Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 300
between the back wall of thala and the front stone wall, this time from Kalakwa Wila's house,
which was quite ancient and his thala more or less ruined. The picture reveals its stone
foundation (A), forming the back of thala, and we can see the front gap (B) separating the
'stomach' of thala (C) and the 'bed' of thala (D). We see the two ritual beer pots positioned in
the remains of his 'stomach' of thala plus a small ritual sauce bowl (E) with calabashes on top
(F). We infer that his tughdhe thala (ritual beer pot) was the one to the left (G), and that of his
deceased grandfather (zal jije) the one to the right (H), perhaps mirroring the left to right
order of the ancestor stones facing the central passageway.
We can also see
that the centre
part of the front
passageway has
been elevated,
suggesting the
possibility of an
underlying rock
(I) having been
integrated
as
part
of
the
platform
on
which the front
wall (J) and the
foyer area rest.
To the right of
the picture we
can see the door
of the upper
kitchen (K), and of course gaɗige (L) the flat thatched roof, on the outer top of which, as we
know, the heavy roof of thala played a ritual role during the bull festival. In the next
subsection we start at the top end of the foyer, referred to as the 'upper foundation' (ghar
malga), from where the lower and the upper room are interconnected by two steps.
Plate 30a: Foundation wall of thala across Kalakwa's front passageway
The lower and the upper room complex with animal sheds attached
In referring to the lower and upper room complex, we begin with the topographical aspect of
a homestead built on a hillside. We realise that the foyer is, in our ideal case, a flat platform
containing a house shrine area, with granaries, three kitchens and a child's room. While the
front wall faces the terrace fields, the upper passageway is of structural importance because it
contains a line of foundation stones forming a first step leading up to the lower room of the
lower and upper room complex. While the lower room belongs to the first wife, the upper
room belongs to the husband and owner of the house. We will learn in Chapter 3.20 how a
bride is initiated into the patrilineage of her future husband by using the transition area
between the foyer and the lower and upper room complex as a ritual place. An elder sits on
one of the foundation stones and sprinkles water over the bride as a ritual blessing for
becoming a new wife. The other point we will make is that the lower and upper rooms have
animal sheds attached, which underpins our earlier point that a traditional Dghweɗe house
was indeed a farmhouse with integrated stalls and granaries.
In this subsection we use images from all of the three houses documented in 2005. We start
with examples from Abubakar's house, and in Plate 31a below we see the foundation stones
(A) forming the upper end of the foyer area, and close to it a step (B) leading up to the lower
room. We also see the cross-stone (D) above the entrance to the lower room. To the left of
Plate 31a, on the other side of the ghar malga passageway, we see the father's granary (C).
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