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a sorcerer. Which fire united you? A quarrel arose among you when Suuta was ill. After another oracle, the head of the family here was asked to offer a chicken to Suuta.
8 He was angry, and there was strife between you both. |
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Mbela's answer: That's right; I went to ask the diviner's advice. There I heard that sorcery was involved [an explanation of Suuta's sickness]: "I as diviner tell you: go to the head of the family and tell him to give a chicken to the sick one." When I went to ask him for the chicken, he wouldn't hear of it, and so a quarrel arose between us. He refused to give a chicken. |
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Diviner: Concerning this young mother, Suuta, what do I see? A member of the family [Toonda] who came looking for her to kill her [by sorcery] stays in Kinshasa. Actually, I see three elders who consider themselves as heads of the family and who are competing for this position: there is a quarrel among you. I see that the sorcery prohibition left to you by your uterine forebears leads to the death of you who rule [as punishment for breaking this prohibition]. |
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The man [Toonda] who cut the umbilical cord [i.e., the one who killed Suuta] and was staying in Kinshasa, I see he has returned. Notice that Meengi, Suuta's father's sister, is also involved as a sorcerer in Suuta's death, just as Toonda is. And you who consider yourselves heads of the family, what arrangement did you come to [to kill her]? The second head of the family is also involved as a sorcerer in Suuta's death; you were among the sorcerers who decided to kill Suuta. If you are not a sorcerer, when that child, Suuta, was ill, what kind of arrangement did you make? You are a sorcerer, I can see that. If you will deny it, tell me, so that I can offer you this water to drink: if you are not telling the truth you will kill yourself.9 |
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Together with the second head of the family, you [Mbela, Toonda, and Meengi] have "eaten up" this young wife by compensation to her father's great-granduncle. I see that her father's great-granduncle is at odds with the other uncles. The following uncle [her father's primary uncle] joined the sorcery plot against one of those who call him uncle [namely against Suuta]. |
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Listen, you second head of the family here before me, offer a chicken to the younger sister of the deceased10 and invite the great-granduncles so as to offer compensation for the death [of Suuta and her father], so that after you have admitted your wrong and witnessed to your renewed disposition, the responsible uncle can remove the curse and unite you all in sharing the same fire [as a sign for the reconciliation and reunification of the family].11 And you primary uncle, admit your wrong and bear witness to your new disposition by also making compensation to the great-granduncle of the deceased. |
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With regard to the cults, I see that the great-granduncle [of Suuta's father] uttered a curse proper to the institutions n-luwa and n-tsa mutseki. I see that the primary uncle is involved by the divination cult [hiding his real intentions behind the hereditary influence passed down in context of divination]. |
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I propose to show that by considering the ongoing articulation process from a semantic-praxeological perspective concerned with the transformational and performative production of ritual praxis, it is evident that the Yaka divinatory |
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