Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 284
Plate 21b shows the front of a Dgweɗe house without a roof of thala (1), while Plate 21c
shows how impressively it sits on top of the foyer (2), being a widely visible key feature of
their architecture. I observed that most houses that chose to no longer have one still had the
smooth front stone wall in one way or another. Plate 21c also shows how the owner once
sacrificed a bull, because the jawbones of a bull have been placed on top for decoration.
Underneath the roof of thala is a flat roof called gaɗike, and we can see it nicely in both
photos. Such flat roofs were supported by wooden posts from inside the foyer, and could also
be found covering a yard behind or to the side of a homestead.
Plate 21d: Chikiɗe (left) and Guduf (right) house fronts
Plate 21d shows a Chikiɗe and a Guduf house, and we recognise the similarity of the fronts to
those of our previous Dghweɗe example. We notice the great care that has been taken to make
the curved front stone walls very smooth indeed, and notice the ceremonial foyer roof sitting
on the flat roof. The ceremonial roof above the house shrine was by far the largest, and it
formed an architectural unity with the dry stone wall and the foyer area behind, particularly
when presiding on a hilltop platform. We like to think of it as a statement of prosperity in a
period up to more than half a century ago, when collective rituals were still performed. We
will return to this in two separate chapters in which the bull festival and the stages of the adult
initiation rituals are reconstructed from the collective memories of our Dghweɗe protagonists.
Plate 21e: Chikiɗe landscaped terrain (2004)
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