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effigy is gone, is considered a period of interregnum. It is always represented
as a time of chaos and disorder, a “year of fear.” According to P. P. Howell and
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W. P. G. Thomson, who wrote the most detailed account of the rituals, mes-
sengers send out word that, “There is no land—the Shilluk country has ceased
to be” (1946: 18). Others speak of the land as “spoiled” or “ruined,” the same
language used in Dinka and Nuer songs to describe the state of the world since
the separation of heaven and earth (P. P. Howell 1952a: 159–60). At any rate, it
is clear that with the rupture in the center, the image of perfection on earth and
thus guarantor of the kingdom, everything is thrown into disarray. During this
time, all important matters are put on hold, other than the frantic politicking
surrounding the election of the new reth. There were usually at least a dozen
potential candidates. Settlement chiefs lobbied for their favorites, princesses
offered bribes, royals conspired and plotted, and there was a real fear that eve-
rything would descend into civil war. As the chief of Debalo explained in 1975:
It is the period when we fear each other. I fear you and you fear me. If we meet
away from the village, we can kill each other and no one will prevent us. So the
meaning of wang yomo [year of fear] is that we are all afraid and keep to our own
homes, because there is no king. (Singer in Schnepel 1988: 443)
This sounds very much like a Hobbesian war of all against all. Still, when the
chief suggests that the chaos is the result of the mere absence of the king’s pow-
er to impose justice, one must bear in mind that this is a local official who grew
up in a time of strong state authority, during which the reth was subordinated
to, but also supported by, Sudanese police. In earlier centuries, as we’ve seen,
the reth did not play this role. Rather, it would seem that the interregnum was
the time when royal politics—ordinarily kept at a safe distance from ordinary
people’s lives—really did spill over into society as a whole, and that, as a result,
anyone became a potential enemy.
Traditionally, the interregnum lasted roughly a year, and ended during the
“cool months” after the harvest in January and February, when the new election
would be held so that the reth could be installed. It was considered important
the installation be completed in time to allow the new reth to preside over rain-
making ceremonies in April.
Neither was the election itself, conducted by twenty major chiefs or Jagos,
presided over by the chief of Debalo, definitive. As Schnepel (1988: 444) notes,
the college of electors did not so much select the king as identify the candidate
the chiefs felt most likely to be able to successfully endure the series of tests
and crises that make up the ritual. Every step was a kind of ordeal and, thus,
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109
another judgment. Candidates often feared assassination at critical points of
the ceremony; it was said if they were so much as injured in the course of them,
they would be declared unfit and disqualified. (For commoner participants, the
rituals were also tinged with fear, but at the same time, enormously entertain-
ing. The effigies of Nyikang and Dak, according to most sources, were seen as
particularly amusing.)
Let me lay out the events, in abbreviated form, in roughly their order of
occurrence.40
Once the electoral college, presided over by chiefs of the northern and
southern halves of the country, had reached a decision, word was sent to the
prince, who could be expected to be lingering nearby:
The method of summoning the reth was interesting. . . . The chief of Gol
Nyikang41 sent his son by night to get him. Whether or not there was a mock
fight between the selected candidate and the messengers I do not know, but the
traditional form of the words announcing the choice was told to me. It is an
interesting example of Shilluk “understatement” when talking of the reth—“You
are our Dinka slave, we want to kill you” which means, “You are our chosen reth,
we want to install you in Fashoda.” (Thomson 1948: 154)
(Only at this point is it possible to finally proceed with the final burial of the old
king and the initiation of his shrine—this, unlike the election, which is primar-
ily an affair of commoners, is presided over strictly by royals.42)
40. Schnepel (1988) provides the best published blow-by-blow summary. What follows
is drawn from my own reading of the standard primary sources (Munro 1918;
Oyler 1918b; Hofmayr 1925; P. P. Howell and Thomson 1946; Thomson 1948; P. P.
Howell 1952a, 1952b, 1953a; Anon. 1956; but also Riad 1959, which adds some
telling details). All these seem to be derived from three ceremonies: the installations
of Fafiti (1917), Anei (1944), and Dak (1946).
41. The name given the northern half of the country during the ritual, the south being
Ghol Dhiang. It is interesting of course that the northern half should be named
after Nyikang, since this is the portion of the country Nyikang is said not to have
conquered, but it is also where his effigy normally resides.
42. There is some confusion over when this ceremony takes place. Schnepel (1988)
follows Howell and Thomson (1946) in placing it immediately after the election,
but Riad (1959: 182) suggests the latter were describing an exceptional circumstance
and that the funeral normally occurred well after the new reth’s installation.
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The candidate-elect is now summoned, shaved and washed by Ororo wom-
en, and placed in seclusion. Immediately thereafter, select detachments of men
from the northern and southern halves of the country set out on expeditions to
acquire materials needed in the ritual, and, particularly, with which to remake
the effigy of Nyikang.
This effigy is so important, and so famous, that it is fitting to offer a full
description. Actually, Nyikang’s effigy is one of three: in addition to his, there
is also an effigy of his rambunctious son Dak, and, finally, one of his older, but
timid, son Cal. The first two almost always appear together; the effigy of Cal is
much less important, only appearing at the very last day of the ceremony. The
body of Nyikang’s effigy consists of a five-and-half-foot trunk of ambatch wood,
adorned with cloth and bamboo, and topped with a crown of ostrich feathers.
Dak is similar in composition but his body is much smaller; however, unlike
Nyikang, his effigy is normally carried atop an eight-foot-tall bamboo pole.
(The effigy of Cal consists primarily of rope.) Ordinarily, all three are kept in
Nyikang’s most famous shrine in the village of Akurwa—said to be the very
place where Nyikang vanished into the whirlwind. Their traditional keepers are
a clan called Kwa Nyikwom (“Children of the Stool”), inhabitants of the place:
These effigies are not merely symbols. They may “become active” at any time, and
when active they are Nyikang and Dak. The effigy of Nyikang is rarely taken on a
journey in normal times, though it is often brought out to dance dur
ing religious
festivals at Akurwa itself. The effigy of Dak makes periodical excursions through
the country. Both effigies have an important part to play in the ceremonies of
installation. The soul of Nyikang is manifest in the effigy for the occasion, and he
must march from Akurwa to Fashoda to test the qualities of the new successor
and to install him in the capital. (P. P. Howell and Thomson 1946: 40)
Before this can be done, however, the effigy of Nyikang—destroyed after the death
of the former reth—has to be entirely recreated, and that of Dak, refurbished.
All the expeditions that set out of the country to gather materials are organ-
ized like war parties, and some of them—such as those sent into the “raiding
country” to acquire ivory, silver, and cloth—original y were expected to acquire
them by ambushing vil ages or caravans. In more recent times, those sent out
have been obliged instead to buy them in markets to the north of Shil ukland
(P. P. Howel n.d.: SAD 69/2/1–13). However, whether they were sent outside
the country to hunt ostriches or antelopes, or to gather rope or bamboo, al these
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111
parties are clearly seen as seizing goods by force, and little distinction is made
between Shilluk and foreigners, since along the way “they are given, or take, what
they want from Shilluk as they pass” (P. P. Howel and Thomson 1946: 38).43
All of these expeditions also seem to be under the broad aegis of Dak, whose
effigy remains in the temple during the whole of the interregnum, except when
leading occasional expeditions outside.44 The “raiding country” to the north of
Shillukland is seen as his particular domain.
The most important of these expeditions by far is the one dispatched to
find the new body of Nyikang. It is led by the effigy of Dak, accompanied by
his keepers from among the Children of the Stool, along with some men from
the settlement of Mwuomo in the far north of the Shilluk country, who act as
divers. After sacrificing a cow so that its blood runs into the river, they set out
from Akurwa in canoes to an island in the midst of the “raiding country” called
“the island of Nyikang.” A drum is beaten; Dak scours the waters of the Nile;
when a white bird appears to indicate the right spot, ornaments are cast into the
water as an offering, along with a sacrificial ram, and a diver descends to search
for an ambatch trunk of roughly the right size to make the new body of Nyikang
(P. P. Howell 1953a: 194). If he finds one, the body is wrapped in a white cloth
and carried back to Akurwa, where both Nyikang and Dak are outfitted with
their newly acquired cloth, feathers, and bamboo. But luck was not guaranteed.
Riad’s informants emphasized that Nyikang himself has specifically instructed
his descendants to observe this custom as an “ordeal,” to test the reth-elect,
since, although the latter does not participate in the ceremony, Nyikang will not
appear if he disapproves of the electors’ choice. In fact, they emphasized that if
the trunk could not be found, the entire ceremony would have to be conducted
again, starting from Akurwa, and that after ten failures, the reth-elect would be
killed and another candidate chosen in his place (Riad 1959: 189–90)—though,
as with most of the dire warnings of the ceremony’s dangers, no one could re-
member a specific occasion when anything like this had actually occurred.
43. The Ororo who carry the king’s skeleton to its final resting place have a similar right
to “seize small gifts and ransom from those unfortunate enough to cross their path”
(P. P. Howell 1952a: 160) and even those villages preparing gear for the ritual can
do the same from anyone passing by at the time (Anon. 1956: 99). But, as we’ll see,
it is the effigies of Nyikang and Dak especially who are famous for this sort of thing.
44. For example, two months before the ceremonies begin, the effigy of Dak presides
over an expedition to Fanyikang to obtain certain sacred ropes (P. P. Howell and
Thomson 1946: 38).
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Once Nyikang has been brought to life again in the form of an effigy, he and
Dak march to the northern border of the country and begin to assemble an army,
drawn from the men of the northern half. It is said that they retrace the steps of
his original conquest of the country. The effigies are carried, and surrounded, by
the Children of the Stool, many armed with whips to frighten away those who
come too close, followed by a retinue carrying his drums, pots, shields, spears,
and bed. No one is allowed to carry weapons in the effigies’ presence, so when
they stay overnight at village shrines, their hosts, who would ordinarily be carry-
ing spears, carry millet stalks instead. During this time, Nyikang usually retires,
and Dak comes out to dance with, and bless, the assembled crowds. Everyone
comes out to see the show, and to ask for cattle, sheep, spears, and so on. But
they also hide their chickens:
It is usual for gifts of a sheep or a goat to be presented or exacted by Nyikang, and
it was noticeable how all small stock or fowl were either shut up or driven away
from the vicinity of Nyikang, for Nyikang has the right to anything he fancies.
As Nyikang proceeds with Dak his son beside him, the escort chants the songs
of Nyikang and Dak recounting their exploits of conquest. From time to time
Nyikang turns round and dances back as if to threaten those following. When
he does this, Dak rushes ahead, carried in a charging position, his body held
horizontally pointed like a spear . . . . (P. P. Howell and Thomson 1946: 41–42)
Occasionally, though things could also get out of hand:
It is accepted custom among the Shilluk that Nyikang and his followers may
seize cattle, sheep or goats which cross their path (most Shilluk are wise enough
to keep them out of the way) or to demand them as offerings together with
other smaller gifts from the occupants of the villages through which they pass.
This licensed plundering, which is often abused beyond the bounds of piety by
Nyikang’s retinue, is treated by the Shilluk with admirable tolerance . . . . At one
point on the march at Moro, however, their demands were thought to be exces-
sive and were resisted, a demonstration which nearly ended in armed conflict and
which delayed the party for a while. (P. P. Howell 1953a: 195)
At the same time, the whole procedure is considered something of a farce. How-
ell remarks that “the effigies are treated by the Shilluk with a mixture of hilarity
and dread: mixed emotions that are always apparent” (ibid.: 192).
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113
It’s clear enough what’s happening. The effigies, assembled from pieces
drawn from outside the country, descend on Shillukland like an alien, preda-
tory force. On one level, what they are doing is all in good fun; on another, they
represent forces that are quite real, and the consequences are potentially serious.
Nyikang and Dak proceed from settlement to settlement, gathering their
forces, retracing, it is said, their original path of conquest. Often members of
new communities wi
ll at first oppose them, then, energized, rally to their side.
Finally, they approach Fashoda.
The king has all this time been in seclusion in the capital, but on hearing
of Nyikang’s passage through Golbainy, the capital of the northern half of the
country, he flees at night to take refuge in Debalo, the capital of the southern
half. During that night, all fires are put out in both villages. The chief of Debalo
challenges the reth-elect, asking his business. He replies, “I am the man sent by
God to rule the land of the Shilluk” (Hofmayr 1925: 145). Unimpressed, the
chief has his men try to block his party from entering, leading to mock bat-
tles, where, after being repelled three times, the reth-elect finally enters. At this
point the fires are relit, using fire-sticks. According to Riad, three are lit in front
of the king’s hut: one from the royal family, one from the Ororo, and one from
the people. “These fires, one of the symbols of royalty, are never put out as long
as the king lives, and are transported to Fashoda when the king moves to the
capital” (Riad 1959: 190).45
Once in Debalo, the reth-elect gathers his own followers. At some times, he
is surrounded by men seeking forgiveness for sexual misdemeanors: he grants
this in exchange for gifts of sheep and goats. At others, he is himself treated
“like a small boy,” belittled and humiliated by the chief, made to sleep in a
rude hut and to herd sheep or cattle. He is formally betrothed to an eight- to
ten-year-old girl, called the nyakwer or “girl of the ceremonies,” who will be
his almost constant companion from them on. Gradually, the southern chiefs
all arrive with their warriors, to match Nyikang’s army of the north. Both sides
45. Actually, Riad claims these fires are traditionally lit at the same time as the water
ordeal—but in order to make the claim, he has to also argue that in former times,
the king used to move back and forth between Fashoda and Debalo during his
seclusion. Whether or not this is the case, the parallel that he or more likely his
informants are trying to draw here—between water in the north and fire in the
south—is significant. Charles Seligman (1934: 9) adds that one of the three fires is
transported to Fashoda as the “life token” of the king.
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