Zār or Zaar (زار) is a pagan religious custom, apparently originating in central Ethiopia during the eighteenth century, later spreading throughout East and North Africa.^[1] Zār custom involves the possession of an individual (usually female) by a spirit. It is also practiced in Egypt, southern Iran^[2] and elsewhere in the Middle East.

A featured musical instrument in the Zār ritual is the tanbura, a six-string lyre (6-stringed "bowl-lyre"^[3]), which, like the Zār practice itself, exists in various forms in an area stretching from East Africa to the Arabian Peninsula.^[4] Other instruments include the mangour, a leather belt sewn with many goat hooves, and various percussion instruments.^[4]

The Zaar cult served as a refuge for women and effeminate men in conservative, Muslim-dominated Sudan.^[1]

Contents 1 varieties of Zār cults in Sudan 2 Ĥēṭ (spirit-modalities)in Ṭumbura 3 References 4 Notes 5 See also 6 Further reading 7 External links

[edit] varieties of Zār cults in Sudan

Among extant varieties of Zār cults are "zār Sawāknī (the zār from the area of Sawākin ["Dalūka, that is, zār Sawāknī"^[5]]) and zār Nyamānyam {cf. /NYAMe/ ('Friend'), god of the Akan} (the zār of the Azande)"^[6] : "the Nyam-Nyam have zār nugāra, with Babīnga and Nakūrma." "Babīnga and Nakūrma ... are recognized as Azande ancestral spirits." Nugāra (big drum) = "nuqara ... of the Dega tribe ... was originally from Wau."^[7] (Wau is in Equatoria province of Sudan.) "Besides the nugāra of the Azande, other zār cults mentioned were those of the Fartīt [Fartīt peoples include "the Karra, Gula, Feroge, and Surro"^[8]], the Shilluk, and the Dinka peoples and the dinia Nuba cult”.^[9]

[edit] Ĥēṭ (spirit-modalities)in Ṭumbura

Ĥēṭ is the term of for "possessing-spirit" (also known as "spirit-modality"). "The ṭumbura spirit modalities that most present-day groups celebrate are the following ones : Nuba, Banda, Gumuz, Sawākiniyya, Lambūnāt, Bābūrāt, Bāshawāt, Khawājāt".^[10] Upon becoming possessed by a ĥēṭ (literally 'thread'^[11]), a devotee will don the appropriate costume. Some of these ĥēṭ costumes are :-

• Nuba -- "a 'traditional' loincloth"^[12]
• Banda -- "a straw loincloth"^[13]
• Bāśawāt -- "a red fez"^[14]
• Ĥawājāt -- "pith-helmet, khaki shorts"^[15]

[edit] References

G. P. Makris : Changing Masters : Spirit Possession and Identity Construction among Slave Descendants and Other Subordinates in the Sudan. Northwestern University Press, Evanston, 2000. ISBN 0-8101-1698-7

[edit] Notes

[edit] See also

• Mazaher
• Fann at-Tanbura

[edit] Further reading

• Fakhouri, Hani. "The Zar Cult in an Egyptian Village." Anthropological Quarterly, vol. 41, no. 2 (April 1968), pp. 49-56.
• Seligmann, Brenda Z. "On the Origin of the Egyptian Zar." Folklore, vol. 25, no. 3 (September 30, 1914), pp. 300-323.

[edit] External links

• The zar and the tumbura cults
• Changing_Masters (Ṭumbura in Sudan), part I
• Changing_Masters (Ṭumbura in Sudan), parts II-III

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