Zār or Zaar (زار) is a pagan religious custom, apparently originating in central Ethiopia during the eighteenth century, later spreading throughout East and North Africa.[1] Zār custom involves the possession of an individual (usually female) by a spirit. It is also practiced in Egypt, southern Iran[2] and elsewhere in the Middle East.
A featured musical instrument in the Zār ritual is the tanbura, a six-string lyre (6-stringed "bowl-lyre"[3]), which, like the Zār practice itself, exists in various forms in an area stretching from East Africa to the Arabian Peninsula.[4] Other instruments include the mangour, a leather belt sewn with many goat hooves, and various percussion instruments.[4]
The Zār cult served as a refuge for women and effeminate men in conservative, Muslim-dominated Sudan.[1]
In Ethiopia, zār also refers to malevolent spirits.[5] Many Ethiopian Christians[5] and Muslims[6]:199 believe in these spirits. Among both groups, mental illness is often attributed to zār possession.[7] In Ethiopia, zār possession is more common among women, while among immigrants in the West, men are more commonly afflicted.[7] At the same time, many Ethiopians believe in benevolent, protective spirits, or abdar.[5] While this belief in abdar and zār fits the traditional dualism of good and evil, it is also deeply rooted in superstition.[8]
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Varieties of Zār cults in Sudan
Among extant varieties of Zār cults are "zār Sawāknī (the zār from the area of Sawākin ["Dalūka, that is, zār Sawāknī"[9]]) and zār Nyamānyam {cf. /NYAMe/ ('Friend'), god of the Akan} (the zār of the Azande)"[10] : "the Nyam-Nyam have zār nugāra, with Babīnga and Nakūrma." "Babīnga and Nakūrma ... are recognized as Azande ancestral spirits." Nugāra (big drum) = "nuqara ... of the Dega tribe ... was originally from Wau."[11] (Wau is in Equatoria province of Sudan.) "Besides the nugāra of the Azande, other zār cults mentioned were those of the Fartīt [Fartīt peoples include "the Karra, Gula, Feroge, and Surro"[12]], the Shilluk, and the Dinka peoples and the dinia Nuba cult”.[13]
Ĥēṭ (spirit-modalities) in Ṭumbura
Ĥēṭ is the term of for "possessing-spirit" (also known as "spirit-modality"). "The ṭumbura spirit modalities that most present-day groups celebrate are the following ones : Nuba, Banda, Gumuz, Sawākiniyya, Lambūnāt, Bābūrāt, Bāshawāt, Khawājāt".[14] Upon becoming possessed by a ĥēṭ (literally 'thread'[15]), a devotee will don the appropriate costume. Some of these ĥēṭ costumes are :-
- Nuba -- "a 'traditional' loincloth"[16]
- Banda -- "a straw loincloth"[17]
- Bāśawāt -- "a red fez"[18]
- Ĥawājāt -- "pith-helmet, khaki shorts"[19]
References
G. P. Makris : Changing Masters : Spirit Possession and Identity Construction among Slave Descendants and Other Subordinates in the Sudan. Northwestern University Press, Evanston, 2000. ISBN 0-8101-1698-7
Notes
- ^ a b Natvig, Richard (July 1988), "Liminal Rites and Female Symbolism in the Egyptian Zar Possession Cult", Numen 35 (1): 57–68, doi:
- ^ Modarressi, Taghi. 1968. The zar cult in south Iran. In Trance and possession states. ed. Raymond Prince. Montreal: R. M. Bucke Memorial Society
- ^ Makris 2000, p. 52
- ^ a b Poché, Christian. "Tanbūra", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. S. Sadie and J. Tyrrell (London: Macmillan, 2001), xxv, 62-63.
- ^ a b c Turner, John W. "Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity: Faith and practices". A Country Study: Ethiopia. Thomas P. Ofcansky and LaVerle Berry, eds. Washington: Library of Congress Federal Research Division, 1991.
- ^ Beckwith, Carol, Angela Fisher, and Graham Hancock. African Ark. New York: Henry N. Abrams, Inc., 1990.
- ^ a b Kemp, Charles. "Ethiopians & Eritreans." Refugee Health – Immigrant Health. Waco, TX: Baylor University.
- ^ Finneran, Niall. "Ethiopian Evil Eye Belief and the Magical Symbolism of Iron Working." Folklore, Vol. 114, 2003.
- ^ Makris 2000, p. 141
- ^ Makris 2000, p. 12
- ^ Makris 2000, p. 64
- ^ Makris p. 222, n. 5:15
- ^ Makris 2000, pp. 64-65
- ^ Makris 2000, p. 197
- ^ Makris 2000, p. 195
- ^ Makris 2000, p. 198
- ^ Makris 2000, p. 199
- ^ Makris 2000, p. 202
- ^ Makris 2000, p. 203
See also
Further reading
- Fakhouri, Hani. "The Zar Cult in an Egyptian Village." Anthropological Quarterly, vol. 41, no. 2 (April 1968), pp. 49-56.
- Seligmann, Brenda Z. "On the Origin of the Egyptian Zar." Folklore, vol. 25, no. 3 (September 30, 1914), pp. 300-323.
External links
- The zar and the tumbura cults
- Changing_Masters (Ṭumbura in Sudan), part I
- Changing_Masters (Ṭumbura in Sudan), parts II-III
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