Book
The Great Father and the Danger: religious cults, material forces, and collective fantasies in the world of the Surinamese Maroons
KITLV Press • Leiden, The Netherlands • Published In 1988 • Pages: xiv, 451
By: Thoden van Velzen, H. U. E., Wetering, Wilhelmina van.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This is a fascinating account of High God cults and associated religious movements among the Ndyuka from the later half of the nineteenth century to the late 1980s. Ndyuka religion is organized around four separate spiritual worlds of ancestors (YOOKA), and the spirits of water (VODU), forest (AMPUKU) and sky (KUMANTI). Each realm is associated with its own spirit medium cults. In addition there are High Gods, which played an important role in shaping a common Ndyuka identity. At the end of the nineteenth century, the Ndyukas became involved in the coastal economy, first as lumberers and later as boatsmen for gold miners. A witch-hunt movement underscored the profound changes in the social and economic institutions of the Ndyuka that occured at this time. Consolidation and control of the anti-witch cult of the High God GAAN GADU by the OTOO clan, prompted counter religious movements by spirit mediums from other clans, centered on other High Gods, such as NA OGII, God of the Forest and Lord of the River, also known as The Danger. The authors tell the story of the different cult leaders and the rise and fall of their movements.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Adjustment processes
- Clans
- Sorcery
- Mythology
- Spirits and gods
- Sacred objects and places
- Revelation and divination
- Magicians and diviners
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Ndyuka
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 1999
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- South America
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Amazon and Orinoco
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnographer
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Ian Skoggard ; 1997
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1961-1978
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1760-1988
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Suriname and French Guiana
- NotesAdditional notes
- H. U. E. Thoden van Velzen and W. van Wetering
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 433-443) and index
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 88202177
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Djuka people