ABSTRACT
The rituals of kinship express, first and foremost, the differentiation and the unity of agnatic lineages. In all the rituals members of a lineage act together as a distinct group, bound together by common 'blood' which is symbolized by the ikipiki medicine. A lineage includes the living and dead, who have communion together, sharing ikipiki medicine and food and beer, in most of the rituals of the cycle. Lineages are linked by marriage and kinship between them is established by the passage of cattle. The distinction and opposition of lineages is apparent in the ritual of puberty and marriage which expresses both hostility and conciliation. In any society the practical, intellectual, and emotional aspects are mutually dependent; the practical organization is dependent upon, and at the same time supports, an intellectual system, certain cosmological ideas, and attitudes. Among the Nyakyusa order is maintained partly by fear of supernatural sanctions.
