Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 403
ngwa yiye in Dghweɗe. Nor were there any running competitions mentioned as part of tsufga,
but only in the context of the harvest festival utiva.
Concerning the entry from John Zakariya's comparison above in Table 10, we can identify the
stage he describes as the completion of the first stage, where they wore only a goatskin and
were much sought out by the performers of the second stage and were beaten up by them.
This reminds us of the relationship between the ngwa garda as 'red cows' and the ngwa yiye
as 'black cows' in which the former were threatened with a stick by the latter, and forced to
kneel before they could perform their downhill running competition. We do not know
whether the first-stage performers of tsufga had to carry the second-stage performers on their
backs, but the first-stage performers were certainly the ones who were beaten up. Apart from
that, there were quite a few insults directed towards the participating public during tsufga, but
it also seemed to have a comical aspect to it. In terms of dress code, we find the use of lances
or spears from stage one onwards and we also find the use of different types of bandoliers,
including one made of garden eggs (Solanum aethiopicum). Around their waists they might
have worn strings of grass, and at one point during an earlier stage performers of tsufga would
even walk naked.
Altogether, dzum zugune seems to have been a much more serious business, more linked to
true achievement in all its symbolism, and had a less carnival-esque dimension, despite the
fact of overdressing and displaying female aspects during the second stage. The performers of
tsufga did not appear in full war gear at the final stage, but were dressed in an altogether more
average way in comparison to the exaggerations in appearance and presentation during the
previous stages. We are of course not sure how much Eli Gula's account is flavoured by her
eagerness to convey the extraordinary aspect of her cultural heritage. Altogether it is a
beautiful and lively description of tsufga as a core ritual of the Glavda harvest festival utiva,
with all the different stages mixing in a colourful and exciting way. Unlike in Dghweɗe, it
was performed annually, but with the same goal of celebrating the socio-economic
achievement of male individuals in the context of sequential seniority in extended families.
Unfortunately, we do not know when tsufga was last performed, or whether it had any other
historical aspects which we might have missed.
From traditional to modern – socio-economic changes and crisis management
We think that potential food crisis was a crucial factor behind the type of initiation ritual in
becoming an accomplished male which was practised by the Dghweɗe and other groups to the
north of the Tur heights. We know that the climate to the north of the 11th degree latitude was
significantly drier than to the south, and if we look at Figure 2 we can see that Ngoshe Sama
was exactly on the border of it. Further south the Tur heights began, and once the migrants
had crossed them and arrived in the Gwoza hills they were confronted with a much tougher
climatic environment. This must have had cultural-historical consequences for the
northwestern Mandara Mountains as a climatic subregion. We like to assume here that a more
humid climate to the south of the Tur heights perhaps puts a stronger emphasis on the
initiation of youth into early adulthood, while to the north of the Tur heights the celebration of
the farming success of adults was more central to initiation rituals. In comparison to that, the
northeastern Mafa did not have any similar initiation traditions, and neither to my knowledge
did any of the other groups from the eastern part of the northern Mandara Mountains, whereas
the Wula and Sakon, as well as some of the southern Mafa known as the Bulahay, did practice
youth initiation. We do not know why most of the Mafa did not practice initiation, and
acknowledge that the adult initiation found in the Gwoza hills is unique, as were other
cultural variations, such as the importance of the seventh born and the belief in the communal
reincarnation of twins being a result of the struggle to promote fecundity by ritual means.
We have tried to establish that the making and maintenance of fertile soils behind terrace
walls were an essential part of the Dghweɗe subsistence economy, and that it was not only
embedded in their material but also in their ritual culture. We have shown how the ritual
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