idea is cattle exchange, but this is not the sum
total of it; the cattle exchange is made possible
and is activated by the religious beliefs the
people hold about the continuity of the patrilin-
eage and matrilineage.
In Nuer initation rites, the person receives six
parallel horizontal scars across the forehead with
corresponding dips in the lines above the nose.
These facial markings, or scarifications as they
are often called, are referred to asgaar. Although
the parallel lines are the most commonly used
markings, it is possible to discover among some
people gaar that are dotted lines, especially
among the Bul Nuer, a branch of the Nuer
people. One receives the gaar as an indication
that adulthood is now possible. Without gaar the
person remains a child.
Once a person is initiated into adulthood, the
responsibility for maintaining the traditions is
even greater. Inasmuch as all ideas, interests, and
objectives are tied to the cattle, one’s prestige is
also in cattle. The Nuer will defend his cattle at
the risk of losing his life. In any event, wars
between neighbors are not so much wars for land
or people, but for cattle. One can find Nuer who
would rather be greeted by the names of their
favorite cattle than by their own birth names.
Indeed, parents might give their children the
names of their favorite oxen or cows. With cattle
being so important in the religious construction of
the Nuer, it appears that every conversation is ulti-
mately a conversation about cattle.
Each Nuer community is further divided by sub-
divisions based on kinship. The lineage is a funda-
mental aspect of political harmony and order. One
cannot think of a Nuer community that is not based
on some aspect of the territorial and lineage group-
ings that control disputes over land and cattle.
Although the principal cultural organizer
among the Nuer is cattle, they are also agricultur-
alists and supplement their diet of beef with
mango, corn, injera (a sort of bread), and kop (a
type of pasta). Cattle are not to be considered just
for food, although the people do eat beef on
special occasions and do drink milk. The cattle
are more like gold, used for their exchange value.
Sacrifices always involve meat, and thereby the
Nuer express the belief that the most valuable
thing they possess, cattle, should be offered to the
deity.
Africans have had a tradition of recognizing
cattle as sacred for a long time. The Hapi-Ankh
or Apis was one of the most sacred of animals
in ancient Egypt. It generated lots of discussion
in the ancient world because of the marks by
which it was identified, its blackness, its man-
ner of conception from the heavens, and the
meaning that was to be made of its actions.
Like the ancient Egyptians, who lived along the
same river, the Nuer identified their cattle by
the coloring and spotting patterns on their
coats. Twelve words were used to identify the
possible patterns of the cattle groups among the
Nuer. Although cattle are owned and herded by
men, they are milked by women and small
children. Like the ancient Egyptians, the Nuer
young man respects the ritual bull given to him
at initiation. Furthermore, he composes songs to
honor the bull, as well as to show his affection
and gratitude. Like the Apis bull of ancient
Egypt, the bull of the Nuer has a special place in
the heart of the family.
Nuer believe in the continuity of community
through contact with the ancestors. This is artic-
ulated in their belief that cows are devoted to the
ghosts of their previous owners and any spirits
that may have possessed them during their lives.
To establish contact with the ancestors, the Nuer
often spread ashes on the skin of the cattle as a
way to contact the ancestral spirits. If a cere-
mony is held, the people also sacrifice a cow.
Kwoth (sometimes Kuoth) is the Supreme Being,
and the Nuer people believe that there are mani-
festations of Kwoth in the actions of ancestors
who are reached by sacrifice. These manifesta-
tions are revealed to healers, diviners, and other
spiritually attuned people. There are no hierar-
chies of religion, no place for the afterlife, only
the living spirits of the Dead who influence the
lives of the living.Molefi Kete AsanteSeealsoInitiationFurther ReadingsEvans-Pritchard, E. E. (1940).The Nuer:A Description
of the Modes of Livelihood and Political Institutions
of a Nilotic People. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press.Nuer 461