Note 728 — Chapter XV · THE FIRE-DRILL

The distinction is made also by Mr. J. Irle. According to him, while the fire-sticks are called ozondume (plural of ondume), the sticks which represent the ancestors are called ozohongue and are made from the omuvapu bush. In every chief’s house there is a bundle of about twenty of these ancestral sticks. When a chief dies, the sticks are wrapped in a portion of the sacred bull (omusisi) which is slaughtered on this occasion, and a new stick is added to the bundle. At the same time Mr. Irle tells us that the fire-sticks (ozondume) also represent the ancestors and are made like them from the omuvapu bush. See J. Irle, Die Herero, pp. 77, 79.