ABSTRACT
A proper ritual is thus needed to reconnect them and this is to take the form of a sacrifice, the first of the sacrifices from the title of the play. This initial sacrifice is of a strong black and white bull that has ancestral links with the king and his progenitors. The function of the youths and maidens, first checked to ensure their virginity and then washed or cleansed repeatedly to ensure their purity, is to present the sacrifice to the ancestors. The subliminal text queries whether the failed sacrifice was due to the absence of the ancestors, the failure of the diviner, or the fault of the king or his warriors. The word atonement suggests an act of expiation or reparation that will result in an at-one-ness or harmony between gods and man. More directly, sacrifice is called for and the analyst can be like the officiating priest whose role is to help connect the supplicant with the divinity.
