Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 388
meal, if he wanted to start dzum zugune before him. This obligation coincides with the
matrilateral exogamy rule zbe (Chapter 3.6), and perhaps suggests socio-economic
cooperation between affinal parilineages, a mutual support structure on the kindred level, to
pass through the stages of dzum zugune.
It seems that the genealogical chain of potential entitlement to begin ngwa hamtiwe changed
after the death of a father or senior brother. As a son, one still had to perform kaɓa and have a
lot of beer and food to share around for one’s first har ghwe – but what would happen in the
case of a death of a senior brother? We infer here that kaɓa also applied to the sons of the
senior brother, which presumably involved the younger brothers having to wait for the older
ones to perform dzum zugune, unless one of the senior brothers died. We think this was the
case because otherwise the chain of potential entitlement would have never been broken, and
an extended family would have been stuck for generations in not being able to begin dzum
zugune.
There might well have been ways to break the seniority rule by other means than death, but
we must admit that we simply do not know. However we do know that it potentially only
applied to patrilineal descent, and that a man would be able to buy himself free of his mother's
brother's lack of socio-economic success. We therefore think it is correct to infer that the
individual effort in successful terrace farming counted greatly, and this was of paramount
importance for the whole community. If the dzum zugune entitlement rules had extended
beyond the lifetime of the candidate’s patrilineal senior, the emotive force of the keen young
man (gabajuwala) and his entry into the first stage (ngwa hamtiwe) of dzum zugune would
have been paralysed. Our interpretation implies that dzum zugune was a family affair, and not
just the ambition of one individual, and we like to think that the keen young men dancing at
Sarara performed not only for themselves but for the greater good and long term success of
the whole Dghweɗe local terrace farming community.
Dress code and objects for ngwa hamtiwe (first stage of dzum zugune):
• Hamtiwe
– leaves hanging around neck with fruits over chest (Plate 57a)
• Tharɗe
– two speargrass ropes worn diagonally across chest (Plate 57b)
• Tharɗe
– one speargrass rope worn around waist (see also Plate 57c)
• Vighita’a
– goat skin put around hips (no illustration)
• Khwa khwa
– brass crotal bells worn around the waist (Plate 58d)
• Jahurimbe
– ritual beer bowl on stand taken to Fkagh Dzga (Plate 59a)
• Gwambariya – cotton strips wrapped around neck of billy goat (Plate 58b)
Discussion of the second stage (ngwa garda and ngwa kwalanglanga)
For the dress code of the second stage of dzum zugune, we need to differentiate between the
two steps ngwa garda and ngwa kwalanglanga. The first thing to recognise is that organic
plant materials became less prominent across the two steps. The ngwa garda still wore a fivelayered speargrass rope around the neck, but the one across the chest was replaced by leather
sashes with two rows of cowrie decorations. According to John there were four sashes
altogether, that is two for each side, which were presumably connected over the shoulders.
We want to add one detail here about the interaction between the ngwa garda and their ritual
assistants (zal ɗuf ɗala) who had not yet performed dzum zugune, at the place called Fkagh
Gwatadhe where the downhill running competition to Yawa began. In this place the zal ɗuf
ɗala apparently put on their traditional dresses and performed the dance skila in front of the
ngwa garda, who were also in full gear and ready to run with wooden sticks in their hands. In
so doing the ngwa garda struck attitudes of starting to run. Now a trumpet was blown, and the
race began. It is surely no coincidence that this dance skila was done by the uninitiated
assistant zal ɗuf ɗala, but it would perhaps be an over-interpretation to see it as a warming-up
exercise, due to the wide age range of the ngwa garda performers. It might have been more of
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