CIRCUMCISION AND REGICIDE - THEME AND VAR IATIONS AMONG THE DII, CHAMBA AND MUNDANG OF THE CONFINES OF THE RIVER-BENUE AND LAKE-CHAD

This article intends to discuss the place of circumcision in the life cycle of Dii, Chamba and Mundang kings and chiefs. These neighboring p opulations create variations on the theme of their kings or chiefs's l ength of reign: some Chamba chiefdoms argue that the collective circum cision held every seven years kills their chiefs; other chieftaincies, anticipating this fatal issue, killed their chiefs just before this d eadline. Among the Mundang, a collective circumcision, also held theor etically every seven or eight years, is preceded by the ritual killing of the king; whereas, among the Dii, a circumcision follows immediate ly the natural death, which is by nature aperiodical, of a chief who i s never killed but, on the contrary, is supposed to live a long life. The internal logic of these transformations will be analysed and the a nalysis will explain why the Dii chiefs escape ritual killing.