Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 247
where the Vaghagaya lineage shrine was found. In our opinion the same applies to Ghwa'a,
but there we excluded Durghwe from our list, even though Durghwe was part of Ghwa'a as a
central ward. We will present Durghwe as the most important subregional mountain shrine
separately in Chapter 3.17.
We can see in Table 6b that the Ghwa'a listing includes two descriptions regarding the ritual
function of outcasting. Since I collected many outcasting sites around the foothills
(unpublished Gwoza fieldnotes 1994), we can infer that some of the places in the other wards
listed might have also been outcasting places. For example, individuals who were threatened
with being outcasted as a result of sorcery accusations had to proclaim their innocence and
then perform a ritual backroll while naked to underpin their claim. We will return to this in
Chapter 3.15: 'Ideas around existential personhood', where we will discuss sorcery as an
internalised aspect of an hypothetical individual Dghweɗe psychology of the late pre-colonial
past.
Table 6b: Group sites and communal places of ritual function across Dghweɗe
Ward name
Korana Basa
Ghwa'a
Place or site name
Gwal Zigafte
Kur Tva
Fred ga Kurana
Kwir ga Kurana
Gwatadhe
Fred Ghatike
Igawude
Fkagh ga Maruwa
Dgatha Ghuzuve
Giga dzata
Takweshe
Hembe
Gathaghure
Gagh drawa
Khalal Takweshe
Ngalewe
Fakagh Hula'a
Khalal Gaghwire
Khalal Gazamba
Kwir Wa'a
Madisa ga
Ghwinde
Ngurangura ga
Gaza
Khalal ga Mahe
Ritual function
Presumably a place for descendants of Kurana
Presumably a shrine fo descendants of Kurana
Communal praying ground for good health and good
community development. For example to pray for a
high birth rate. If the sacrifice was not made, a low
birth rate would have been the potential negative
outcome
Public swearing, cursing, and outcasting place
Also mainly an public outcasting place
The main place for all sorts of communal
celebrations in Ghwa'a
In the case of misfortune in the community, the
person identified as being responsible for the
misfortune had to arrange a sacrifice at this place
For lineage called gagwagh drawa (unknown)
[perhaps it was for the most numerous lineage
known as 'Dzata' as discussed in Chapter 3.21]
Somehow connected with gagwah drawa
Presumably a lineage shrine (khalale)
Perhaps a shrine for Hembe-Ngalewe?
Presumably a shrine (khalale) for Ghwire lineage
Presumably a lineage shrine (khalale)
Function unknown
Function unknown
Presumably a lineage shrine (khalale)
Two of the places listed for Ghwa'a also played a role during adult initiation (dzum zugune),
and we invite the reader to look at Chapter 3.14: 'Becoming an accomplished male'. For
example, Fkagh ga Maruwa was the place where the ngwa hamtiwe, the four-day dance, was
performed (the initial stage of dzum zugune), and we will learn more about that in the relevant
chapter. The other place was Fkagh Gwatadhe. This was where the ngwa garda, the second
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