Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 396
Mazay (Muller-Kosack 2003:309ff). The latter had increased in number and therefore
claimed the ritual lead for the village as a whole. Because all the original 'Ruwa' had left
Mazay, the new majority clans resettled a representative of the 'Ruwa' in Mazay to begin
certain rituals for them. The role of the 'Ruwa' was to legitimize the new majorities so they
could exploit the fertility of the land. Perhaps the Dghweɗe legend about three brothers of the
defeated descendants of the Gudule, who had been asked by the expanding VaghagayaMughuze to stay behind and settle in Gudule, has a similar meaning. The Gudule
subsequently became cornblessers and initiators of the bull festival for the whole of
Dghweɗe, and were also seen as past owners of a powerful clan medicine for population
growth (called huɓa yige) which they had taken with them to Gudulyewe.
If we consider the above to be a valid hypothesis, meaning that the Gudule were the ritual
replacement of the autochthonous settlers of southern Dghweɗe (similar to the Ruwa of
Mazay), we can see why the Gudule might have been considered different. This view is
supported by the name Gudule as a reminder of 'Gudul' or Gudur, which we linked to the
expansion of the Mafa. We know that the Mafa of our subregion did not practice initiation
rituals either, but had a strong link to Gudur as a regional place for the ritual promotion of
fecundity, and it was the chief of Vreke who represented that link (see Chapter 3.13).
However we also showed that the link to Gudur represented by the chief of Vreke had nothing
to do with the bull festival but was associated with a clan medicine called kule, which he
collected in Gudur and then distributed among the other Mafa clans. We do not claim here
that the Gudule were the name-givers to Gudul or Gudur, but only that the Gudule of
Dghweɗe might not have performed dzum zugune because they were seen as ritual
replacements of the original representatives of autochthonous clans which preceded the
expansion of the Mughuze-Ruwa in southern Dghweɗe.
The Gudule were also seen as seventh born (thaghaya) of Dghweɗe, not only in southern but
also in northern Dghweɗe, which indeed made them custodians of unity for the whole of
Dghweɗe. That the Gudule started the bull festival, while the descendants of Thakara of
Ghwa'a, who saw themselves as their senior brothers, had to wait for it to be performed in
former 'Gharghuze' (now dominated by the Vaghagaya-Mughuze) underpins this point. It
suggests, with the Mughuze-Ruwa being the largest descent group in Dghweɗe, that
population number overrode seniority in ritual terms in the context of this most important
communal festival. We also described the Dghweɗe bull festival as most likely being a late
pre-colonial development in accordance with the unique role of the Gudule in Dghweɗe. That
the Gudule were perhaps ritual representatives of the original descendants of an earlier precolonial autochthonous layer of pre-Korana settlers might indeed explain why they did not
perform dzum zugune. This would also make dzum zugune, in the way it was relayed to us
from the memories of our Dghweɗe protagonists, a later pre-colonial development.
Unfortunately, we lack oral data to support this view, as we also do not know whether the
Gudule had a seat among the elders who attended the ngwa yiye in their public celebration of
fstaha. We know that the senior rainmaker and the senior peacemaker had seats near the ritual
dunghole in Ghwa'a, but unfortunately we do not know whether they did dzum zugune
themselves. There was of course a difference between them and the Gudule, which was that
the Gudule had their clan territory and lineage shrines (khalale) while the Gaske and the
Ɗagha most likely did not. The ritual role of the Gudule derived from a geopolitical legend in
which Gudule himself was punished for breaking the rules of his previleged status as the
seventh-born son of Tasa, which led to the loss of the rainmaking ability. We have described
the cosmographic context of the Gudule’s ritual representation of blessings from below, by
referring to them as custodians of the ethnic unity of late pre-colonial Dghweɗe.
Although we do not have sufficient oral evidence to explore the question of why the Gudule
did not perform dzum zugune, we do know that all the lineage sections descending from
Mughuze and Thakara did perform it. We make this generalisation even though we have not
asked the question of every clan of Dghweɗe, such as for example the Hembe. We remember
that the Hembe fostered Mughuze who then married Hembe's daughter as his first wife, and
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