The Mursi tribe is widely popular for their lip plates,
however this has nothing to with their religious beliefs. Over centuries this
unique group has concocted a mixture of animism; the belief that all objects
have spirits, and Muslim beliefs; that spirits can manifest in the form of
certain objects or animals with supernatural powers. Contact with Christian
missionaries has done little to impact their beliefs, however their mixture of
monotheism and animism has transitioned their religion to polytheistic. They
carry strong beliefs that illnesses are caused by bad interactions with their
social and natural environments, not to say that believe in sin, but their
philosophy does support the modern idea of “everything happens for a reason.”
As with most religion, they believe in a greater force than
themselves. In their world, this greater force is called Tumwi and lives in the sky. Tumwi
sometimes manifests itself as “ahi a
tumwin,” a thing in the sky such as a rainbow or a bird. Their religious
belief system has a hierarchy where priests, or Kômoru, are at the top. This is a position that can only be
obtained by inheritance, so Kômoru
will continue to come from the same couple of families forever. They can’t even
leave Mursiland or their local group, referred to as bhruan, which preserves their lineage and connection with Tumwi. Current priests in office are
Dola in Mursiland, Ulikoro Bule in the south, and Garikuli, and Bumai.
The elite group is known as Kômorte; the priestly clan. The priests act as intercessors between
the people and Tumwi, and conduct
public rituals to bring about rain, protection of the tribe, and fertility for
the soil, people, and cattle. Under the Kômoru
are individuals who have a reputation for specific healings, called nana and the ngerre. Some nanas, the
male healers, can heal open wounds act as surgeons to heal those hurt in battle
or by wild animals. But the ngerre,
the woman healers also known as the women of Tumwi, are more popular. People visit them when they have an
internal illness. The way of the ngerre
is to pat and “shhh,” to literally pull the sickness out of the body. This
practice is known as leto.
Of course, natural remedies are used to heal since other
resources aren’t readily available. Medicines are limited to herbs. The ngerre are skilled at healing, they can
pick up a herb without looking at it and know what it is by the smell. Although
a visit to the ngerre is very common,
in order to be healed the sick must pay them. Beer, coffee, and cattle are some
of the common things given as payment. As you can see, healing and religion are
intertwined because if someone needs to get healed they go visit a priest or
lesser ritual family, e’wu. They
consider the internal illnesses afflictions associated with Tumwi.
Oxford Department of International Development
2006-2013 Religion and Healing. Electronic Document,
http://www.mursi.org/introducing-the-mursi/copy_of_duelling,
accessed May 27, 2015.
Hannelore Vandelbussche
2011 Before They Pass Away.
2011 Before They Pass Away.
My reaction to the most of the information I found wasn’t that of a culture shock. Based on what I’ve seen in past class settings, every time we learn about an indigenous nomadic group, I always see that they have similar beliefs no matter where they are located. Of course, I have completely different beliefs, but my philosophy is if you believe something, believe it completely. So even though I think animism is a strange belief system, I commend the Mursi for having something to follow.
ReplyDeleteIn all of this, I just see people trying to find a way to survive. When it comes down to it, people need religion because people like explanations. My explanation of where we all came from has to do with God, but this doesn’t mean that I judge them because they don’t have similar beliefs to mine. If I were to visit this tribe, I would never partake in their religious ceremonies and rituals. I don’t believe everything has a spirit or that a greater force would manifest itself in the way they say Tumwi does.
I actually really can’t fathom a life like that. Growing up I was taught that God in Heaven is my creator, and specific details following this outline. I don’t believe in inanimate objects having spirits, however, I do believe that evil spirits exist. I can imagine going on a mission trip to the Omo Valley and saying these things to the people just to be laughed at. To me, my religion makes sense, but to them it might sound crazy, and vice versa; to me, their religion sounds crazy while to them it makes perfect sense.
Furthermore, I can half relate to their healing process. I am Haitian American, born in Florida, but my parents and many of my family members were originally citizens of Haiti. In my culture, we tend to use herbs in teas to heal us instead of taking all these mass produced medications with multiple side effects. Also, when feeling sick I will pray to God, asking for healing. However, the part that I can’t relate to is the ngerres and nanas. In my culture they would equate to a witch doctor, which can be male or female but is usually male, and everyone knows not to mess with them because they can get really dangerous and wreak havoc on your life and anyone associated with you. So, to be honest, this portion of the research kind of scared me, even though in their culture, the healers seem harmless.