Culture Report Azande - Grade: A PDF

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Cultural Report on the Azande tribe...

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CULTURE REPORT The Azande people are the native inhabitants of central Africa. Their territory is located on lands of three countries: Zaire, Central African Republic and the largest part in Sudan. Firstly, the clansmen built their houses by the water banks, where they had enough shadow and easy access to water which is significant for African climate. However, the epidemic of sleeping sickness caused by the tse tse flies forced the people to move out and rebuild the households by the roads. The Zande, strongly believing in various spirits and fearing closeness of other humans, especially those out of their ethnicity, had struggled with the forced replacement at the beginning. A typical household of Zande consisted of a house, a granary, a courtyard and a “kitchen garden”. The dwellers of one homestead included a man, a wife, children and their dependents, in case of a monogamous family. The houses were built of mud and grass and were stabilized by wooden poles. The walls and roofs of the houses were thatched with grass to ensure proper protection from wind or rain. Important resource - millet, was stored in the granaries. The courtyards were most important parts of the households. Not only were they places for social life and gatherings of the families, but they also were the reflection of the family. The courtyard that was well-cared for was a sign of the family’s responsibility. “Kitchen gardens” located just by the courtyards were used for plants that did not require much attention of the owners, were fairly easy to harvest and ready to be immediately eaten upon serving. Examples of such are pineapples or mangos. The Azande people experienced two seasons - the dry and the rain season. During the rain season, the large amounts of water were collected and provided enough of the resource for all the households. It was also time for cultivation. Dry seasons were busier for the clansmen. In the beginnings of them matured crops were harvested. Huntings and fishings were performed then, as the visibility was improved due to dried out grass and lack of rain, as well as lower levels of rivers. The Azande had their own social system that functioned very well for all. The neighbors which could be thought to be related to one another, were nothing more than political units. Clansmen did not trust one another, especially due to their strong spiritual beliefs. The people were organized into chiefdoms, that even though belonged to one clan, all were independent. The lineage Avongara was the nobility of which all the chiefs were part of. The emissaries were sent by the chiefs to manage the territories of the chiefdom. The unmarried men served as warriors, and laborers or the gardeners on the governors’ gardens. Ordinary clansmen had to help in administration. The governors collected foods and goods from the commoners and handed them further to the chiefs with their own foods so that the highest in rank could redistribute those between the clansmen. The main function of the chiefs was leadership in military, economics or politics. Even though the chiefdoms were related, the warfare was an inseparable part of Azande culture. A safe distance between neighboring kingdoms was important, and the guards had to keep watch on the borders from their houses built on the edges of the chiefdoms. The rain seasons were more popular for attacks due to the limited visibility because of the tall grass and heavy rainfall. The attacks were managed by the provincial leaders and the approval from the chief was not necessary, as long as the attack was consulted with the oracle prior to happening, and there were no objections to abandon the plans. The oracle not only revealed the best time and location for the attack, but also helped to choose the most suitable spy. The spy was sent to the chiefdom-to-be-attacked, usually as a visiting relative or a trader. The needed information was gathered and the raid was planned. If the attack was successful, the tools, foods and other useful items were collected and redistributed by the chief of the victorious kingdom. Everything that could not be taken or would be useless was destroyed or burned. The bigger attack, mobilizations of war, had to be commanded by the chief after he would contact his personal oracle. These lasted over lweeks and instead of spears and knives, the rifles were used as the primary weapon. The marriage rules of the Azande were disrupted by Europeans enforcing their ideas such as legal age of marriage onto the people, even though they were introduced in a good belief. In Zande culture, it was the groom’s responsibility to initiate a marriage. The first step was connection with the woman’s father via sending the intermediary with money. That way the groom’s wish to marry the daughter was presented and the men talked about the matter. Next, the father discussed the proposition with his siblings, and finally with the bride-to-be herself. If everyone expressed their agreement, the money that the groom sent with the intermediary was accepted. Soon after that, the groom would pay a visit to the woman’s parents showing his interest and respect by bringing in the gifts. In turn, the parents would send their daughter to the groom’s house for a trial period, to determine whether the marriage could function. After a couple of weeks, the woman would return home to make her final decision. While the woman was back at her parents’ house reflecting on her final opinion, the man contacted the oracles to assure if the marriage would be a happy one. If the matter was regarded favorably by both, the woman and her family traveled to the groom’s household for the official ceremony of marriage. The marriage was bind by the installation of the cooking hearth which would be used by the bride everyday from now on. The marriage was therefore a process of many steps, though the groom and the bride’s parents had the biggest impact on whether it would !

occur. It was important that the groom stayed in good relations with his wife’s parents, as the money paid before the ceremony was only part of the overall price and he stayed indebted to his in-laws for his all life. If the marriage was broken off, the wife could be requested to come back home to her parents and the return of her to the husband would cost the man even more. If the collaboration between the husband and parents-in-law was correspondent, in polygamous situation, the man could ask to marry his wife’s sister. Polygamous marriages were as popular as monogamous ones. However, if a man had more than one wife, it often resulted in lesbianism, as bored wives often would play with each other while home alone. It was seen as a threat by the husband and therefore they had to be kept a secret. However, it was possible for two women to participate in a ritual and formalize their relationship. Homosexuality between men was different - these relationships were usually formed between lonely unmarried or widowed men, or those who served as warriors and lacked women. These were rather short connections and often ended in men switching to marriages; heterosexual long-lasting relationships. Mbori was a spirit that was believed to be the creator of the world. However, his nature could not be defined by the clansmen and the ideas about him were vague. “Trickster Tales” were the most popular within the folk literature. They mostly served for teaching the crowd about social rules by providing examples of certain social behaviors and their consequences. Since the intended audience were mainly the children who learnt to live in a society, the main character is similar to a child curious about the world, blindly following others and learning on its mistakes. In most stories, the character’s name is Ture. Tales describe its successes and failures, depending on situations. The tales always end with a moral and the readers are taught a lesson. This way, the Azande people could live in peaceful, intelligent society with strongly developed values. These tales were both written or told in person. The strongest belief in the Azande culture was the one in witchcraft. The witch was believed to reside inside bodies unaware of the inhuman spirit feeding on them. Azande believed that the gender of the child is determined upon which parent has a more powerful soul, and that witchcraft is inherited. Therefore, if a parents was a witch, a child will also be one. The older the witch, the more dangerous it got. Children could not do as much harm as the adults, however they could cause minor misfortunes. The Azande’s households are separated with bushes from one another, as nobody knows who the witch is, not even the witch herself. The soul of the witch can travel but only for small distances. Therefore, the further from the closest household, the safer. the Azande felt. Accusation of a witch took place if an illness or death occured. However, for a witch to do any harm, there had to be relationship with the victim. A witch cursing someone they had a social tie with would be harmful, but the words of strangers cannot affect the damned. Witches were only accused between rivals; the people structured in the same social level. However, as no one wanted to take part in the lengthy witch accusation processes, the witchcraft helped to keep peace in the community. Yet, the Azande explained most of misfortunate events a witchcraft, from the minor to major ones. Another significant part of Zande’s beliefs were the oracles. The people reached out to them whenever they needed any sort of information. There were various oracles to choose from, which varied in their reliability. The most popular oracle was benge, used only by the rich men, as the chicken, poison and an expert were all required. Poorer men had to reach out to the wealthier to consult the oracle on their behalf. Wealthy, older men used this way to contact with the oracle, as that gave them prestige and power over poorer, younger kinsmen. The procedure was not an easy one the expert had to poison a small chicken with a proper amount of benge, in proper time intervals. He had to control whether the chicken is taken care of properly after poisoning, since each movement of the bird was meaningful. The questions that were asked had to be formed in a way as the oracle was a human being. Each questions took about five to ten minutes of speech. The oracle gave the answer by either killing or sparing the bird. After the answer has been given, it is tested by asking if the oracle spoke the truth. Different type of oracle that is used by the Azande people can be reached by women, men and children. Two branches from two different trees were put into a termite mound and left for the night. The answer was given by the branch that was eaten. If using this oracle, only one question could be asked at a time and the people had to wait till the morning for the answer. The last oracle used is the one similar to the Ouija board - made of two small pieces of wood. While moving the wood, a question was posed, and if the wood sticks - the answer was given. The civil war of Sudan caused many Azande to seek refugee in other parts of Africa or even on other continents. In the larger aggregations of this minority, the Azande community organizations were formed. They helped the clansmen to contact with each other and adjust into the social world of modern societies. They often ofered financial aid, migration programs, education and social guidance. The most tragic and recongizable impact the Sudanese civil war had on the Azande is the loss of their unique culture. The enlarging gap between parents raised back at home and children born in new countries is truly disastrous. In the era of an on-going globalization, the cultures as the Azande are extremely important to maintain. Unfortunately, the vanishing of them seems inevitable, especially in the events of forced resettlement....