ABSTRACT
Umor, the largest of the five Yakö villages, was in the thirties already a very largely closely settled community which exploited the surrounding forest area by agriculture, collecting, and, formerly, substantial hunting. A salient feature of Yakö ritual was the juxtaposition without conceptual integration of distinct rites and of the mystical forces that were posited in different contexts. Thus, firstly, in the context of the village as a whole, seasonal rites were centred on the invocation of the tutelary ase spirits of the dispersed matriclans. Ritual actions involving diagnosis and sacrifice, invocation, or control of spiritual beings, went on unceasingly in Umor. The social contexts of witchcraft fears, rumours, and accusations in Umor also conformed to patterns which have been well analysed for a number of other societies. For they were linked to resentments and jealousies among persons who were associated in small groups but also had competitive or conflicting interests which engendered fears of surreptitious hostile intent.
