Note 57.3 — PSYCHE’S TASK

Incest supposed by the Dinkas to be punished with sterility. The Dinkas of the Upper Nile believe that incest angers the ancestral spirits (jok), who punish the girl by making her barren. Even should she marry, she will have no children until she has confessed her sin, and atonement has been made for it. Her lover must provide a bullock for sacrifice. His father kills the animal, and the girl’s father takes some of the contents of the large intestine and smears it on his daughter’s abdomen and on that of her guilty partner. Thus the taint of sin is removed, and the woman is rendered capable of bearing children.57.3 The Maloulekes and Hlengoues, two tribes of Southern Africa to the north of the Thonga, think that if a young man gets a girl, who is not his wife, with child, people will die in the village. Hence, when the girl’s pregnancy is discovered, the lover has to provide a girl by way of fine.57.4