Priest of the DINKA

The men who lead the prayers are known as ‘masters of the fishing-spear’. They are the ones who use the sacred spears in killing the sacrifices. They speak the prayers. They preside at the rain-prayer ceremonies. They pray for victory before fighting. They settle quarrels and make peace between enemies. They are the ones who stand between men and the divinities. They do not use magic, but address their prayers to Nhialic and the spirits. [p. 23]
The well-being of the tribe depends upon the spear-masters and their vitality. They take certain of the vital organs from the animals which are sacrificed. In earlier times they may have consented to being buried alive when they felt themselves becoming weak through old age or illness, so that their heirs could take over their work.
The spear-masters watch over the well-being of the community. One of their main tasks is to pray at night in the cattle camps. They ask protection for their people and their herds. Here is a verse from a Dinka song in which a master of the fishing-spear says at night:

‘Let the cattle move, let the cattle move across the river,
Which becomes dry, which is not to be deep.
I have released the cattle (by prayer)’. [p. 23]

Dinka clans also recognize ‘cattle-chiefs’, but the masters of the fishing-spear are the most important men in the tribe. The office is a hereditary one. [p. 24]
Sometimes a spirit or divinity may take possession of an individual and speak through him or her. The Dinka believe that this has happened when the person concerned has fits of trembling and unconsciousness.
Such persons answer questions about sickness, and they give advice about lost cattle and other such matters.
The Dinka erect forked sticks in their homesteads or cattle camps, and place small offerings of flesh or of beer and milk near them. They place similar sticks in the homesteads of the ‘masters of the fishing-spear’. We have already referred to the clay-mounds associated with the spirits of important dead people.
There are also a number of buildings, like the cattle byres, which belong to the divinity Deng. They contain sacred spears and other objects. Dinka in special need visit such sanctuaries to offer sacrifice.

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