RITUAL REGICIDE VERSUS SUCCESSION STRIFE. POLITICAL DECISION-MAKING THROUGH RITUAL IN PRE-COLONIAL OWAMBO SOCIETIES

• Authors: Salokoski M.
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The author's aim was to present the ways in which kingly succession took place in three kingdoms (Ondonga, Ongandjela, Ombandja) in present northern Namibia in the colonial times. In these societies there are two traditions: of ritual regicide and of succession strife between equally legible pretenders to the throne within the kingly lineage. The majority of sources on Owambo societies in the late 1800s present a picture of king as autarchic and having the power to decide over life and death. A different picture emerges in the descriptions of rituals given by local informants: the king is chosen among eligible candidates. He knows that in the end of his reign he will be killed by his successor. The mentioned rituals are strongly connected with the idea of sacred or divine kingship. In Ombandja the relations between dead kings, their successors and society are carefully regulated by ritual. A king was to leave his power to his heir. The head-wife of the king was taking part in this ritual and a slave of the king was the chief actor. The ruler may not die of himself (without being suffocated), as it is believed that he would take the kingdom with him. For a kingly assassination to be called ritual regicide some criteria have to be fulfilled. It is a political act, as well, because the king has to be killed in order to safeguard kingship. In Ombandja, there is also another way of regicide when someone 'grabs power' without having been chosen (a political assassination) and it follows certain ritual rules, as well. In a long sequence of inaugural rituals for a new king, a human sacrifice comes at the very end of kingly installation and serves as 'strengthening' the king's power. In Ongandjera, when the king falls ill and there is no hope for recovery, elders together with the head-wife discuss who would be chosen to become a ruler. This person's task is to smother the king and to take over kingship. From a religious point of view ritual regicide differ from individual assassination by being ritually regulated. From a political point of view, ritual regicide is a regulated form of succession. It is probable that also the traditions of kingship in Ongandjela changed from ritual regicide towards political assassination. In Ondonga succession to kingship was regulated by elders. The rites of inaugurating the new king were conducted by the head councilor and the kingly wife along with the owner of the kingly palm field and the 'keeper of the insignia of office'. The new ruler is to be chosen by the council of elders with the consent of the king's head-wife. Ritual regicide was known in Ondoga, as well (the king was killed by his successor). In Owambo societies autarchy was not an inherent part of divine kingship which would be related to diminishing powers of kings.In Owambo societies, ritual regicide as a part of sacred kingship served to regulate a structurally in-built tendency for succession strife in the political system.

Keywords

EN

COLONIAL AFRICA; KINGLY SUCCESSION; OWAMBO SOCIETIES; PRE-COLONIAL AFRICA

Discipline

• ANTHROPOLOGY: ANTHROPOLOGY

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Kultur Śródziemnomorskich i Orientalnych PAN
• Journal: Hemispheres. Studies on Cultures and Societies
• Year: 2005
• Issue: 20
• Pages: 7-37
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Salokoski M.

• M. Salokoski, Institute of Development Studies, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

06PLAAAA01232815