Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 523
classified separately. In the context of this, insects were classified together with birds under
the general term dgndala, as in wild animals that could fly. However, this only included
insects that could fly, while termites were called trara. Termites were not dgsiye, and John
pointed out that insects that could not fly were called by their individual names.
Also, mice and rats were not classified under dgsiye (animals of the bush) because they lived
in the bush and also in the house, and like insects that could not fly they were called by their
individual names. With regard to birds (dgndala), meaning 'things that can fly' and which
included insects, only birds that could not be eaten were classified as dgndala. Like birds,
snakes were not classified as dgsiye, and neither were animals living in the water (dgyuwe).
The following list provides us with examples of wild animals which were not considered as
dgsiye (wild animals of the bush):
•
•
•
•
•
dgvughe
dgndala
dgyuwe
dgkalkwa
dgthile
= snakes: 'things which crawl'
= birds and insects (only those who can fly): 'things which fly'
= water animals: 'things in the water'
= animals or 'things' between or in rocks, including caves
= wild animals of the plains (cultivated and bush but not settlements)
We notice that dgsiye as general term for 'animals of the bush' explicitly applied to wild
animals of the mountains, and only seemed to refer to those literally living on the surface of
the land in the bush areas (susiye). We can only speculate whether this had to do with siye
(bushland) potentially becoming cultivated land (see Figure 17 in Chapter 3.10). Aside from
dgndala (birds and insects that could fly but could not be eaten), the Dghweɗe categorised
animals of the bushland which could not be eaten under the general term dgsiye. We should
remember here that many farm animals (dgahtha) were out grazing across mountainous
bushland areas (susiye) during the dry season.
Below is a list of examples of dgsiye which could not be eaten:
•
•
•
•
bungwe
bangagave
balinga or ghandawa lusa
ghdisiye
= leopard
= hyena
= monkey or 'ash coloured monkey'
= jackal 'dog of the bush'
There were certain avoidance rules linked to hyena and monkeys in relation to cultivated
bushland. For example, if someone found the skull of a hyena, or even killed a hyena on his
bushland, it was believed that the land would not produce. The affected farmer would have to
ask a member of either the cornblesser (Gashiwe) or rainmaker (Gaske) lineage to bless his
bushland before he could carry on farming it. If one was confronted with monkeys while
farming in the bush, one was not allowed to come into physical contact with them. If someone
had contact with monkeys it was believed that the harvest from that field could not enter the
house. If someone killed a monkey he would have to sleep in the house of the cornblesser that
night. However monkeys were not commonly killed.
Jackals were not very common in the hills, but leopards were considered very powerful, and
we remember that the Ɗagha peacemaker lineage had a special relationship with leopards,
and particularly talented members were known to be able to transform into leopards. They
owned a ritual type of Cissus quadrangularis called vavanz bungwe which allowed them to
control leopards. This ability was reflected in one of their mythological accounts, where Bas
Mogula, son of Thigiɗa and an important ancestor of the Ɗagha peacemaker lineage of
Ghwa'a, had transformed into a leopard in his father's house, and he had already begun to
show this special talent as a child (see Chapter 3.7). Due to its complexity and central
importance in Dghweɗe culture, we will present the ritual use of Cissus quadrangularis
separately in Chapter 3.23. But before moving on to that, we want to present examples of how
colours were classified in Dghweɗe. We will see that most colour terms were descriptive and
that words referring to the cultural environment were often used.
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