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Sudan
Indigenous Religions
Each indigenous religion is unique to a specific ethnic group
or part of a group, although several groups may share elements
of belief and ritual because of common ancestry or mutual influence.
The group serves as the congregation, and an individual usually
belongs to that faith by virtue of membership in the group. Believing
and acting in a religious mode is part of daily life and is linked
to the social, political, and economic actions and relationships
of the group. The beliefs and practices of indigenous religions
in Sudan are not systematized, in that the people do not generally
attempt to put together in coherent fashion the doctrines they
hold and the rituals they practice.
The concept of a high spirit or divinity, usually seen as a creator
and sometimes as ultimately responsible for the actions of lesser
spirits, is common to most Sudanese groups. Often the higher divinity
is remote, and believers treat the other spirits as autonomous,
orienting their rituals to these spirits rather than to the high
god. Such spirits may be perceived as forces of nature or as manifestations
of ancestors. Spirits may intervene in people's lives, either
because individuals or groups have transgressed the norms of the
society or because they have failed to pay adequate attention
to the ritual that should be addressed to the spirits.
The Nilotes generally acknowledge an active supreme deity, who
is therefore the object of ritual, but the beliefs and rituals
differ from group to group. The Nuer, for example, have no word
corresponding solely and exclusively to God. The word sometimes
so translated refers not only to the universal governing spirit
but also to ancestors and forces of nature whose spirits are considered
aspects of God. It is possible to pray to one spirit as distinct
from another but not as distinct from God. Often the highest manifestation
of spirit, God, is prayed to directly. God is particularly associated
with the winds, the sky, and birds, but these are not worshiped.
The Dinka attribute any remarkable occurrence to the direct influence
of God and will sometimes mark the occasion with an appropriate
ritual. Aspects of God (the universal spirit) are distinguished,
chief of which is Deng (rain). For the Nuer, the Dinka, and other
Nilotes, human beings are as ants to God, whose actions are not
to be questioned and who is regarded as the judge of all human
behavior.
Cattle play a significant role in Nilotic rituals. Cattle are
sacrificed to God as expiatory substitutes for their owners. The
function is consistent with the significance of cattle in all
aspects of Nilotic life. Among the Nuer, for example, and with
some variations among the Dinka, cattle are the foundation of
family and community life, essential to subsistence, marriage
payments, and personal pride. The cattle shed is a shrine and
meeting place, the center of the household; a man of substance,
head of a family, and a leading figure in the community is called
a "bull." Every man and the spirits themselves have ox names that
denote their characteristic qualities. These beliefs and institutions
give meaning to the symbolism of the rubbing of ashes on a sacrificial
cow's back in order to transfer the burden of the owner's sins
to the animal.
The universal god of the Shilluk is more remote than that of
the Nuer and Dinka and is addressed through the founder of the
Shilluk royal clan. Nyiking, considered both man and god, is not
clearly distinguished from the supreme deity in ritual, although
the Shilluk may make the distinction in discussing their beliefs.
The king (reth) of the Shilluk is regarded as divine,
an idea that has never been accepted by the Nuer and Dinka.
All of the Nilotes and other peoples as well pay attention to
ancestral spirits, the nature of the cult varying considerably
as to the kinds of ancestors who are thought to have power in
the lives of their descendants. Sometimes it may be the founding
ancestors of the group whose spirits are potent. In many cases
it is the recently deceased ancestors who are active and must
be placated.
Of the wide range of natural forces thought to be activated by
spirits, perhaps the most common is rain. Although southern Sudan
does not suffer as acutely as northern Sudan from lack of rain,
there has sometimes been a shortage, particularly during the 1970s
and 1980s and in 1990; this lack has created hardship, famine,
and death amidst the travail of civil war. For this reason, rituals
connected with rain have become important in many ethnic groups,
and ritual specialists concerned with rain or thought to incarnate
the spirit of rain are important figures.
The distinction between the natural and the supernatural that
has emerged in the Western world is not relevant to the traditional
religions. Spirits may have much greater power than human beings,
but their powers are perceived not as altering the way the world
commonly works but as explaining occurrences in nature or in the
social world.
Some men and women are also thought to have extraordinary powers.
How these powers are believed to be acquired and exercised varies
from group to group. In general, however, some people are thought
to have inherited the capacity to harm others and to have a disposition
to do so. Typically they are accused of inflicting illnesses on
specific individuals, frequently their neighbors or kin. In some
groups, it is thought that men and women who have no inherent
power to harm may nevertheless do damage to others by manipulating
images of the victim or items closely associated with that person.
Occasionally an individual may be thought of as a sorcerer. When
illness or some other affliction strikes in a form that is generally
attributed to a sorcerer, there are ways (typically some form
of divination) of confirming that witchcraft was used and identifying
the sorcerer.
The notions of sorcery are not limited to the southern Sudanese,
but are to be found in varying forms among peoples, including
nomadic and other Arabs, who consider themselves Muslims. A specific
belief widespread among Arabs and other Muslim peoples is the
notion of the evil eye. Although a physiological peculiarity of
the eye (walleye or cross-eye) may be considered indicative of
the evil eye, any persons expressing undue interest in the private
concerns of another may be suspected of inflicting deliberate
harm by a glance. Unlike most witchcraft, where the perpetrator
is known by and often close to the victim, the evil eye is usually
attributed to strangers. Children are thought to be the most vulnerable.
Ways exist to protect oneself against sorcery or the evil eye.
Many magico-religious specialists--diviners and sorcerers-- deal
with these matters in Sudanese societies. The diviner is able
to determine whether witchcraft or sorcery is responsible for
the affliction and to discover the source. He also protects and
cures by providing amulets and other protective devices for a
fee or by helping a victim punish (in occult fashion) the sorcerer
in order to be cured of the affliction. If it is thought that
an evil spirit has possessed a person, an exorcist may be called
in. In some groups these tasks may be accomplished by the same
person; in others the degree of specialization may be greater.
In northern Sudan among Muslim peoples, the faqih may
spend more of his time as diviner, dispenser of amulets, healer,
and exorcist than as Quranic teacher, imam of a mosque, or mystic.
Data as of June 1991
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