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Sisala Divination: The Mystic Tradition
Produced by Joseph Pia
Directed by Eugene L. Mendonsa, Joseph Pia, Kendall Wilcox
Screenplay by Jennifer Keys
Premiere Date: 1998
Length: 21 min.
 

Genre:   Film
Production Type:
Mormon Contributor(s)
Content Types:
Documentary Film
No Obvious Mormon Elements
Distribution Types:
Commercial Video (VHS/DVD)
Summary:
Sisala Divination: The Mystic Tradition was shot in 1998 among the Sisala of Northern Ghana. It shows three forms of divination as practiced by the Sisala people.

The form of divination indigenous to the Sisala is called vuguh and is a way of contacting the ancestral spirits to ascertain the cause and remedy for misfortunes that have befallen the consulting client and his family.

The other two forms of divination, fairy-calling and cowrie-throwing, are recent intrusive oracular methods of contacting the High God, Wia. In cowrie-throwing it is thought that God directly forms a pattern in the cowries that the diviner has tossed on the ground. He then reads the pattern and interprets it for the client.

In fairy-calling, the diviner calls the bush fairies who are thought to act as messengers from God. In the dead of night and in total darkness, it is thought that the fairies come to the diviner's call and answer the questions of the living.

These forms of divination have never been filmed before. This film is an excellent teaching tool for classes in anthropology, religion, African Studies and any class dealing with non-Western institutions.

Additional details at ldsvideo.com
http://www.ldsvideo.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=377

View BYU Library catalog record
http://catalog.lib.byu.edu/uhtbin/ckey-search/3181911

HBLL Call No: VC 5240
Film Editor: Jessica Proctor




Total Queries: 14. Total Execution Time: 0.029 sec.
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