Benge

This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (November 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Benge is the 'Poison Oracle' used by the Azande of Central Africa, mainly in Southern Sudan, in which a decision is determined by whether or not a fowl survives being administered a poison. The outcome of the oracle can be taken as law in certain circumstances when a Zande Chief is present. The practice is increasingly rare since colonial times.

The Azande Tribe believed that witchcraft was inherited and grew with age. To tribe members, everyday ailments or events could be explained by witchcraft.^[1] If someone was ill, they would go to an oracle who would feed poison to a chicken. If the chicken died after the name of a certain tribe member was called, then that person was considered the witch. Azande believed people could be witches without knowing it, and once the tribe member learned he or she was a witch they would stop unknowingly cursing the other members of their tribe with bad thoughts.

• Evans-Pritchard, E. E. (1976). Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic among the Azande. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-874029-8.
• Cryer, Frederick H. (1994). Divination in ancient Israel and its Near Eastern environment: a socio-historical investigation. Sheffield, England: JSOT Press. p. 105. ISBN 978-1-85075-353-7.
• Engelke, Matthew Eric. (2007). A problem of presence: beyond Scripture in an African church. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 226–228. ISBN 978-0-520-24904-2.
• Andre Singer, John Ryle (1981). Witchcraft among the Azande. Granada Television. Archived from the original on 2014-10-27. Retrieved 2012-07-25.
  • John Corry (January 1, 1985). "TV: 'Witchcraft Among the Axande'". The New York Times.

This occult-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e