Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 296
Unfortunately I know almost nothing about how the Chikiɗe served such a shrine, but my
Dghweɗe friends pointed out that one of the differences was that the Chikiɗe carried out their
ancestor ritual near the front wall rather than in the centre of the foyer. We can see the back of
the Chikiɗe shrine in Plate 27b, forming a board which might have been used for preparing
the ritual food. The prepared food might then have been taken to the front, but we do not
know for sure.
The anthropomorphic features of the 'face' captured in Plate 27a could not normally be seen in
its entirety, as the passage between the front wall and shrine was too narrow for a whole view.
I remember seeing the light coming in through the dry stone walling, sprinkling lightly over
the adobe 'face'. It felt to me to be a manifestation of the forefathers of that house
symbolically overlooking the terraced infields they had manured over generations.
We see similar pots as in the Dghweɗe 'stomach' of thala, except that the Chikiɗe pots
are placed in the various facial features of the shrine. For example, in the 'mouth' at the
bottom we see the jug for ritual beer, and in the right 'eye' we see an upturned sauce pot, and a
beer bowl in the left 'eye'. We wonder whether the facial features of the shrine, representing
mouth, eyes and nose, were an anthropomorphic equivalent of the Dghweɗe 'stomach' of
thala which did not face the front of the house. We remember that the Dghweɗe had 'eyes' or
'breasts' applied above the ancestor stone at the inner side of the 'stomach' of thala, while its
opening at the back faced the terrace fields across the smooth ceremonial front dry stone wall.
In Plate 27b we can see the high adobe shelf at the back of the Chikiɗe shrine, almost like a
sideboard, leading into the central passageway of their foyer, and perhaps it was used for
preparation. We also notice the beautiful adobe plastering with the decoration on both sides of
the Chikiɗe shrine, especially above the 'eyes' of the face of the shrine as visible in Plate 27a.
Another difference between a Chikiɗe and a Dghweɗe house shrine was that the Chikiɗe had
only one shrine, while the Dghweɗe had two separate shrine elements, a 'stomach' and a 'bed'
of thala. However, the two parts only appeared as separate elements when facing the central
passageway, having only one opening at the back where it faced the front passageway.
The main building material of a Dghweɗe house shrine was stone from the foundations up to
the level where it met the height of the 'bed' of thala. On top was an adobe shrine, which was
open towards the ceiling of the flat roof (gaɗike). The 'bed' of thala faced the gap between the
'bed' and the 'stomach'. While the 'bed' was open towards the ancestor stones, the 'stomach' of
thala was more like a rectangular container with an opening facing the front wall. The whole
of the house shrine was once plastered and decorated, in our case with an etched fish pattern. I
am not sure about the floor but assume it was a type of earthen or adobe floor.
Because of the weight of the house shrine, including the roof of thala on top of the flat roof
construction, the underground would have to be very solid and have a very strong platform.
Perhaps such platforms were originally built on natural rock formations, and remaining rubble
used to fill the underground of the platform, which would then be filled and consolidated with
a mixture of clay and sand. The whole might then have been stamped. I have seen this
happening when John and his brothers increased the size of the platform of my research
station by doing exactly that. I was amazed at their skill in breaking up large rocks and
moving them around with the aid of heavy wooden levers. In our next subsection we will look
at the other architectural elements of the foyer.
The foundation stones of the upper passageway, child's room and kitchens
We have so far seen illustrations of the central passageway tab hupala, situated between the
granaries and the ancestor stones, with the two thala elements and also the narrow
passageway along the back of thala with one opening facing the front wall. We now continue
our guided tour of the foyer of a Dghweɗe house with the top or upper passageway ghar
malga, possibly best translated as 'upper foundation', behind the three granaries. In Plate 28a
below we see a view from the father's granary (A) and that of his first wife (B) to the left. We
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