Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 307
which we like to see as a ceremonial representation of prosperous mixed farming contained
behind terrace walls.
In that context we explored the DGB area as the possible pre-historical root of a wider
subregional pre-colonial history of terrace cultivation, and explored the importance of stone
as an architectural base material. Besides this, we referred to a similarity in terms of a
particular pottery tradition, consisting of small apertures for the funnel-like mouths of ritual
beer pots. Our Dghweɗe examples serve to illustrate how a montagnard culture finds its
ethnographic voice by a presentation of the oral history of its material and immaterial culture,
and we shape it accordingly by contextualising it with the wider subregion. At the beginning
of this chapter we pointed out that my comparative research of 2004 had shown that the
distribution of pots with small apertures was not limited to the Gwoza hills, but that such pots
could also be found among the Lamang and the Glavda.
By 2004 such ritual pots were seen as items of the past, and we therefore consider them as
having once served as ancestor beer pots across the Gwoza hills and along its foothills. On the
other hand, only the Chikiɗe, Chinene and Guduf as montagnards had such pots in the past,
and also a type of stone architecture with smooth ceremonial front walls as part of their sacred
foyer area where such pots were ritually stored. We pointed out that the only place where we
could not find such pots with small apertures was Kirawa, and we hypothetically conclude
that the reason for that might have been the official Islamisation of the Wandala sultanate
during the 18th century. This means that our presentation of the material and immaterial
aspects of Dghweɗe ritual culture is an opportunity for the historian of tomorrow to further
explore the cultural-historical embeddedness of our wider subregion.
We described the ritual area in the central passageway, and showed how the smooth front
wall and the impressive roof of thala was a status symbol representing successful terrace
farming over generations. We will contextualise this view further below by showing how, for
example, the seven-year cycle of adult initiation (dzum zugune) catered for that in ritual
terms, by promoting the individual’s sense of success as an ambitious mountain farmer. We
mentioned the bull festival and how the roof of thala was decorated with the jawbones of a
fattened bull. Besides this we referred to the archaeology of the DGB sites, showing how long
mixed farming, and with it manure production, might have been known in our wider
subregion, and we will develop this perspective further in the next chapter about the house as
a ritual place of ancestor worship across extended patrilineal family connections.
We showed that besides stone, wood, and thatch or rope, adobe was also a main building
material. In the context of that, we could see the solidity of the stone architecture aiming for
long-term endurance, in particular as part of the lower and upper room complex. We learned
about the ceilings and lofts (gude) and the many areas of adobe plastering, particularly in the
foyer area. We saw the many wooden posts for the flat roof, not only in the foyer area but also
in the back and front yard and entry area of a house, and showed how the entry area might
have shifted over time with the growing number of rooms. We further explained the sharing
of platforms on hillsides between neighbours, and how the natural structures such as flat rocks
might have been integrated as useful service areas for individual farmsteads.
Our next chapter begins with the already mentioned 3D version of the layout of a traditional
Dghweɗe house. We will then show the spatial dimension of senior brothers and generation
mates serving the ancestor stones in the houses of their extended family kin, before we
describe how ritual pots and family priesthood interrelated on the level of individual houses.
In the context of that, we will also show the implications of the ritual sacrifice to the deceased
father of a house inside the foyer area, and also concerning the miniature ancestor houses and
deceased father's grave. We will go through a list of ritual pots, and describe how the front
yard and the entrance area of a house played an important part, as well as the boundary
distinctions between neighbouring farmsteads. Finally, we will discuss the specific ritual
importance of the house of a rainmaker, and how the rainstones and the rainmaker’s ritual
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