Obasinjom
Ekoi · numen · Ekoi traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Obasinjom (Ejagham 'Obasi' God + 'njom' cult-agency/medicine, 'God's medicine'; Basinjom among neighbouring Cross River peoples) is a divinatory medicine-spirit of the Ejagham, regarded as superior to other cult agencies. It is made present in a crocodile-headed masked figure, omniscient and clairvoyant, that comes out to detect and expose witches and other hidden wrongdoers, serving the community at once as detective, judge and healer. Documented by Talbot in the early twentieth century and the subject of detailed modern study by Ute Röschenthaler, Obasinjom spread by purchase from village to village across the Cross River region of Nigeria and Cameroon, well beyond its Ejagham origins.
Domains
- divination and witch finding
- healing and protective medicine
Powers
- to detect and expose witches and wrongdoers
- to heal the afflicted and protect the community
Epithets
- Obasi-njomUte Röschenthaler, Purchasing Culture: The Dissemination of Associations in the Cross River Region of Cameroon and Nigeria (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2011). (secondary)
Sources
- Obasinjom ('God's medicine') is the Ejagham divinatory medicine-spirit, embodied in a speaking masked figure, who detects and exposes witches and acts as judge and healer for the community.: Ute Röschenthaler, 'Transacting Obasinjom: The Dissemination of a Cult Agency in the Cross River Area', Africa: Journal of the International African Institute 74, no. 2 (2004): 241-276. (secondary); Ute Röschenthaler, Purchasing Culture: The Dissemination of Associations in the Cross River Region of Cameroon and Nigeria (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2011). (secondary)