Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 215
ritual labour expanded across Dghweɗe and resulted in the Gazhiwe and the Gaske becoming
cornblessers and rainmakers for the whole of Dghweɗe. We tend to think that this was a
development also linked to the expansion of the Mafa in our wider subregion, and we connect
it to the late pre-colonial period, a hypothesis discussed again in Chapter 3.13.
What we can possibly say here is that the reported narratives use metaphors to represent the
reproductive capacity of groups, such as twinship, brotherhood of the same 'kitchen' in terms
of descent, the role of the birth of seven sons, and the use of specific clan medicines, to
explain the underlying ritual force of local group formation. Those social forces seem to be
typically seen in a particular cosmological context of the promotion of fecundity from above
and below, and might be reinterpreted in the context of a newly unfolding oral historical
context. That the Gazhiwe as main Dghweɗe cornblessers were also custodians of the Gudule
clan territory, and that they had even been seen as the once numerous representatives of the
first settlers of southern Dghweɗe, presumably underpins their ritual importance.
Clan medicines such Cissus quadrangularis played an important role, and we see in the next
section how it could be used for positive and negative effects, and that it was in the hands of
the official cornblesser lineage Gazhiwe where it unfolded its true reproductive force.
Nevertheless, cornblessing was not exclusively a Gazhiwe role, as Ɗagha peacemakers and
Gaske rainmakers could also carry out this ritual work, and there were many types of related
ritual Cissus quadrangularis that were once jointly owned by Gaske and Gazhiwe (see
Chapter 3.23).
Ritual experts can have specific vulnerabilities
Non-Ɗagha saw Ɗagha as being very powerful due to their extensive ritual ownership of Cissus
quadrangularis (vavanza). These people were seen as being present to create peace, and if they
caused trouble they were chased out of town, so we were told by our Dghweɗe friends.
Ɗagha, Gaske and Gazhiwe were perceived in their function for creating a peaceful and
prosperous atmosphere. A Ɗagha who misused his powers ran the risk of being chased away.
Some would have been beaten by non-Ɗagha. The same applied to Gaske, but not so much to
Gazhiwe. In the past, an ordinary Dghweɗe would even kill a Ɗagha or a Gaske for this
reason. They would be respected as long as they used their powers in an orderly way. This
was the message we were repeatedly given while talking about the position of specialist
lineages in the context of the Dghweɗe traditional past.
Ɗagha, Gaske and Gazhiwe all used vavanza. Ɗagha owned it for peacemaking while
Gazhiwe used it for cornblessing, and Gaske mainly for rainmaking or keeping insects away.
Non-Ɗagha also used vavanza, for example they bought vavanz-gharaghare from Gazhiwe
for cornblessing. However, there were also certain vavanza that were for everyone's use, for
example vavanz-diwaghara. We list many of the different ritual uses of Cissus quadrangularis
in Chapter 3.23, together with the various ritual owners and the socio-economic
circumstances of their applications. In this chapter section we will only highlight some of its
dangerous aspects.
There was vavanza that only Ɗagha could use, and these were seen as particularly dangerous
because they could cause infertility among the Ɗagha. For example, Vaima 2 reportedly
suffered the after-effects of the application of vavanza. He was the Ɗagha peacemaker who
led the legendary ‘mission impossible’ from Ghwa'a to Maiduguri to see the British resident
of Borno in the mid-1920s, and allegedly convinced him to arrest Hamman Yaji. We
remember from our Dghweɗe narrative in Part Two, that Vaima swallowed three pieces of a
particularly powerful vavanza, so the mission would be possible and successful. This vavanza
could only be used by him as the Ɗagha expert, and only applied due to the importance of his
2
Vaima, listed by Lewis (1925) as Baima (Table 3), was also the first colonial ward head of Ghwa'a.
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