The Nuer Tribe-"Nei Ti Naath"

Ownership of these natural re reservoirs ar controlled by lineage and clan affiliation (16).

The importance of cattle to the Nuer can be sh protest in the way each soul calls himself. The men take on the name that refers to the form and colourize of their favorite oxen (18). Women atomic number 18 similarly called by the scathe which refer to the cows that they take out. Young boys often are called by the name given to the bull-calf born by the cow he and his mother milk (18). Cattle are a source of wealth and the means which a man establishes contact with ghosts and hard liquor (18). A person communes with the spirits and ghosts by rubbing ashes along the back of the animal dedicated to that spirit. A second method acting of communicating with the dead and spirits is by sacrifice. The Nuer ceremonies almost everlastingly include a sacrificial ram, he-goat, or ox.

The Nuer's cattle herds were decrease at the time of the writing of the book because of disease. Reference is make to the fact that as the herds become less numerous the Nuer are being forced by economic necessity to sustain more than foodstuffs for their own survival. Rinderpest outbreaks among the cattle were said to be devastating. External pressure has slowed the warlike Nuer from heavily raiding the more prosperous Dinka to replace the dead cattle (20). Marriage and epidemics forbear the spread of wealth fairly even among the members of a tribe. Whenever a man acquires much wealth, the

ir is a relative which needs to marry and a bride impairment to be raised.

The main diet of the Nuer consists of milk and millet. The supply of millet full-grown very seldom lasts by means ofout the year. When it becomes scarce, the family entrust subsist on milk and fish. A family can subsist on the milk of a single cow (21). Excess milk is do into cheese.

At times when the milk supply is low, the elders deny themselves milk in order for the children to drink enough for good health. If the family does not have a lactating cow a kinsman will usually provide one or neighbors will serve up the family's children. Meat is eaten when an animal dies a natural death or on occasions when an animal is slaughtered for ritual purposes. Unless the occasion is deemed worthy, sheep or goats are the usual sacrifice (26).

The age-set a male belongs to defines his location in the community. All males undergo a rite of course from boyhood to manhood which entails the sever cutting of the forehead to the bone. The males who go through the operation together and for several year in a row form an age set (252). The age sets for the Nuer are primarily a social function not a warrior classification.

Tribes are divided into sections. Each section functions in many an(prenominal) ways like a tribe in its own right. Each section has its own name and territory (142). tribal sections are crystallized
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