Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 543
as Dghweɗe in relation to other ethnic groups of the Gwoza hills, while the system of
matrilateral exogamy was known as zbe. The above scenario regarding ritual entitlement in
the context of adult initiation tells of the sophisticated complexities resulting from the
management of reproduction in terms of zbe, and that the social relationship system of precolonial Dghweɗe was an inherent part of it. We concluded that during colonial times
extended families who were not exogamous on the matrilateral side (mbthawa) were
theoretically unable intermarry for at least four generations after an intermarriage, but this
might have been different in pre-colonial times depending on the possibility finding suitable
marriage partners. Consequently, finding support among exogamous matrilateral zbe
relationships, meaning the full-brothers of one’s mother, in addition to one’s full- and halfbrothers who were sons of the same father, was a core element of an individual’s success. It
might have led to a situation in which a father and farm owner of younger age was able to fill
the three granaries of his house to complete adult initiation, while a farmer of greater age but
with fewer kindred connections could not.
The above example shows the complexity of Dghweɗe ritual culture, and that the formation
of wider social alliances than only those of direct kinship could have been crucial. This does
not mean that kinship was not an element of social organisation, but that the idea behind the
formation of kindred relationships was presumably socio-economic survival in which the
driving force was finding alliances that would best serve collective survival. This view is
supported by the fact that patrilineal exogamy (gwagha) was not written in stone, but most
likely changed as soon as one local descent group extensively reproduced or diminished, and
we suggested that the patrilineal exogamy described in Chapter 3.6 resulted from late precolonial times. We demonstrated this by presenting the oral history of the gradual expansion
of the Vaghagaya-Mughuze who grew in number and eventually replaced the Gudule as the
most successful reproductive local clan group of southern Dghweɗe. According to Mathews
(1934) the weakening of the Gudule led to them giving up patrilineal exogamy altogether,
because they were no longer able to exchange enough daughters for marriage. Still, we were
able to establish that the Gudule remained of great ritual importance with regard to starting
the travelling bull festival (har daghile) for the whole of Dghweɗe, and in Chapter 3.13 we
explored the possibility that they might even have played a ritual role during adult initiation
(dzum zugune). We raised this as a theoretical question in relation to the VaghagayaMughuze, despite the Gudule having been known for not performing dzum zugune
themselves. We used the Mafa example of the ritual role of the Ruwa of Mazay to underpin
our hypothesis, and to demonstrate that lineal and patrilocal descent was traditionally used to
renew settlement alliances between local clan groups in order to maintain mutually accepted
ritual blessings over land fertility. We argued that one of the reasons for this was that the soils
needed to be continuously manured, an aspect of successful terrace farming we connected
with the concept of Dghweɗe locality being intrinsic to their cosmographic orientation.
A general conclusion of my wider subregional research is that one of the main differences
between the Mafa of the Gouzda area and the Dghweɗe was that despite the Mafa also
forming clan groups of the same ancestral origin, the Dghweɗe clan groups were much
smaller by comparison and diagonally less nested. Some of the Mafa clans turned out to have
been former ethnic groups which had become Mafa clans as part of ritual alliances across
traditional village boundaries, such as the Wula-Sakon of Mtskar. We described how the
Wula-Sakon as first settlers of the Gouzda area were pushed northwards by the largest
expanding Mafa clans, the Vuzay and the Zhele, and how the cross-village alliance of that
expansion was kept alive by passing on sorghum beer in a certain ritual order. In the context
of this the Ruwa of Mazay played a crucial role, despite being a very small local clan group.
Similar to the Gudule in relation to the expanding Vaghagaya-Mughuze, the Ruwa of Mazay
represented the Wula-Sakon as the original first settlers of Mazay. This meant that the Zhele
of Mazay, as the most recently expanded clan group, could only perform their locality
sacrifice after the Ruwa of Mazay had passed on sorghum beer to the most senior lineage
group of the Wula-Sakon in Mtskar. It was part of the oral historical narrative that recent precolonial descendants of the original Ruwa had been resettled in Mazay to maintain that
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