CHAP. XVII - RELIGIOUS BELIEFS

Summary

Primitive condition of religion. Bagesu religion is in a primitive state. There are no permanent temples, nor are there any objects of veneration which represent gods, though there are fetishes and amulets. There are no priests, the medicine-men being the repositories of wisdom and skill, with the elders of the village, and acting as mediums for the gods. When occasion requires, a shrine, which is a rude hut, is built in the place the medicine-man indicates, and offerings according to his directions are made; but as soon as the cause of anxiety passes and the danger is gone, the shrine is neglected and soon falls into ruin, and the god is forgotten until a new cause of trouble necessitates building a new shrine.

Snake-worship. The people have great faith in snakeworship, the serpent being worshipped under the name of Mwanga and having a special hill to which the devotees resort. There is a particular medicine-man attached to this worship whose official title is Natnwangala, and he is the priest and medium of the deity. This god has power over disease, makes known the cause of sickness when an ordinary medicine-man has failed, and he also prescribes for the patient. Childless women seek his aid when all other efforts have failed to bring about the desired motherhood. In each case a suppliant takes an offering of a goat or, should the person be very poor, a fowl is accepted.