915