Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 387
Discussion of the first stage (ngwa hamtiwe)
The dress code of the ngwa hamtiwe looks at first sight much less sophisticated than that of
the gabajuwala, although we are not sure which elements we are missing, and perhaps we
only documented the most significant ones. What certainly stands out is the organic plant
material, in particular the hamtiwe, a Vitaceae variety (most likely of the Cissus genre), and a
weed called tharɗe (speargrass). The latter was made into a rope which the ngwa hamtiwe
reportedly had to produce themselves. We know that rope-making was a typical male activity
and that women were not allowed to make ropes as it could have led to a husband's death. We
do not know the name of the rope worn by the ngwa hamtiwe, but two of them were worn as
bandoliers over both shoulders and across the chest and one was tied around the waist.
We did not explore why a variety of speargrass weed was used in an important part of the
dress code of the ngwa hamtiwe. It was not used for rope-making but brooms, which played a
role in marriage ceremonies, but we know almost nothing about that. Perhaps its ritual use
had to do with the relentless weeding that formed part of the hard labour during the hoeing
period. After all, dzum zugune was about tough achievements, and that the first stage involved
a speargrass weed in ceremonial bandoliers could represent a hardworking attitude.
Unfortunately we do not know, and the reason might have been completely different.
The other plant material was hamtiwe, which was also used for making sauce, but to my
knowledge hamtiwe was not a plant of very common use. However there is some hint as to its
importance ritually as a botanical type. It belongs to the Vitaceae (grape) family and is most
likely a Cissus in terms of genus, which is the same taxon as the ritually important Cissus
quadrangularis. Perhaps hamtiwe as part of the name for the dress code of the first stage of
dzum zugune needs to be seen in the light of this botanical link. Still, as with the weed tharɗe,
we do not know and have to admit that this is no more than informed guesswork.
It was also said that the ngwa hamtiwe had to put on the dress in front of the elders at the
place called Fkagh Dzga, where the elders counted the jahurimbe beer bowls, but in our 1996
field reconstruction presented earlier it was claimed that they were already wearing the
dresses for the preceding sacrifice to the deceased father (har ghwe). Unfortunately we cannot
determine which one of the two accounts is correct, but perhaps both are viable as it is
possible that only the hamtiwe plant was put around the neck in front of the elders, and then
the khwa khwa rattles were put on the following day for the dance at Fkagh ga Maruwa. There
was also a contradiction about whether the counting of the jahurimbe pots had already taken
place after the harvest festival (thagla) during the preceding millet year, but Zakariya Kwire
insisted this was not the case. We have decided to stick with Zakariya Kwire here, which puts
all four stages of dzum zugune into a guinea corn year.
We infer that the ngwa hamtiwe had their two ritual assistants, the zal ɗuf ɗala and the zal
fstaha, with them for the first time at Fkagh Dzga. While the zal ɗuf ɗala had not yet
performed dzum zugune, the zal fstaha had done so. We know that ɗuf ɗala literally means
'warmed-up soup', and this was a term for the guinea corn beer ritually poured over the
ancestor stones in absence of a billy goat during the bi-annual sacrifice to deceased father
(har ghwe). The word fstaha had no literal meaning, but in the case of zal fstaha it meant
someone who was already initiated as an accomplished adult. In that sense we translate fstaha
to mean ‘initiation’. We can perhaps conclude that zal ɗuf ɗala was in a way the poor
equivalent of zal fstaha, being someone who had not yet reached socio-economic
independence, which in our view included ritual independence.
We will now briefly summarise and discuss what we know about the social entitlement to
start dzum zugune. We know that younger brothers had to wait for their fathers and older
brothers to do it before them. In the context of this, it did not matter whether the seniority of
brothers was conditional on being born to the first wife, or any of the other wives of the
husband and father of the house. Concerning their mothers, we know that her brothers were
important in this case, in that a man had to give his mother's brother a billy goat with a
gwambariya (a black and white cotton sash) wrapped around its neck, a pot of beer and a
385
