The Earth is one of the two great cosmic powers of Talensi religion, complementary to Heaven above. Conceived as a living presence rather than mere ground, the Earth gives increase to crops and to the human community, guarantees oaths, and avenges bloodshed, incest, and other pollutions committed upon its surface. Its cult is administered by the earth-priest (tendaana), an office held by the autochthonous hill Talis who claim to have sprung from the soil itself; it is at earth-shrines and sacred groves that the Earth is approached with sacrifice. The great oracular and festival gods of the Tong Hills are all understood as powers of this same Earth localized in particular shrines.