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The Nandi: Their Language and Folk-Lore
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Historical SummaryThe Nandi, a non-Bantu East African tribe, have the singular practice of exposing their dead to be eaten by hyenas, thus incorporating them by a magical-eucharistic principle in that animal, which in this way becomes sacred and helpful:
The only animal that all Nandi, like most East African tribes, hold in respect or fear is the hyena, which animal was once aptly described by Sir A. Hardinge as the living mausoleum of their dead. It is true that the Nandi will kill or wound a hyena if it is on nobody’s land, but they
will not touch him if he prowls round their houses. . . . After a death has occurred the body is taken away at nightfall a few hundred yards to the west of the hut, towards the setting sun, and placed on the ground. . . . The body is visited on the second day after death to see if the hyenas have eaten it. If it is found that they have not been near the spot, a goat is killed and the meat is placed on and near the corpse to attract their attention. Except with the Tungo clan, the body is also turned over on the other side. Should the hyenas still not come it is understood that the deceased has been killed by witchcraft, and the relations proceed to a medicine man to ascertain who is responsible for the death.1
1Hollis, A.C.n/an/an/an/a, , 7, 70, 71 (Clarendon Press. By permission).
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Chicago:
"The Nandi: Their Language and Folk-Lore," The Nandi: Their Language and Folk-Lore in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. Thomas, William I. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937), Original Sources, accessed July 18, 2025, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=E55LILQDTCFP6LJ.
MLA:
. "The Nandi: Their Language and Folk-Lore." The Nandi: Their Language and Folk-Lore, in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, edited by Thomas, William I., New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937, Original Sources. 18 Jul. 2025. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=E55LILQDTCFP6LJ.
Harvard:
, 'The Nandi: Their Language and Folk-Lore' in The Nandi: Their Language and Folk-Lore. cited in 1937, Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. , McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York. Original Sources, retrieved 18 July 2025, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=E55LILQDTCFP6LJ.
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