Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 582
fallopian tube as a divine intervention to bring about new life.
Zalaghwa
Marriage ritual in which the middle layer of three stacks of solid food
(jadva) was broken in two on the head of the bride by a woman who
had not lost her first child; she gave one half with her right hand to a
boy and the other half with her left hand to a girl; see illustration in
Figure 32 of how the boy runs to the ritual sauce kitchen and the girl to
the lower kitchen before they consume both halves (Chapter 3.20).
Zal ɗuf ɗala
One of the two ritual assistants of a dzum zugune performer who has
not yet performed adult initiation himself (zal = husband or priesthood;
ɗuf ɗala = leftover sauce); a zal ɗuf ɗala represents someone who has
not yet managed to fill three granaries as his counterpart zal fstaha has
done; we think this implies that a zal ɗuf ɗala symbolically still relies
on 'leftover sauce' to feed his family (Chapter 3.14).
Zal fstaha
One of the two ritual assistants of a dzum zugune performer who has
completed dzum zugune (zal = husband or priesthood; fstaha =
initiation); he has already demonstrated his accomplishment by ritually
redistributing food and sorghum beer for communal feasting (Chapter
3.14).
Zal jije
Family priest; is also the name for the ancestor pot for a deceased
grandfather stored in the 'stomach' of the house shrine (khuɗi thala);
the prefix zal (zala = husband) for both the family priest (who is a
generation mate of the deceased) and for the zal jiji ancestor pot
suggests a strong symbol representing reproduction (Chapter 3.12).
Zal thaghaya
Husband and owner of the house; again we have the prefix zal which in
our opinion refers to sexual reproduction, the epitome of which is to
have a seventh-born successor born to him by his first wife; see Figure
20b in Chapter 3.12 about the way of har ghwe (ritual for a deceased
father) following the death of a zal thaghaya, and Chapter 3.18 for
more details about the Dghweɗe inheritance system and the
significance of the seventh- and eighth-born child representing good
and bad reproductive luck expressed in terms of birth order.
Zala
Husband; a wife refers to her husband as zala, and his wives’ sisters
also call him zala; a man's wives refer to each other as tatghe (Chapter
3.6); also see the use of zala as prefix in the different ritual contexts of
patrilineal reproduction such as zal thaghaya and zal jije; in zalghede
(wizard or sorcerer) it could even be seen as negative reproductive
spirit exploitation (Chapter 3.15); spirit abduction through sorcery
could lead to reproductive spirit loss which might be interpreted as
erectile dysfunction (see Chapter 3.21 for more details).
Zalghede
Wizard or sorcerer; see Chapter 3.15 about Dghweɗe ideas around
existential personhood for the interpretation of zalghede as being
predominantly male sorcerers; they were thought to be able to consume
the life-force of an abducted spirit while female witches (wadighe)
were seen as not powerful enough for such deadly attacks; sorcery of
that kind was seen as intentional, being the sacrifice of an abducted
spirit to a negative aspect of divinity in the celestial world.
Zalika
Lance made of iron used for ngwa yiye during the third stage of dzum
zugune; a zalika was also used for hunting leopards; see photograph of
a zalika lance in Plate 59b; the fourth and final stage of dzum zugune
was called bak zalika but we do not know whether they carried a zalika
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