Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 345
We also need to mention again the role of the seventh-born son (thaghaya), which we know
the father and owner of a house hoped his first wife would bear. Thaghaya was a symbol of
his fecundity, not only as a successful husband (zal thaghaya), but also for ensuring future
custodianship of the land. We can even go so far as imagining that the descendants of Gudule
represented the luck of the seventh born for the whole of Dghweɗe. The legend of how he cut
the tail of his father's favoured cow out of fancy for a female indicates he wanted to marry of
his own accord rather than be subject to marriage by promise. We will discuss the historic
ways of marrying in Dghweɗe in Chapter 3.20, but need to mention here that a first wife
married by fancy was not in the past considered to be the ideal mother of a seventh-born son
(thaghaya). Still, Gudule remained thaghaya, and was punished by his father Tasa by the loss
of the ritual entitlement for rainmaking, and we can only assume that Tasa still held the
entitlement for cornblessing and rainmaking. We also need to remind ourselves that it was
Katala, the daughter of Wandala, who was Tasa's first wife, and that their sons Gudule and
Ske (Gaske rainmaker) were brothers of the same 'kitchen' (kuɗige).
We will explore this view in a subregional context in the hope of better understanding the
position and role of Gudule in Dghweɗe. First we will look beyond Dghweɗe to see which
groups of the Gwoza hills performed the bull festival as a travelling bi-annual communal
event. Next we will explore possible pre-existing connections to Gudur. In the context of this,
we will examine cross-border links on the other side of the eastern plain, in particular the
Moskota hills, and possible oral-historical links to the Gwoza hills. There the chief of Vreke
was the main representative of the chief of Gudur for many Mafa villages of the northwestern
Mandara Mountains. 3 He owned various clan medicines, and collected his kule for the
increase of fecundity during a pilgrimage to Gudur, then ritually distributed it in the Mafa
communities through which he passed on his return. We will also explore the Dghweɗe
traditions connecting the Vile clan of Hiɗkala (Hambagda) with the Vreke clan, due to their
ability to control smallpox. In the context of this, we will briefly discuss possible subregional
layers emerging from my previous fieldwork, but will not go into them too deeply.
Coming to a description of the bull festival itself, it was already a thing of the past when I
started my ethnographic work in Dghweɗe, which meant that John and I had to reconstruct it
from memories recounted to us. As we realised that Gudule was the lineage responsible for
starting it, we mainly interviewed people from Gudule, and also a few others. After presenting
the legend of the beginning of the bull festival, we will describe the role in it played by the
Gudule. Our data on the various performance elements of the Dghweɗe bull festival are very
limited indeed, and imagination will have to play a part in understanding what an important
public event it once was. We will describe some of the key elements, such as the release of
the bull, which involved breaking into the side of his shed, his recapture and subsequent
slaughter.
We will tell how a Ɗagha diviner would check whether the bull was vicious and too
dangerous to release. If that was the case the Ɗagha would apply his special vavanza (Cissus
quadrangularis) to calm the animal down. We will also describe the previously mentioned
decorations on top of the ritual tsaga stick planted in the ground of the upper passageway of
the foyer area, between the granaries and the entrance to the lower and upper room complex.
mention a local myth in which Biya, a former chief of Gudur, who was originally from Wandala, passed
through a place called Mowo where the dying chief gifted him a set of magical rainstones and a bull which
led him to the 'mountain of the world'. Durghwe also had legendary links to bulls and was seen as the
regional rain shrine.
3
The Mafa word is biy Vreke. Biy or bay means great or 'the Great' in Mafa and biy Vreke is best
translated as 'the Great Vreke', being a reference to his ritual power rather than as the chief of Vreke.
The same applies to biy Gudur or bay of Gudur. While Gudur refers to the place, Gudul was a
reference to his clan ethnicity, as in being of Gudul descent but from the locality of Gudur. The MofuGudur are distinguished from the Mofu-Diamare, being the two main Mofu groups (Figure 4).
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