Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 206
all-embracing ksage. The lineage shrine (khalale) is in the same lineage section where the
lineage priest (thaghaya) responsible for it is marked to live, indicating the geographical
beginning of a new local group formation. All the other thaghaya below the lineage level are
unmarked, but as we pointed out earlier, each family home (gwalghaya) has the potential to
bring about their lineage thaghaya over time.
We remember that the thaghaya of an extended family is the one who is served first by the
skmama of his deceased grandfather (jije), and that the line of thaghaya starts with the
seventh-born son of the first wife of a zal thaghaya, the husband and father of the house. As a
result of population increase, smaller kambarte units might reshape over time, or even split
and move to another locality and start their own kuɗige as the core element of a new
kambarte. For ease of generalisation, this is only indicated as a possibility in our model, and it
could theoretically apply to every other kuɗige illustrated in Figure 14.
Figure 14: Local group formation along patrilineal kinship ties
The
kuɗige
consisting of three
gwalghaya is also
a reference to the
extended family
as the ritual unit
concerning
the
three
ancestor
stones.
These
stones represent
three generations
of active ritual
connections and
were found in the
foyer area of
every Dghweɗe
house
(see
Figures 19c and
20a). The most
important of the
ancestor
stones
seems to have
been the one
representing jije,
the
deceased
grandfather of the
extended family.
We describe one
of the key rituals
har
ghwe
(sacrificial
slaughtering for
the
deceased
father of a house)
in a model case in Chapter 3.12 about the house as the place of religious worship (see Figure
20b).
Another illustration that should be understood together with Figure 14 is the general plan of
the Dghweɗe farm layout (Figure 17) in Chapter 3.10 about working the terraced land. We
also recommend the reader to consult Figure 28b in the section about inheritance in Chapter
3.18 dealing with the significance of the seventh-born son.
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