ABSTRACT
Girls' puberty ceremony and the circumcision of boys are closely interwoven with a fertility and rain cult which, because of its association with sacred drums, one may call the drum cult. The sacred drum cult has many ramifications. Drums are of two types: the long cylindrical drum played with the hands as it lies on its side and the goma, a rounded drum with handles, played by means of a drumstick as it stands in an upright position. The sacred drums, played only on special ceremonial occasions and by men, not women, who are usually responsible for drumming, are looked upon as gods. The spring drumming was preceded by propitiation of the royal ancestors by means of a libation on their graves in Daja Forest, where the earlier chiefs lie buried. One of the most important activities of the vyali is the singing and drumming every morning and evening during the whole period of the initiation.
