Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 580
seasonal calendar linked to the Gregorian calendar for better
understanding; the Gaske rainmakers played a decisive role in
controlling the rainfall in accordance with the two labour-intensive
hoeing periods (Table 5d).
Vize
Iron sand; it was collected by women in the past (Chapter 3.10).
Vjardghawa
Unmarried young women; see Chapter 3.14 for more details.
Vjir mile
Firstborn child (vjir = child; mile = first); see reference to vjir mile by
rainmaker Ndruwe Dzuguma in Chapter 3.12.
Vra
Grinding top; see Plates 29c and 29e showing photographs of grinding
tops (vra) in the lower and upper kitchen in the documentation of the
architecture of a traditional Dghweɗe house (Chapter 3.11).
W
Wadighe
Witch; a wadighe was seen as being unable to kill while a zalghede
(sorcerer) was able to kill; the gender aspect of the Dghweɗe concept
of witchcraft and sorcery is explored in Chapter 3.15 as part of the
Dghweɗe concept of existential personhood.
Wahili
Kanuri: administrative title
Wa'iye
Anogeissus leiocarpus; was used for roofing; was inherited by seventhborn son (thaghaya); see list of useful trees in Table 7b (Chapter 3.10).
Wala
Name of the younger of twins (Wasa was the older); see Chapter 3.19.
Wasa
Name of the older of twins (Wala was the younger); see Chapter 3.19.
Wuɓa
Sour milk; it played a role in the twin ceremony; see Chapter 3.19.
Wulinge
Tree used to make hollow branches for the kula kula 'talking oracle'
used to identify the former parents of twins (Chapter 3.19); the leaves
were also used to retrieve a lost spirit as part of a healing ceremony
(see Chapter 3.21 for details).
Wura
General word for inheritance; see illustrations in Figures 28a and 28b
about the role of the family seventh born (thaghaya) as main
beneficiary of the Dghweɗe inheritance system (Chapter 3.18).
Wurighe
Borassus aethiopum; Fan palm (inherited by seventh-born son); see
description of its many uses in Table 7b, and Plate 18a for a photo of
this very useful tree (Chapter 3.10).
Wusa-waya
Shortleasing a piece of land (wusa = hoeing; waya = sunroof, hangar);
John described short leasing as modern development and explained
that a sunroof was built for short-term use only (Chapter 3.10).
Wushighwe
Facial make-up; see illustration in Figure 23a (Chapter 3.14); the
make-up was most likely made with ochre; a mark across the forehead
for females and across the nose for males; it was applied to young
males (referred to as gabajuwala) who had not yet performed dzum
zugune and to young women (referred to as vjardghawa).
Wushile
He-goat; see also tgija wushile (Table 7c and Plate 19c) which was a
reference to a grass grown between terrace walls to prevent erosion and
which the rainmaker tied around beans to promote their growth
(Chapter 3.10); we know that he-goats (wushile) were the main
sacrifice of the house to a deceased father or grandfather for successful
terrace farming.
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