Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 211
One of our oral sources indirectly confirms our hypothesis by saying that it was because of
the nature of their work that Ɗagha was seen as a twin to Ske. Either way, Wasa and Tasa are
both, in terms of descent, separate from the most two numerous clan groups of DghweɗeMbra, which are the Mughuze-Ruwa and Thakara of Ghwa'a. A reason for this was perhaps
that smaller clan groups were more likely to become ritual experts for the majority of the
Dghweɗe, and also that individuals could at that time be perceived as having special
supernatural talents. These were often linked to sorcery, and we will learn more about that in
the chapter about the Dghweɗe concept of existential personhood. Being a member of a
specialist lineage which had a particular ritual designation was also a protection against
accusations of sorcery. Still, as we will see below, the application of a ritual specialism could
lead to loss of reproductive success among the ritual owners, something which happened to
members of the Ɗagha peacemaker lineage.
Ritual specialism could be seen as a form of the social division of ritual labour, cast in lineage
terms. On the subject of exogamy rules among the listed specialist lineage groups, and of the
majority lineages of Dghweɗe, we do not have much data. We were only told that there was
always intermarriage between Ɗagha and non‐Ɗagha, and that Ɗagha and Gaske would
intermarry. We do not know whether the Gudule cornblessers and the Gaske rainmakers
intermarried also, and can only assume that marriage was permitted between the lineages. We
remember that Mathews (1934) informed us that the Gudule were explicitly no longer
exogamous to anyone, due to them having become so small in number.
The Ɗagha peacemaker lineage according to Baba Musa
According to Baba Musa (1996), Ɗagha was originally from a place between Korana Basa
and Ghwa'a, called 'Gav Mbale', where Thigiɗa had three sons: Basa Mogula, Dzunuwe and
Salakuwe. In Figure 15 we list where Thigiɗa appeared in the context of this, and show Baba
Musa's own line of descent from the Dzunuwe lineage. To graphically shorten the otherwise
too long vertical 'father' to 'son' descent lines, we listed them horizontally and separated by a
slash () from left to right between them. This makes Wudza the 'father' of Thigiɗa and
Kalakwa the father (dada) of Baba Musa, while Dawa was his grandfather (jije).
Figure 15: Descent tree of Baba Musa
Wasa
|
Dagha Ndaviwre Wudza
|
Thigiɗa
__________________________|_________
|
|
|
Basa Mogula
Dzunuwe
Salakuwe
|
Shigawere Zhi'a Wa Wasa Mangare Dawa Kalakwa
|
Musa
Baba Musa explained that it had been the Thakara lineage Btha (we remember them as being
custodians) of Ghwa'a, who originally had the say over them, for example as to whether they
could perform their speciality, involving the use of Cissus quadrangularis, to control the spirit
agent of leopards. He added that there was a particular rock in Gav Mbale where Thigiɗa's
house once stood, and Baba Musa went on to tell us the following story of how Thigiɗa's sons
already had the gift of using vavanz bungwe (bungwe = leopard):
One day Thigiɗa had gone out to cut grasses for his animals, and in the absence of their father, his
three children were playing at home. Now Mogula told the two others to close their eyes. When
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