THE TALLENSI 353
Ultimately, a kpeem's aijthority rests on a moral basis—the bonds of mutual dependence and common interest which unite co-members of a lineage, accepted as axiomatic in virtue of community of descent and most explicitly conceptualized in the ancestor cult. Every lineage, whatever its span, worships the shrine (b^yar)1 of its ancestors separately. This is the primary index of its differentiation from other like units and the arch-symbol of its corporate identity and relative autonomy. To the hierarchy of segments constituting a maximal lineage corresponds a hierarchy of ancestor shrines. At sacrifices to a particular ancestor, every segment of the lineage sprung from him must be represented. Thus segments of a lineage sacrifice separately to their respective founding ancestors, jointly to their common lineage ancestor.
VII. Tale Religion
A man becomes head of his lineage by succeeding to the custody of the lineage ancestors' shrine (bryar). He sacrifices to it on behalf of the lineage or any of its members and in his own name, especially at sowing, harvest and festival times. The Tallensi both fear and venerate their ancestors, seeking to placate and coerce them with sacrifices, so that health, fruitfulness, and prosperity may prevail.
This is native belief. Objectively, Tale religion is a potent instrument of social control. People who sacrifice together, whether as kinsfolk or through ties of ritual collaboration, must be at amity with one another, else they offend the ancestors. Because of this, death and the extinction of his issue is the mystical retribution falling on a man who murders a kinsman or clansman. For this reason, too, dissension amongst people thus united must eventually give place to reconciliation.
The custodian of any shrine must be treated with respect by those dependent on his priestly offices, else he may reject their sacrifices. This is the most effective sanction of a lineage head's moral authority. The ancestor cult, the supreme sanction of kinship ties, is a great stabilizing force counteracting the centrifugal tendencies inherent in the lineage system. However
1A byyar is a particular catagory of baynr. Any object or animal which has ritual significance may be called a bayzr. A boyar is the bay9r which is the seat of all the ancestors of a lineage as far back as the one who founded it.