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Volume 2 92 |
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A–Z |  |
SUDANESE SACRIFICIAL DANCE: PREPARING VICTIM FOR ITS DOOM
| To the accompaniment of sacred music the officiating priestess binds the sacrificial sheep which has been chosen as an offering to the river gods who, thus propitiated, will preserve the tribe from plagues and other evils. When all is in readiness, the natives gather round for the Daloukka, the sacrificial dance which is performed during the ceremony with all the frenzy of religious fervour |
FINAL STAGE: SACRIFICE COMPLETED AND THE GODS APPEASED
| Her efforts crowned with success, the veiled priestess, oblivious of her blood-stained raiment, seats herself on a carpet in close proximity to her victim. Her assistant standing near is holding in her hand a bowl containing the slaughtered animal's blood which, to the simple and unenlightened mind of these pagan people, represents the health and prosperity of the many members of the tribe |