Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 158
patrilineal key ancestor of Ghwa'a, Kunde and Taghadigile, were the neighbours of what
would become Korana Basa, with only Tatsa in between. This is why Tatsa would under all
circumstances try to remain neutral. Contrarily, Gathagure would fight with Kunde.
Gathaghure and Hembe would remain with Kunde if necessary, but also aid Gudule if they
were attacked.
Concerning pre-colonial southern Dghweɗe, our oral sources on local warfare suggest that
Korana formed first, leading to the expansion of the Vaghagaya lineages, which later included
Hudimche and Gharaza. This was also confirmed by the locality shrine for all descendants of
Vaghagaya, which was found in Korana. We will learn more about the distribution and
custodianship of local shrines later in Chapter 3.9. We will also see later (Chapter 3.4) how
the expansion of the Vaghagaya lineages moved first to Hudimche and subsequently included
Gharaza, and we can presume at this point that the tribal war between Vaghagaya and Gudule
was not only the most recent, but also the most important collective memory of tribal warfare
in Dghweɗe as a whole. 2
In the next chapter we will explore the Tur tradition in its wider subregional context, and
show that it is indeed the most widespread tradition of origin not only for the Dghweɗe but
also for many other groups of the Gwoza hills. The Tur tradition might have also incorporated
local groups that were originally not part of that tradition. The Gudule are such an example.
On the one hand there is their role as first settlers and their link to Gudulyewe, and on the
other hand the overriding legendary importance of the Tur tradition, especially after they had
agreed to stay when they were themselves defeated by the Vaghagaya. In this way the Tur
tradition represents an overarching tradition of origin of the greatest regional inclusiveness.
Dghweɗe is in that context the entry point of the Tur tradition in the Gwoza hills, and
individuals and groups moved on from there further north, but never back south again. 3
2
Considering it is linked to the Gudur tradition also suggests that it might have happened in rather late
pre-colonial times, but we will learn more about the link between Dghweɗe and Gudur in the chapter
on the bull festival.
3
Once they reached the northern end of the Gwoza hills, some groups most likely moved east, of
which the Podoko are a good example, but there might also have been group expansion across the
intramountainous eastern plain, and in and out of the Moskota hills, as is suggested by my Gwoza
(1994) and my Mafa (1988) field materials. We will refer to some of these in the context of the Vreke
clan of the Moskota hills in the chapter about the bull festival, and in relation to the harvest festival,
and how communal festivals seem to have travelled in a reverse direction to their traditions of origin.
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