Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 494
representation of divinity (gwazgafte) as personal gods, and the belief in a house god
represented by the main entrance of a house (see also Chapter 3.12 and Chapter 3.16).
After this the woman was led from the foundation stone to the children's room, where she
spent three days in seclusion without eating solid food, but she could drink sorghum beer
(ghuze) or sour milk (wuba). We remember, from the previous chapters about the birth of
twins and ideas around conception, the ritual importance of liquid food (including water) as a
symbol of fecundity and human reproduction. The groom would also have started fasting but
would be able to leave the house. The age mates and friends of the woman would only
consume kunu (the Hausa for liquid porridge) but they would have to stay at home. Her
female friends would tie hamtiwe leaves (see Chapter 3.14) around their necks and waists, a
process referred to as ngza. We recognise the hamtiwe leaves, a Vitaceae (grape) variety,
from the entry stage of the adult initiation (dzum zugune), and infer that they perhaps
represented a collective form of youthful aspiration for family renewal.
The family now produced a thread made of cowpea fibre for the woman to tie around her
waist, which was the only thing she wore during seclusion. Such a thread was called za'a
ndole ndole (za'a = thread; ndole ndole = promise) and was a representation of the new bond
between husband and wife. While she was fasting during the three days of ritual seclusion, the
water for her personal use was supplied by her relatives, and a new pot to store the water was
installed. She would mix the water with guinea corn flour and drink it as an additional liquid
food. We also notice that she spent the seclusion period in the children's room rather than in
the room of the first wife of the father of the groom. This would have been the case for a
primary marriage, and presumably also for a secondary marriage.
On the third day, when the seclusion of the bride ended, a certain food was prepared,
consisting of powdered okra (ngaɓe) poured into a new calabash filled with water and fresh
guinea corn flour. We are not certain whether the powered okra and guinea corn flour were
mixed, but we know that the guinea corn flour was stirred into a solid mass with the water and
rolled into food balls. These solid cornflour balls were then used by the family priest (zal jije),
who arrived on the third day of seclusion to carry out the part of the marriage ritual linked to
the family ancestors by throwing them towards the three ancestor stones (kwir thala). The
family priest also took some guinea corn flour and poured it into the ritual calabash from the
main house shrine and then poured it over the ancestor stones in front of the shrine. Also, a
freshly cooked sorghum mash and a sauce called sankura was cooked in salty water and was
now offered to the three family ancestors represented by the three stones, and the family
priest would say a prayer and ask God to make the bride part of the family of her husband.
While he was pouring the flour-water over the stones he pronounced blessings for the family
and expressed his wish to come for the naming of a newborn child the following year. After
that, the family priest himself ate some of the food and then distributed the rest among the
children of the house.
While the bride was in seclusion, the groom went out and borrowed a ritual bowl (jahurimbe)
from a friend or neighbour who had already performed the adult initiation ceremonies (dzum
zugune). We remember that the pot jahurimbe could be stored inside the house shrine (khuɗi
thala) or/and in the loft (gude) of the first wife's lower room. A sauce made from the fat of
animals (dag ɗala) was now prepared, which then played a role in the ritual cutting of a food
of cake consistency called jadva by a married woman the groom had organised. An important
condition was that this woman had not lost her firstborn child, and that her husband was still
alive. Either before or as part of the cutting of the 'wedding cake', as John referred to the cakelike solid food, a ritual known as zalaghwa (see Figure 32) was performed. This consisted of
a boy and a girl aged between six and nine running with parts of the solid 'wedding cake' to
the ritual sauce kitchen and the lower or left-hand kitchen. When following the detailed
description that John provided within his second account, we need to realise that it was the
sauce from animal fats called dag ɗala that was filled into the jahurimbe pot the groom had
borrowed from a neighbour:
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