Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 527
Chapter 3.23
Ritual density and the role of Cissus quadrangularis
Introduction
Cissus quadrangularis is a plant of the Vitaceae or grape family which played a large
medicinal and ritual role in Dghweɗe culture where it was generally referred to as vavanza. In
earlier chapters we discussed whether 'Godaliy', an ethnonym their subregional Mafa
neighbours reportedly used for the Dghweɗe, can be linked to the ritual importance of Cissus
quadrangularis across the Gwoza hills area. In this context we quoted district officer Mathews
(1934) who wrongly referred to the plant as a 'cactus' variety, and used the indigenous word
'gadali' which we identified to be most likely of Fulani origin. 1 We concluded that not only
'gadali' but also 'Godaliy' was not only a reference to Urginea maritima (huɓa) but also to
Cissus quadrangularis (vavanza) and established that both played a role in legends and
mythological accounts about clan medicines. These plants appear in narratives about the
promotion of local group expansion and their ritual ownership was crucial. Another important
function was to increase the yield of crops, and we demonstrated the importance of Cissus
quadrangularis in the example of the divine origin of Amuda (Figure 15a) as the main
cornblesser clan on a foothill of the eastern Gwoza plain. Another strong link to Cissus
quadrangularis, and presumably also to Urginea maritima, was Mutube in the Margi area of
Mulgwe (Figure 4), which in oral traditions often appears as the place of origin of Ɗagha
diviners, particularly along the western foothills of the Gwoza hills.
In Dghweɗe it was the Ɗagha peacemakers who owned most of the Cissus quadrangularis.
Unlike the Ɗagha diviners they had no link to Mutube, but were integrated in the Tur
tradition of the Dghweɗe as 'sons' of Wasa and 'brothers' of Paduka (Figure 12). The latter are
related to the Podoko of the Mora hills who had presumably left the Gwoza hills during late
pre-colonial times. Vaima or Baima, the first bulama of Ghwa'a, was a member of the Ɗagha
peacemaker lineage, and in an extensive oral history account (Chapter 2.2) we described how
in the mid-1920s he ritually swallowed vavanza in order to lead a delegation of montagnards
to notify the British resident of Borno about the slavery attacks of Hamman Yaji. We also
remember, as part of the oral history of southern Dghweɗe, how the Gudule were once
considered the most numerous clan in that area, and that they took some of their reproductive
clan medicine with them to Gudulyewe (Gudur). We further described how the MughuzeRuwa, who eventually defeated the Gudule, had received their clan medicine for successful
lineage expansion from Hambagda in Hiɗkala, and we mentioned the legendary horn (drawa)
in which it was kept in Korana. In that context we established the significant role of outsiders
as founders in the ethno-genesis of the Dghweɗe.
Throughout Part Three we demonstrated the importance of ritual density as a regulatory
mechanism for successful socio-economic reproduction. In this final chapter we want to
demonstrate the prolific varieties of ritual Cissus quadrangularis (vavanza) as an identitygiving plant, by presenting a sample collection differentiated by ownership and respective
application. 2 We present two lists of vavanza below. Table 12a includes photographs while
Table 12b does not, and we think it is no coincidence that the photographed varieties were
often the more common ones that were publicly owned. Conversely, most of the vavanza in
Table 12b were owned by the Ɗagha peacemaker lineage, and it occurred to me in hindsight
that this was probably the reason why images were not shown to me. We will learn that many
of them could cause serious harm, and we will address a form of ritual treatment referred to as
1
Roger Blench (2020) lists Cissus quadrangularis under gaadal and Urginea maritima under gadali.
Our hypothesis is supported by the fact that the ethnic toponym Glavda can be derived from the
Fulfulde word ghavda for Ficus platyphylla, the identity-giving tree of the Glavda founding legend. We
discussed the potential ethno-historical significance of these Fulfulde references in Chapter 3.3.
2
Catherine Bell (1997:173ff) reviews ideas around the notion of ritual density in a dedicated chapter.
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