Amon’i in the Rain-Appeal Account

Overview

Kitching identifies Amon’i as a recently deceased female ritual specialist to whom great powers and influence had been attributed. He describes an honored funeral and a grave inside a special fenced courtyard beside a main road, where offerings and sacrifices were brought. Her posthumous role, rather than an invented transformation into a monster, is the subject of this profile.

During a dry season, the missionary hears singing and finds a party of about fifty women and girls, with a few young men, traveling the roads around the station and appealing to Amon’i for rain. They wear wreaths and streamers of climbing plants, carry feathery papyrus wands and shake gourds containing dried peas. An older man leads the chorus. The recorder prints a refrain with variable lines inserted between repetitions. He describes the appeal itself but supplies no subsequent rain miracle or exact dates of Amon’i’s life; those missing events are not added to the account.

Origins & earliest records

Arthur Leonard Kitching records this material as a missionary working in Uganda. He names no individual contributor for the selected account. His descriptions and translations are a historical outsider witness, with his Christian comparisons and colonial evaluations distinguished from the reported traditions.

Records & interpretation

Kitching, On the Backwaters of the Nile, printed pp. 261–262, directly read; title page, foreword and relevant surrounding section checked.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   On the Backwaters of the Nile

   Arthur Leonard Kitching, missionary recorder · 1912

   Printed pp. 261–262; London, T. Fisher Unwin.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Historical missionary account of narratives and religious practicesKitching 1912 — Amon’i in the Rain-Appeal AccountResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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