Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 431
the other groups of the Gwoza hills, and can only rely on those from the Mafa of the Gouzda
area. We presented some of their concepts earlier and contrasted them with details told to us
by our Dghweɗe friends.
Before continuing with Dghweɗe cosmography, we want to introduce the reader to two tales,
in the form of a footnote, which are topographically linked to the western and the eastern
foothills of the Dghweɗe massif. The reason is that we think that they might be interesting to
future historians for further ethnoarchaeological understanding of the DGB sites. In Plate 7b
we have already showed a photograph of the western foothill called Bebe (see Chapter 1.1). 2
There is one more aspect of the Dghweɗe cosmography to discuss a little more, which is the
idea of the calabash gourds (dhangale) forming a wall supporting the 'hard sky' of this world
(luwa). Mulama Mbaldawa and elders of Tatsa (1995) specified that they were the type of
dhangale used to store milk, but did not elaborate on whether they contained milk in their
cosmological function. While the Dghweɗe and the other ethnolinguistic groups of the Gwoza
hills consume milk, their subregional Mafa neighbours do not, and the Mafa even find the
consumption of cow milk revolting. I was surprised when I found out that the Dghweɗe had
an elaborate culture of milk consumption, to the extent that it featured in their cosmographic
ideas about the upper limits of the world. We therefore refer to that difference as another
example of cultural variation, especially since we used the Mafa of Gouzda as an example to
illustrate the wider subregional importance of similar cosmographic ideas.
Before we move on to the next section, perhaps a few words about the cultural history of the
image of a snake biting its tail. Today this is an iconic global symbol known as the
Ouroboros, which we think the Dghweɗe incorporated as part of their cosmographic
worldview long ago. Apart from other great civilisations, the Egyptian connection to
Ouroboros is possibly the oldest on the African continent, but it was also known in Islam. The
snake or serpent also played an important role as a spirit animal in African cultures across the
continent. The snake that bites its tail often has a double meaning. On the one hand, the snake
consumes itself and is a symbol of death, but on the other hand it symbolises reproduction and
renewal. We do not think the Dghweɗe used it as a symbol of eternity, which is an abstract
development of the idea and more linked to modern iconographic art and romantic esoteric
thinking. Our two Dghweɗe sources had most likely a very practical scenario in mind when
they expressed the idea that the world would come to an end if the snake died. We can only
speculate, but like to think that allowing for the possibility that the cosmographic snake might
die was a reference to the reality of their mountainous world being prone to environmental
crises. This is a strong possibility, considering their topographical position in the semi-arid
transition zone of the savannas of the southern Lake Chad basin where climate emergencies
were a regular part of the palaeoclimatic circle of life and death.
Tale of how stones stopped being main source of food after arrival of guinea corn
In this chapter we will present oral fragments about the mythological importance of stones
being the food of the first humans, and how this changed when a dog brought guinea corn and
2
There is the legend of the foothill called Bebe in Vile, representing a collapsed tower which could
perhaps be seen in a cosmographic context (Muller-Kosack, 1994, unpublished fieldnotes). The story
goes that the people of Vile built a tower to get to the sky for much needed rain, but when they almost
reached God they were warned not to build any higher. They ignored the warning and the tower gave
way, so that those further down could not hear the warnings from the ones on top. This led to the Vile
people being spread all over the western plain. Some eventually returned because they wanted to visit
the land of their lineage ancestors. The Dghweɗe also have a legend about a collapsed tower which
once existed on the other side of the hills, near Barawa. Their tower story is also linked to the need for
rain and the remains of it are visible as an eroded foothill called Dheya (ibid 1998). One could interpret
the collapsed towers in both tales as cosmographic representations of former mountains, and as such as
oral examples of prehistorical montagnard civilisations that had vanished as a result of climate change.
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