Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 246
all settlement units listed, the entitlement of custodianship of the earth was always to be found
among the largest clan or lineage group. Hembe as a settlement unit was for example
dominated by the two major lineages Ghwire and Baza, but we do not know which was the
thaghaya lineage. The same applies to Gathaghure. We remember that Mughuze had given
his first son, Balngada, as dowry, who subsequently became the founding ancestor of
Gathaghure. In the case of Gudule, we think that the cornblesser lineage Gazhiwe was the
thaghaya lineage, but know that there had been three local lineages altogether. Still, in each
of the listed settlement units it was always the clan or lineage section which presented a
demographic majority which also provided the thaghaya lineage.
Concerning Kunde, we see that this appears in Table 6a as a separate settlement unit to
Ghwa'a, the latter having Ghamba Vunga as thaghaya. We know Ghamba Vunga was from
the Btha lineage, but we also know that Kunde, as a separate lineage section from Ghwa'a,
was in terms of descent part of the Thakara major lineage. If we look again at Figure 13
(Chapter 3.6), we notice that most descendants of Washile settled in Kunde, which we think
explains why Kunde had its own thaghaya for starting planting and harvesting. We also know
that the descendants of Washile had become quite numerous in the pre-colonial past, which
had led to a violent conflict among the descendants of Thakara, leading sections of the
Washile to form associated settlement units, most likely first in Taghadigile and then in
Kunde.
A similar scenario but on a much larger scale had occurred in what would later become
modern Korana Basa. There the Vaghagaya expanded violently during pre-colonial times. We
remember how bulama Ngatha told us that the Vaghagaya were best at fighting among
themselves. Still, we do not know whether the Ghuna lineage was in terms of number the
largest of the lineages who claimed to have descended from Vaghagaya. It is clear that Var ga
Ghuna was indeed the thaghaya of all Vaghagaya, despite them occupying four separate
lineage wards. We know that the Ghuna lineage was dominant in Gharaza, and Var ga Ghuna
as their thaghaya not only started planting and harvesting for all Vaghagaya descendants, but
he was also the custodian of their lineage shrine in Korana Kwandama.
Our list is not complete but it gives us a good insight into the ritual dimension of local group
formation, and it was presumably not only the sacrifice to a shared lineage shrine that created
the sense of local belonging, but also their ways of interacting with the seasons concerning
planting and harvesting. In the context of this our oral historical sources are very limited and
in parts contradictory. We remember for example that some of our local sources maintained
that the ritual sequence related to harvesting was more important, while in terms of planting
the ritual of the senior rainmaker was more important. Perhaps there was some truth in the
former opinion, considering that most rituals were linked to the harvesting and threshing
period as a representation of yielding (cornblessing) rather than growing (rainmaking).
If we compare the list of places of ritual function across Dghweɗe given in the next section,
we can see that the various settlement units with a thaghaya or lineage priest, also had a
khalale or other communal shrines. Unfortunately we will only be able to indirectly derive
this conclusion from the linguistic perspective of the Dghweɗe word for lineage shrine.
List of places of ritual function across Dghweɗe
During my fieldwork in Korana Basa and Ghwa'a, I collected a list of names of shrines and
other places of interest across Dghweɗe, but failed to exactly geographically locate them.
Neither are they connected with a responsible custodian (thaghaya) or any other specific
ritual role or function. Still, Table 6b demonstrates that the various settlement units, which we
mentioned in earlier chapters in the context of the development of Korana Basa and Ghwa'a,
did indeed have khalale shrines, as this is the case for Takweshe, Hembe, and Gathaghure.
In the case of Korana Basa however we think that the four places listed below are only found
in Korana Basa as an individual ward, and that it might not even include Korana Kwandama,
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