This day will specially be dedicated to the
individual tuuru and probably to the ndeup. The holding of the ndeup,
the rite of ownership by the geniuses, is vague as far as it is held if
and only if there are patients.
Individual Tuuru
The individual tuuru is a rite that the
individual makes towards his rab, the genius protector of his family.
The rite of this tuuru is made on the sacred altar (khamb),
place of sacrifice and house of the rab. The khamb is constituted of a
canary filled with water and roots, with one or several pestles fixed
in the ground and sometimes of a stone resulting from the sea, from the
shape and from the variable dimension. The individual comes towards the
rab to ask his help for personal or therapeutic needs. He also tries to
avoid his anger and to arouse his benevolence. During the rite, it is
killed either an ox a goat or a chicken. The blood of the animal is
poured on the altar. it is also offered to the genius millet dough and
milk poured on the sacred altars.
Ndeup
"Ndeup" is a therapeutic practice organized if a
person is possessed by a rab of her/his ancestors, by a
wild rab or a not identified, disruptive and dangerous rab. The wild rabs are spirits living
previously in trees. The person having disrupted this balance by
destroying the flora without rite, they scattered almost everywhere and
are in search of a place to live, of a pact, etc. During the ceremony,
it is sacrificed either an ox, a goat or a chicken.
Ndeup is organized by an exorcizer who
is a person enjoying traditional legacies, supernatural powers allowing
him/her to communicate with the geniuses of good or evil. During the
day of the ceremony, he/she is dressed in traditional suits with
visible amulets. This ceremony is accompanied with songs and
traditional dances. It is done in seven phases.
• The measures and the appointment of the rab
The ndeupkat measures all the
members of the patient so as to control and treat him/her. The name of
the rab can be revealed by the very patient in a second
state at any moment of the ceremony and often further to a dream, a
dance, a trance, etc.
• The symbolic burial
The patient extends over the animal of sacrifice which is lashed and
spread on the right-hand side and both are covered with coloured grass
skirts. The symbolic burial enables the transfer of the rab of the sick towards the animal. The patient jumps up then outside
tissues expressing so his revival and his liberation.
• The sacrifice
By the sacrifice, the animal takes care of the disease. The patient has
to live body against body, the last starts of the animal. This moment
concretizes the alliance and the exchange with the rab which
will be achieved by the construction of the domestic altar.
• The construction of the domestic altar
It enables the fixation of the rab in a foundation
where he will be recognized and accessible to the exchanges. It is
poured in holes (khambs) of roots, parts of the
sacrificed animal milk and blood. This laying of bowls is done in
various parts of the "house" of the rab.
• The public meetings of dance and possessin
The public dances show the return in the community of the patient being
get rid of negative valencies of his/her confusion.
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