. The Baganda . ear to have been at one time humanbeings, noted for their skill and bravery, who were after-wards deified by the people and invested with supernaturalpowers. There were, however, also animal- and reptile-godsin addition to the deified human beings; and, moreover,certain trees and stones were regarded with veneration, andbelieved to possess occult power. The second class of religious objects were Fetiches which. they were made by men, were firmly believed topossess supernatural powers for averting evil and bringinggood to their fortunate owner. In many cases they
. The Baganda . ear to have been at one time humanbeings, noted for their skill and bravery, who were after-wards deified by the people and invested with supernaturalpowers. There were, however, also animal- and reptile-godsin addition to the deified human beings; and, moreover,certain trees and stones were regarded with veneration, andbelieved to possess occult power. The second class of religious objects were Fetiches which. they were made by men, were firmly believed topossess supernatural powers for averting evil and bringinggood to their fortunate owner. In many cases they werebelieved to have ghosts attached to them, and also to be ableto hear and answer supplications in the most practical of them had their temples with mediums and priests,and were taken periodically to the King. These fetiches werethe nearest approach to idols, and may possibly have been 272 THE BAGANDA CHAP. idols in their earliest form ; apart from these fetiches idolswere unknown to the Bae^ FIG. 42.—SACREU ROCK. Amulets. The third class of religious objects were the were also manufactured objects, but they receivedneither offerings nor supplications ; they were not held inthe same veneration as the fetiches ; still they were IX RELIGION 273 supposed to possess healing virtues, and various kinds ofdiseases were thought to be warded off by them. Eachamulet was thought to possess one virtue only; thus it mightprotect its owner against snake-bites or against variouskinds of disease ; or, again, it might possess healing propertiesthe benefit of which was to be obtained either by outwardapplication or by internal administration. A common defini-tion of fetiches and amulets, given by the people, was thatthe amulet was made of wood, and the fetich was com-posite. This may be taken to be true as a general rule,though there were exceptions to it. The amulets were madefrom several kinds of wood and from roots, and sometimesfrom herbs known to the med
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidbaganda00joh, bookyear1911
