ABSTRACT

The foregoing description of the organization of religion and medicine in Mende society would be incomplete without some detailed consideration of the secret societies. These institutions, as already indicated, are of primary importance in determining ritual behaviour and affecting social attitudes, because the sanctions in nearly every sphere of the common life derive from them. The principal societies involved, in addition to the Poro and the Sande, are the Humui, concerned with the general regulation of sexual conduct; and the Njayei, concerned with the cure of certain mental conditions and the propagation of agricultural fertility. The Wunde, concerned largely with military training, is popular among the Kpaa Mende, but appears to owe its origin mainly to the Timne neighbours of the latter. These societies are not exclusive, of course, to the Mende, but are shared widely, with the exception of the Wunde, with peoples in Liberia as well as with the adjacent Sherbro, Krim, Gola, etc.