Shala

In Kapsiki/Higi religion shala is at once the transcendent creator and the indwelling counterpart that every person, lineage, ward, village, mountain, river and field is said to possess. Prayers, libations and sacrifices are addressed to the appropriate shala, and the acceptance of an offering is read in the death-flutter of the sacrificial animal. The shala are imagined as dwelling in a heaven much like the earth, where they act as living people do; there they are called mbeli pelε rhweme, 'the people up high.' Unusually for the Mandara region, the system dispenses with a cult of named ancestors, organising religious life instead around this personal, relational deity through whom rain, fortune and health are sought. The wild, invisible bush-spirits called gutuli are counted among shala's children.

Children

• Gutuli

Domains

• creation
• personal destiny
• sky heaven
• rain blessing

Powers

• indwell every person, place and thing as its supernatural counterpart
• direct a person's path and destiny
• send the rain
• accept or refuse an offering

Epithets

• mbeli pelε rhweme — the people up highvan Beek, Walter E. A. 'Why a Twin Is Not a Child: Symbols in Kapsiki Birth Rituals.' (secondary)

Relations

• child: GutuliThe bush-spirits called gutuli are reckoned among shala's offspring.van Beek, Walter E. A. 'Why a Twin Is Not a Child: Symbols in Kapsiki Birth Rituals' (gutuli are children of shala). (secondary)

Sources

• Shala is at once the transcendent creator and the indwelling personal deity present in every person, place and thing, to whom Kapsiki prayer and sacrifice are directed.: van Beek, Walter E. A. 2012. The Dancing Dead: Ritual and Religion among the Kapsiki/Higi. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (secondary)
• The shala dwell in a heaven resembling the earth and are called mbeli pelε rhweme, 'the people up high'; gutuli bush-spirits are their children.: van Beek, Walter E. A. 'Why a Twin Is Not a Child: Symbols in Kapsiki Birth Rituals.' (secondary)
• Kapsiki religion, unusually for the region, has no cult of named ancestors and is organised instead around this relational, individual-centred deity.: van Beek, Walter E. A. 2012. The Dancing Dead. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (secondary)