- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Translucent quartz 'female' rainstone with short cylindrical body, recut from a lip plug [RTS 18/8/2004].
- Long description
- Rainstone made of translucent clear coloured quartz with some internal flaws visible, and consisting of a circular, very slightly convex upper surface on a squat body with sides tapering out slightly to a very slightly convex underside. This looks to have been artificially shaped; according to the Seligmans it was probably made from a reused lip plug. It is nearly complete, but has some small chips to the upper and lower edges. There is currently no signs of a coloured surface pigment. It weighs 11.8 grams, is 19.7 mm long, 19.3 mm wide at the top, 21 by 20.1 mm across the base, and 15.2 mm tall [RTS 18/8/2004].
- Date / Period
- Date made: Before 1932
- Date collected
- By 1932
- Acquisition information
- Donated: 1946
- Materials and processes
- Material Quartz Stone, Process Carved, Process Recycled
- Dimensions
- Width 19.3 mm, Length 19.7 mm, Height 15.2 mm, Weight 11.8 g
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1946.8.100.1
- Research and responses
The Seligmans comment: "As for rainstones, these are in use among all Bari-speaking tribes of whose magico-religious practices we have any knowledge, whether on the right or the left bank of the river. They are also found among Lokoiya, Lango (of the Sudan), Acholi, Mari and Lugware ... [on the Bari rainmaking ceremony] Of the objects concerned in rain-making there can be no doubt that certain stones, generally of quartz, are the most important ... Of the attitude of the natives to the pieces of quartz which from now on we shall speak of as rainstones, we had an early opportunity of judging, when one of us showed a 'chief' and some old men of the Bekat clan the stones, said to be of Bari origin, which Mr Driberg had taken from the Lugbware some years previously. These were four pieces of worked quartz - old lip-plugs - of which drawings (actual size) are given in text-fig. 2 [Note that the stones illustrated include 1946.8.100.1-3]. The two conical stones were considered as male and the cylindrical as female, the larger of the latter being regarded as the most potent, and it was pointed out that when taken in the hand and held close to the ear it 'called out'. This stone, though not transparent, was clearer than the others, while the minute pits on the surface of the two male stones showed the remains of red paint. Although all four stones are evident artifacts, and three of them obvious lip-plugs, even if the fourth [= 1946.8.100.3] be too large for this purpose, not one of our informants considered them other than natural ... " (C.S. & B.Z. Seligman, 1928, "The Bari", JRAI 58, 412, 463-4).
The use of rainstones by rainmakers in the Gondokoro district was also described by Cole: "[the rainmaker] next produces a pot, roughly made of clay, in which he keeps his rain-stones. These are stones which have been found upon the hills and are curious either for their sape or colour. I brought several of them to England, and some were found on examination to be pieces of rock crystal, aventurine and amethyst. The stones are then covered with water and the chief takes in his hand a peeled cane, which is split at the top, and with this he beckons the clouds towards him..." (W.E. Reymes Cole, 1910, "African Rain-making chiefs, the Gondokoro District, White Nile, Uganda", Man 10, p. 91). See also the discussion of the use and significance of rainstones in the southern Sudan in S. Simonse, 1992, Kings of Disaster, 292-301 [RTS 18/8/2004].
For an example of a pot used to hold rainstones by the Lotuko, see 1940.12.615.
The Lugbara are to be found in northwestern Uganda, the adjoining area of the Democratic Republic of Congo and in the west nile district. They relate culturally and linguistically to the Madi [RTS 6/6/2005].
- Associated publications
- C.S. & B.Z. Seligman, 1928, "The Bari", JRAI 58, 412, 463-4, illustrated at the bottom right corner of their figure 2 [partial copy in RDF file]. C. G. & B. Z. Seligman, 1932, "Pagan Tribes of the Nilotic Sudan", London, 1932, p. 232 ff, fig. 18.
Search terms: Religion, Religious Object