as a whole. The mbatsav (people with tsav) perform rituals
to repair the land, but they may, through reckless human
emotions such as spite, envy, or fear, use their power (as may
any individual with tsav, acting alone) for antisocial and
deadly purposes that spoil the land. To call the mbatsav
witches is not accurate, even though they were labeled as
such in some of the early literature.
The postulated activities of the mbatsav, both for the
good of the community and for the evil purposes of some
individuals, are associated with certain rituals performed
with symbols called akombo. This ritual manipulation is
called repairing the akombo. Those aspects of the natural and
social world about which Tiv are most concerned are par-
celed out among named akombo, which exist as amulets, fig-
urines, pots, or plants. Each is associated with a disease (al-
though certain diseases are not associated with akombo
because the Tiv recognize that some diseases are merely con-
tagious). Each has its own ritual required to activate it or to
pacify it. Akombo, however, are not personalized and are not
spiritualized; they are certainly not gods. They work by
forces akin to what Westerners think of as laws of nature.
When Tiv become ill, they assume that an akombo is the
cause. That means either that some person of ill will who
grows tsav has ritually manipulated the akombo so that it
would seize a victim, or else that the victim or one of his or
her close kinsmen has performed an act that was precluded
by that akombo at the time of its creation (usually a common-
place and neutral act, although adultery and battery are pro-
hibited by one or more akombo). To determine just which
akombo is involved, Tiv consult diviners who throw chains
of snake bones and pods to determine which akombo have
been used to cause an illness or create social misfortune.
When the responsible akombo is revealed, the Tiv per-
form rituals to neutralize it. They must also remove the mal-
ice that activated it. The latter is achieved by a modest ritual
in which every person concerned takes a little water into his
or her mouth and spews it out in a spray, signifying that any
grudges are no longer effective. Medicines will work only
after the ill will is ritually removed and the akombo repaired.
The ritual for each akombo varies, but the climax of all is a
prayer that “evil descend and goodness ascend.” These rituals
are as much group therapy sessions as they are religious acts.
Tiv recognize two major categories of akombo. Small
akombo attack individuals and their farms; their repair de-
mands minor sacrificial animals, usually a chicken. A few
small akombo require special sacrificial animals such as turtles
or valuable ones such as goats or rams. Coins or other forms
of wealth can be added to a less valuable sacrificial animal
to make it taller and so serve as a more valuable one.
The great akombo, on the other hand, attack social
groups; they must be repaired either by the elders of the com-
munity acting by day, or by a secret group (the same people)
acting as the mbatsav by night.
At the end of any akombo ritual carried out by day, or
as the last act of any funeral, the Tiv prepare and break a
symbol called swem. Made in a potsherd from hearth ashes
and symbolic plants, it is held high, then smashed to earth.
The ashes, spreading on the breeze, mean that justice spreads
through the land and that swem will punish evildoers.
Most Tiv claim not to know the details of any akombo
or its ritual, and all deny knowing that the ritual was carried
out at night. But they never postulate that any part of it is
a mystery. Somebody knows. Tiv say “God knows” at funer-
als if they can find no other reason for the death. They mean
that they have not yet discovered the human motivation be-
hind the misfortune. But they do not question that the moti-
vation is there and that ultimately it will be detected and ei-
ther neutralized or punished.BIBLIOGRAPHY
Akiga (Benjamin Akighirga Sai). Akiga’s Story: The Tiv Tribe as
Seen by One of Its Members. 2d ed. Translated and annotated
by Rupert East. London, 1965. First edition (1939) contains
less material. This work is valuable for Akiga’s texts; East’s
analyses are outdated.
Bohannan, Laura, and Paul Bohannan. The Tiv of Central Nigeria.
Ethnographic Survey of Africa, Western Africa, part 8. Lon-
don, 1953. See particularly pages 81–93. This account is
brief, and its analysis varies somewhat from the one given in
this article, but it is not contradictory.
Bohannan, Paul, and Laura Bohannan. A Source Notebook on Tiv
Religion. 5 vols. New Haven, Conn., 1969. Field notes for
a book that was never written, this work contains a vast
amount of ethnographic information but is short on analysis.
Downes, Rupert M. Tiv Religion. Ibadan, Nigeria, 1971. Despite
its publication date, this study is about Tiv religion as Cap-
tain Downes found it in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
Downes was a distinguished colonial officer with three
months’ training in anthropology. His account contains in-
valuable information, but his analysis is shaky.
New Sources
Ahire, Philip Terdo. The Tiv in Contemporary Nigeria. Samaru
Zaria, Nigeria, 1993.
Bohannan, Paul. Justice and Judgment among the Tiv. Prospect
Heights, Ill., 1989.
Burfisher, Mary E. Sex Roles in the Nigerian Tiv Farm Household.
West Hartford, Conn., 1985.
Jibo, Mvendaga. Chieftaincy and Politics: The Tor Tiv in the Poli-
tics and Administration of Tivland. New York, 2001.
Makar, Tesemchi. The History of Political Change among the Tiv
in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Enugu, Nigeria, 1994.
Wegh, Shagbaor F. Between Continuity and Change: Tiv Concept
of Traditional and Modernity. Lagos, Nigeria, 1998.
PAUL BOHANNAN (1987)
Revised BibliographyTJURUNGAS. Originally an Aranda word referring to
a particular type of secret-sacred object (a stone board bear-
ing engraved designs), the term tjurunga has now become ge-TJURUNGAS 9211