Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 531
Vavanz tsukwana – is
the word for traditional
stock cube. It was cut
into small pieces and
left in a pot filled with
water to decompose for
a week. To make it
decompose further,
more water was added.
Next, the vavanza was
squeezed out and the
water was filtered. Then
beans were ground and
their flour was added to
further decompose until
the mixture turned
solid. It was used
straightaway or dried
and preserved for later
use.
63l
Commonly
owned by all
Dghweɗe.
All the photographs of mainly ritual vavanza presented in Table 12a were taken in a
geographically limited area in Dzga of Ghwa'a, but we cannot determine whether they are all
individual botanical varieties. For example, Plate 63a (vavanz gave) looks similar to Plate 63i
(vavanz gulve), but while 63a is classified as ordinary vavanza, meaning without any ritual or
other use, 63i is classified as skwe, being a clan medicine owned by a particular non-specialist
lineage from Tatsa to treat a certain illness known as gulve. We have not gone too far into the
concept of skwe, but have translated it as ritual treatment, in this case for symptoms that
remind us of jaundice. However, we will learn that it was not about treating jaundice, and that
it could be used to inflict harm as well as to heal, and later we will compare it with a skwe
treatment related to diarrhoea which used a different plant.
One could reportedly die of the particular type of skwe called gulve, in which the cheeks
would swell up, and the private parts of a woman who had attracted the gulve, and the
woman’s hair would turn straight. The charcoal and mahogany oil mixed with vavanz gulve
applied to the body of the sufferer would stop this happening, but it had to be done by the
owner of that particular ritual skwe treatment. It was believed it was the charcoal element of
the clan medicine which took away the yellow appearance. I was further told that if a girl
refused to marry a man to whom she was promised, some of her hair could be thrown into a
vazanz gulve plant, together with a part of her dress. If this ritual action was performed she
could contract the illness.
As mentioned before, we cannot tell whether vavanz gulve and vavanz gave were the same
botanical variety even though they look so alike, but we have a similar problem with the
varieties presented in Table12a which appear different. If we observe their colour and shape
we can see that some have a red colour, and others are of a round shape and others again are
shorter or sharper-edged in shape. Only a botanist could tell, and I have to admit I am not at
all familiar with the botanical variation of individual types of Cissus quadrangularis.
Therefore we can only refer to the ritual uses and ownerships our friends in Dghweɗe
informed us about. Considering how familiar the Dghweɗe were with their many different
uses shows how important such local knowledge must once have been.
We can see from the listing of photographs that quite a few of the vavanza were owned by
people to whom we refer as ordinary Dghweɗe, by which we mean Dghweɗe who did not
belong to one of the specialist lineages. There were also non-ritual uses in terms of food
production, as in the case of vavanz tsukwana (Plate 63l) which describes the making of
traditional stock cubes. Still, vavanz tsukwana needs to be distinguished from ordinary vavanz
gave which had no ritual or common use. We do not know whether ordinary vavanza was a
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