Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 378
Plate 57b: THARƊE – made and worn by ngwa hamtiwe
Speargrass was used by the ngwa hamtiwe for making ceremonial ropes. It
was a weed and also used for making brooms (image to the right). The
ngwa hamtiwe wore one around the waist and two as bandoliers. We are
not sure whether they had to put them on in public or at home. Our oral
data suggest that the candidates had to weave these weed ropes themselves.
See also the illustration of the speargrass neckband called garda (Plate
57c), which was worn by the ngwa garda during the first step of the second
stage of dzum zugune.
Plate 57c: GARDA – worn by ngwa garda
Weed neckband woven of five layers of speargrass (tharɗe), put on
by the ngwa garda at home with help of their zal fstaha, for the first
step of the second stage of dzum zugune. It gave the performers of
ngwa garda their name, but instead of speargrass ropes, now cowrieembellished leather sashes, pagbagha, (Plate 57d) became bandoliers
on top of the vghe tuwighe (Plate 51a) sheepskin with hargwa
(cowrie decoration) at the tail. They also wore a cotton sash,
gwambariya (Plate 58b), as a belt around the waist. They held a
ndange (Plate 59k) iron in their right hand. During the downhill run,
each of them carried a tikwa ghriɓa (Plate 59i) stick, which the
winner released first into the ground at the place Yawa (Figure 22).
Plate 57d: PAGBAGHA – worn by ngwa garda
Double row of cowries sewn onto a leather strip. Two
of them were worn diagonally over shoulders and chest
by the ngwa garda. In the image to the right, John
shows how it was worn. Married women used them for
funeral dances, and wore them diagonally with another
around the waist. Wearing strips as bandoliers was very
common during dzum zugune. The ngwa hamtiwe of
the first stage of dzum zugune wore ropes made of
speargrass (tharɗe) in that way. The ngwa
kwalanglanga put on white cow skin bandoliers for the
second step of the second stage of dzum zugune at
Yawa, to replace the pagbagha of the ngwa garda.
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