The ancestral dead
Iraqw · numen · Iraqw traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
The ancestral dead (gii) form a distinct order of being in Iraqw cosmology. When Iraqw die they are held to pass into an underground world closely resembling that of the living, where they continue to herd livestock and cultivate. From there the dead can affect the fortunes of their descendants. There is no elaborate ancestor cult, but when misfortune suggests that the dead are angry, sacrifices are offered to appease them. The dead are characteristically said to appear among the living in the form of hyenas, an association that gives the hyena its uncanny place in Iraqw thought. Their subterranean dwelling links them to the lower world over which Neetlangw presides, in contrast to the celestial Looa.
Domains
- ancestors and the dead
- underground realm of the dead
Powers
- to influence the fortunes of the living when angered
- to appear among the living in the form of a hyena
Sources
- The Iraqw dead (gii) are ancestral spirits who dwell in an underground world, may influence the living when angered, and appear among them as hyenas.: Winter, E.H. 1966. 'Territorial Groupings and Religion among the Iraqw.' In Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Religion, ed. Michael Banton, 155-174. London: Tavistock Publications. (secondary); Snyder, Katherine A. 2005. The Iraqw of Tanzania: Negotiating Rural Development. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. (secondary)