Pan Ariik Ngarbek Holy Shrines (Yiik) in Tonj: The Great Traditional Culture & Religious Centre That Has Lived for Centuries
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By Ariik Atekdit, Pankor, Lou Ariik
The great Pan Ariik Ngarbek shrines are a historical, cultural & religious symbols of the African Traditional respect to God and ancestors. Pan Ariik Ngarbek of the Pateek Clan in Lou Ariik Area have maintained a great spiritual & cultural Centre; which many people believed to be a sacred and religious, traditional ground located in Pankor village just northeast of Alabek town in Lou Ariik Area. Yet again there are several other Holy Shrines of different families, clans & sections across borders in Lou Ariik & beyond.
Lou Ariik in Tonj North County of Warrap State is a territory of one single community with many clans and sections connected to each other in their cultures and settlements. They are bordered to the north by Unity State’s Mayom County, Apuk Padoc to the east, Awan Parek to the south, Konggor to the west and Gogrial East (Apuk Giir) to the northwest.
What are the holy shrines?
A Dinka spiritual leader or master is like a Christian priest who presides over religious affairs and occasions. When a Pateek spiritual master dies. He is buried in a grave but not laid down on the ground like a common man. A bed-like material is constructed to lay him on and be covered with the animal skins (representing lenient clothe) after which they closed him into the grave with the mud.
Many years later, the deceased spiritual leader’s children or grandchildren would request the presiding clan’s spiritual master to allow their father’s soul and spirit be honored by building a shrine for him among the shrine. Some stay for over 30 years after the death to be built as shrines. The Dinka people believe in the life after the death.
There are several religious and traditional procedures which take place before the approval to build a shrine for the deceased spiritual leaders. Some of such spiritual processes can end up with the shrine not being approved if they don’t qualify.
When the approval for the shrine is granted by the council of the high priests. The process of transferring the soul of the deceased priest from his grave to the new ground where the shrine shall be built takes place. This could involve a lot of celebrations and sacrifices both to God (Nhialic) and the ancestors.
Like in Christianity; a Canonization is a papal declaration that the catholic faithful may honor a particular deceased member of the church as a saint considering all his/her faithfulness and religious deeds in connection to respect to God and the service. The approval for one to the shrine is liking adding him in the list of saints; practice is of a similar understanding to how the Pateek holy shrines are approved.
The shrines are heavy built with mud and they are believed to contain the spiritual soul of the deceased spiritual masters they are made for. The sacrificing of bulls by the “masters of the fishing spear” is a central component of Pateek and as of the Dinka religious practice. The Dinkas’ pastoral lifestyle is reflected in their religious beliefs and practices. Like other Dinkas’ understanding to God, the Pateek Clan revere to one God, (Nhialic).
The shrines are built-pyramid-like-shape with bull horns fixed on the end top to the shrine, representing the powerfulness of the sanctified ancestor. To make it simple, the renowned spear masters’ souls are transferred from the grave in Luak to the shrines where they shall be glorified. Most of the Dinka spiritual masters are buried inside their Luaks (byre) at the right hand side.
The shaping of the shrines undoubtedly reflect the link of the Nilotic communities to the Ancient Egyptians. The difference could be that Lou Ariik shrines are not made of bricks to exactly look like the ones in Egypt and northern Sudan. Throughout Dinka land and Nuer, shrines of almost similar shapes and spiritual dimensions are found.
The Pan Ariik Ngarbek’s holy shrines were established in the 18th century years before the arrival of British and Turks to Sudan. The shrines have lived and survived many attempts of destructions since their establishment. The first shrine to have been established was the one of Ariik Ngarbek. It was established at the current Akuanydit village one kilometer North of Alabek, however, the shrine was destroyed during the slave trade period by the Turks and Egyptians as the pursue the population to raid.
During the slave trade, the Turks used to hunt people for raid and therefore the community got displaced to swampy land (Toich Lou) to avoid being raided as slaves. When the Turks came, they destroyed the holy shrine of Wadit Ariik Ngarbek at Akuanydit.
The location for the shrine was changed later to Pankor Village because Akuanydit is (was) situated in the middle of the community and on the main road exposing the sacred shrines to strangers. The relocation of the holy shrine took place more-likely after the end of the slave-trade in Sudan that is during the Angola-Egyptian condominium rule. Especially at the time when relevant calmness returned to the region. Since then the number of the shrines keep adding up to now 12 holy shrines.
“This bright shrines formulates our great ancestry lineage and heritage and they are the indicative of our spiritual authentic beliefs and living. They carry each and every one of us wherever we maybe, whether at home or in the nooks and corners of the world. They are indeed a symbolic dictum of consultations of our soul existence and health, an unwritten ardent beliefs of worshiping, but that’s the whole point of its authenticity,” said Mawien Makol Ariik.
“It’s a belief system that renders unmolested feeds, nor corrupted by an imported teachings of crusaders, or colonial masters in history. It will remain so with all of its intended purposes,” Makol added.
African communities and ethnicities across the region have individually and collectively being known as a spiritual people. The traditional practices in respect to God through their different ways of worshiping and offerings amount to what can be termed as African Traditional Religion (s).
What Do the Shrines Represent?
The Pateek shrines in Pankor village and that of other clans elsewhere represent their respect to God and ancestors. For the Dinka people when they want to talk to God they do that through their dead ones and the ancestors and that altogether formulates a process of religion.
Religion is a set of organized beliefs, practices, and systems that most often relate to belief and worship of a controlling force such as a personal god or another supernatural being. While this is a basic definition, there are many different understandings of what religion is and not all religions are centered on a belief in a god, gods, or supernatural forces.
Religion often involves cultural beliefs, worldviews, texts, prophecies, revelations, and morals that have spiritual meaning to members of the particular faith, and it can encompass a range of practices including sermons, rituals, prayer, meditation, holy places, symbols, trances, and feasts.
Religion can serve a wide range of purposes. Religion can be a source of comfort and guidance. It can provide a basis for moral beliefs and behaviors. It can also provide a sense of community and connection to tradition. Some research even suggests that it may have an effect on health.
The Pateek respect to their ancestors and their worship to them represents what seems to be their religion. The fact that they are very organized. They have a paramount priest (spiritual master) who rules over others and who is assisted by a number of councilors. Those of whom are representatives of families, clans or sections within the community.
The spiritual masters ask everything they want to happen from God and many people believe that they are being answered by God, encouraging many people to follow them and agree to their calls and orders. The spiritual masters do their services through their ancestors and the creator. They believe that it is their ancestors who convey their requests to Nhialic, the creator.
Many people come to them looking for blessings and others wanting their bad lucks to be exorcised (removed) and in some occasions many clients have returned with appreciations to the spiritual masters, at times with gifts and search for more blessings.
The majority of Dinka practice traditional religions whose central theme is the worship of a high God through the totem, ancestral spirits, and a number of deities. The high god is called Nhialic and he is the source of sustenance.
Ancestral spirits are presumed to be able to increase productivity of the land, multiply cattle, and provide safety for all. They are thought to watch over the living, to reward good behavior with fortune, and punish wrongdoing with a calamity brought upon the individual, family, or whole group. They are the mediators between the people and the high god. Many of the gods and spirits are considered good natured and capable of being appeased when angered by human behavior.
When Christian missionaries first came in contact with the Dinka, they concluded that the Dinka were worshiping idols and ancestors. From the Dinka point of view, this was untrue, as these objects and locations are merely places of worship, analogous to the church, mosque, or synagogue. For this apparent misunderstanding, Christianity was resisted vigorously throughout the nineteenth century. It was not until the late twentieth century that large numbers of Dinka were converted.
The central figure in Dinka religious practice is the master of the spear. He has proven to possess certain powers to heal and bring fortune through his prayers to God, and whose prayers for good health, cattle safety, and fertility are met. Many Dinka believe that this aspect of their religion does not contradict Christianity, and so continue to believe in both.
How Does Pan Ariik Ngarbek Celebrate The Souls of Their Ancestors?
Since the establishment of the holy shrines, it has been upon the community, the clan and elders’ responsibility to make sure that gifts and sacrifices are offered to the creator (Nhialic) through their ancestors. So after every two years people gather to organize and celebrate a very big event at Pankor Spiritual Centre. The sacrifices to the ancestors are always in form of animals and each shrine receive a bull as primary gift with several sacrifices that include cows, oxen, sheep and local brews.
Each year, the shrines are topped up with new mudding and then traditionally plastered by women of that family. If it is a year in which they shrines’ souls are going to be celebrated then they are coloured. Each shrine is coloured with the exact colour of their bulls when they were alive.
Prior to the day on which sacrifices will be offered off, the bulls are invoked for a number 8 days; with high profile spiritual masters of clans in Lou Ariik coming to Pankor for prayers and call for blessings and cursing off any of the bad luck that may come to the people. People from neighbouring communities and those in far borders come to attend the occasion for its importance to them.
It is believed that the only sitting President of Sudan to have come to witness the celebration of Pankor Holy Shrines was Jaafar Mohammed Numeiry in 1970s. During the celebration of 2005, many SPLA commanders including: Daniel Awet Akot, Pieng Deng Majok, Anthony Bol Madut and many others came to attend the celebration.
The coloring of the shrines involved a lot of art and chemistry.
In order to obtain the white colour the ash of cow dung is collected and creamed up into milk to create a smooth and soothing white paste that can be plastered on the shrine in an area intended to look white.
And for the black colour, a certain broom type grass is burned for the ash and then pasted into the cow’s ghee (cooked butter) and that shall be smeared in an area intended to look black on the shrine.
This is done by locally trained artists from within the membership of the clan and who are believed to be faithful and God fearing clan members.
The List of The Shrines in Pankor
There are about 12 holy shrines (yiik) in Pankor. The ones in Pankor includes:
- Ariik Kuol Ariik (Ngarbek)
- Atekdit Mawien (Jokngar)
- Mawien Ariik Kuol (Ajokdit)
- Nhial Ariik Kuol (Molkuac)
- Monydhar Ariik Kuol (Majuot)
- Ariik Mawien Ariik (Mangardit)
- Ariik Monydhar Ariik (Mangardit)
- Ariik Mawien Ariik (Alomngar)
- Mawien Mawien Ariik (Maroldit/Achokbek)
- Monydhar Atek Mawien (Ngebeek)
- Ariikngath Mawien Ariik (Abethjok)
- Ariik-kok Mawien Ariik (Mawet)
However, there are 4 other shrines of the same family located at their home residences.
These includes:
- Mawien Ariik Kuol (Tualker)
- Monydhar Ariik Kuol (Monydharthii)
- Ariik Mawien Ariik (Thiangbeek)
- Mawien Mawien Ariik (Kerjok)
This article doesn’t deny the existence of other holy shrines in other villages apart from the ones in Pankor of Lou Ariik Area!!
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