ABSTRACT
This chapter describes myths, ritual, and sacred places and objects, and discussing the relations of these categories to social institutions. In an unsophisticated society such as the Sonjo, the question of the matter-of-fact or historical truth of the myths does not arise. Even those few Sonjo, Lutheran converts, who challenge the myths, argue not that they are untrue but that they are irrelevant; from the newly acquired Christian viewpoint, the myths lose their significance. Religious belief, in this sense, does not have the connotation of assured knowledge of ascertained or probable facts. Sonjo beliefs are mainly concerned with a supernatural being called Khambageu, with his history, his nature, and his relations with the Sonjo. The sun plays an important role in Sonjo religion, though it is overshadowed by the dominant figure of Khambageu. The evidence of mythology suggests that the sun formerly occupied a more central position in the religion.
