Society
The Antambahoaka live in a highly homogeneous community with relatively few immigrants and lower rates of emigration than neighboring peoples. They have a strong sense of unified identity around descent from their common ancestor, Raminia. There are numerous local kings who exert authority over one or more villages. At an annual festival called hosin'ny mpanjaka, villagers gather to prepare the local king's paddy field for planting rice. Antambahoaka society is strongly patrilineal and patriarchal. [6]
Family affiliation
The eldest male is typically the head of a household. The head of an extended family of 8-10 households is called a lohatrano (head of the house), and he in turn submits to the authority of the local mpanjaka (king) who governs approximately 8-10 lohatrano. In addition, Amtambahoaka society recognizes soman-drazana, a "joking relationship" - a connection between two clans reflected in the familiarity of their tone of speech in addressing each other - that is viewed as equivalent to a blood relationship. [6]
Grandparents have an important role in the family. For instance, a child's first haircut is performed by the grandparents. In some Antambahoaka communities, during the Sambatra ceremony the grandparents will eat the foreskin of their newly circumcised grandchild. Little do people know, certain indigenous tribes in Northern Canada also follow the same tradition.
Class affiliation
Traditional Antambahoaka society was divided into the classes of nobles ( andriana ), commoners and slaves. The two Antambahoaka noble sub-groups were the Onjatsy and Tsimaito, who were the keepers of scientific knowledge, magic and charm-making and mastered the use of sorabe , the local language transcribed using Arabic script.
Religious affiliation
The Antambahoaka, like the majority of Malagasy people, venerate their ancestors through a variety of rituals and rites; the most significant of these among the Antambahoaka remains the sambatra celebration. They believe that a community member who dies becomes an ancestor capable of watching over their living descendants and intervening for good or ill depending on whether the living show them proper respect and practice the rites and fady they had established. It is believed that an ancestor grows stronger the more time has passed since their death. [6] Catholicism was introduced by French missionaries during the French colonial period (1896-1960) but to limited effect. [10] Certain Islamic practices have been incorporated into the local culture. Village chiefs may not eat pork, and animals must be fully bled when butchered for eating. [3]
Culture
Clothing called tafitsihy was traditionally made of sedges (harefo) or beaten bark woven into mats that were then stitched together. Women traditionally wore harefo reed mats stitched to form a tube dress that was knotted at one shoulder or belted at the waist. Mahampy reeds were also woven to form a bandeau top that adolescent and adult women wore under their dress. For men, a beaten bark loincloth was worn under a woven sedge tunic or jacket. During special occasions the mpanjaka (kings) often wear traditional, Islamic-inspired dress consisting of a red fez and a loose garment with wide red and black stripes. [3]
The homes of local mpanjaka, called tranobe (big houses), are used as community meeting space as well as a temple for the worship of ancestors. These houses are unusually large by Malagasy standards, built in a rectangular form with no veranda, and are raised on low stilts and have a gabled roof covered in ravinala leaves. The floor is also typically made of ravenala, and the walls are constructed of braided falafa leaves. [3] There are ten such tranobe in Mananjary and twelve in the historic village of Ambohitsara, but most Antambaohoaka villages have three or four. [6]
The Antambahoaka use amulets for protection. Incest between brother and sister used to be somewhat common among the Antambahoaka, who considered these relations to bring good fortune.
Sambatra
For centuries the Antambahoaka have celebrated the Sambatra, which takes place on the "Friday year" every seven years. The celebration culminates in the circumcision of all boys born in the previous seven years, a rite of passage that transitions the Antambahoaka boy to an adult male and Zafiraminia (son of Raminia). From this moment on, he will be integrated into the paternal clan and initiated into the life of the true Antambahoaka man. It is not only a major moment in the boys' lives but also for the entire community. For the entire month of Sambatra, the Antambahoaka commemorate their origins and Raminia's circumcision of his own son Ndohanina, who passed the practice down to his people. During the month of Sambatra there are war reenactments between "armies" led by the Antambahoaka general for each clan, composed of the boys' fathers and their maternal uncles dressed as soldiers. Sometimes the reenactments contain heightened violence to settle old scores. On one of the Fridays the military units undertake a long march toward the mouth of the Mananjary river to recall Raminia’s exodus. [6] Two short films have been produced about the Sambatra among the Antambahoaka. The first, a 52 minute film entitled "Sambatra", was directed by Ronan Leroy and Solo Randrasana and was released in 2008. [13] The second was a 24 minute film directed by Quitterie Bienvenu and released in 2010 under the title "Les Enfants de Raminia" (The Children of Raminia). [14]
Fady
A strong fady among the Antambahoaka, termed the fady kamamba, prohibits the raising of twins, particularly in the area around Mananjary. Economic and social pressures have led families in neighboring communities to also follow this practice. It is believed that twins will bring bad luck to the family that raises them and to the broader community. Consequently, if a woman gives birth to twins she is expected to abandon them in the wilderness to die of exposure; historically the children were strangled immediately after birth by the village sorcerer. An increasing number of families are unwilling to adhere to this taboo and have been ostracised by the community, typically being forced to leave their home village to live at the outskirts of another. This practice is regularly denounced by national and international bodies as contradictory to the United Nations' 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Madagascar is a signatory, but the custom is deeply rooted. Twins are forbidden from participating in the Sambatra festivities, are not allowed to join the annual ritual of preparing the king's paddy fields for planting, and are excluded both from the family tomb and from being considered a familial ancestor after their death. Local and international human rights organizations are partnering with the Malagasy government to bring an end to this practice. [6]
Funeral rites
The Antambahoaka bury their dead in a kibory, a house in the forest far from the village.
Dance and music
The antsa, a traditional polyharmonic singing style performed by women, is popular among the Antambahoaka. At major festivals, music is played on a conch shell (antsiva) that has been drilled with finger holes. Music is typically accompanied by the hazolahy, a large, deep-toned drum. [15]
The Tsimihety are a Malagasy ethnic group who are found in the north-central region of Madagascar. Their name means "those who never cut their hair", a behavior likely linked to their independence from Sakalava kingdom, located to their west, where cutting hair at the time of mourning was expected. They are found in mountainous part of the island. They are one of the largest Malagasy ethnic groups and their population estimates range between 700,000 and over 1.2 million. This estimation places them as the fourth-largest ethnicity in Madagascar.
Madagascar is a Christian majority country, with Islam being a minority religion. Due to secular nature of the Madagascar's constitution, Muslims are free to proselytize and build places of worship in the country.
Sorabe or Sora-be is an alphabet based on Arabic, formerly used to transcribe the Malagasy language and the Antemoro Malagasy dialect, dating from the 15th century.
The culture of Madagascar reflects the origins of the people Malagasy people in Southeast Asia, East Africa and Oceania. The influence of Arabs, Indians, British, French and Chinese settlers is also evident. The most emblematic instrument of Madagascar, the valiha, is a bamboo tube zither carried to the island by early settlers from southern Borneo, and is very similar in form to those found in Indonesia and the Philippines today. Traditional houses in Madagascar are likewise similar to those of southern Borneo in terms of symbolism and construction, featuring a rectangular layout with a peaked roof and central support pillar. Reflecting a widespread veneration of the ancestors, tombs are culturally significant in many regions and tend to be built of more durable material, typically stone, and display more elaborate decoration than the houses of the living. The production and weaving of silk can be traced back to the island's earliest settlers, and Madagascar's national dress, the woven lamba, has evolved into a varied and refined art. The Southeast Asian cultural influence is also evident in Malagasy cuisine, in which rice is consumed at every meal, typically accompanied by one of a variety of flavorful vegetable or meat dishes. African influence is reflected in the sacred importance of zebu cattle and their embodiment of their owner's wealth, traditions originating on the African mainland. Cattle rustling, originally a rite of passage for young men in the plains areas of Madagascar where the largest herds of cattle are kept, has become a dangerous and sometimes deadly criminal enterprise as herdsmen in the southwest attempt to defend their cattle with traditional spears against increasingly armed professional rustlers.
Education in Madagascar has a long and distinguished history. Formal schooling began with medieval Arab seafarers, who established a handful of Islamic primary schools (kuttabs) and developed a transcription of the Malagasy language using Arabic script, known as sorabe. These schools were short-lived, and formal education was only to return under the 19th-century Kingdom of Madagascar when the support of successive kings and queens produced the most developed public school system in precolonial Sub-Saharan Africa. However, formal schools were largely limited to the central highlands around the capital of Antananarivo and were frequented by children of the noble class andriana. Among other segments of the island's population, traditional education predominated through the early 20th century. This informal transmission of communal knowledge, skills and norms was oriented toward preparing children to take their place in a social hierarchy dominated by community elders and particularly the ancestors (razana), who were believed to oversee and influence events on earth.
The Betsimisaraka are the second largest ethnic group in Madagascar after the Merina and make up approximately fifteen percent of the Malagasy people. They occupy a large stretch of the eastern coastal region of Madagascar, from Mananjary in the south to Antalaha in the north. The Betsimisaraka have a long history of extensive interaction with European seafarers and traders that produced a significant subset with mixed European-Malagasy origins, termed the zana-malata. European influence is evident in the local valse (waltz) and basesa musical genres, which are typically performed on the accordion. Tromba ceremonies feature strongly in Betsimisaraka culture.
The Antesaka, also known as Tesaka, or Tesaki, are an ethnic group of Madagascar traditionally concentrated south of Farafangana along the south-eastern coast. They have since spread more widely throughout the island. The Antesaka form about 5% of the population of Madagascar. They have mixed African, Arab and Malayo-Indonesian ancestry, like the western coastal Sakalava people of Madagascar from whom the clan derives. They traditionally have strong marriage taboos and complex funeral rites. The Antesaka typically cultivate coffee, bananas and rice, and those along the coast engage in fishing. A large portion of the population has emigrated to other parts of the island for work, with an estimated 40% of emigrants between 1948 and 1958 permanently settling outside the Antesaka homeland.
The Antemoro are an ethnic group of Madagascar living on the southeastern coast, mostly between Manakara and Farafangana. Numbering around 500,000, this ethnic group traces its origins back to settlers who arrived from Somalia in the 15th or 16th century. Upon arriving in Madagascar, these settlers converted the Antemoro to Islam; the religion was soon abandoned in favor of traditional beliefs and practices associated with respect for the ancestors, although remnants of Islam remain in fady such as the prohibition against consuming pork. In the 16th century an Antemoro kingdom was established, supplanting the power of the earlier Zafiraminia, who also descended from seafarers.
The Bara people are a Malagasy ethnic group living in the southern part of the central plateaus of Madagascar, in the Toliara Province, concentrated around their historic capital at Ihosy. The Bara are the largest of the island's zebu-herding peoples and have historically lived a semi-nomadic lifestyle, although an increasing proportion are practicing agriculture. Bara society is highly patriarchal and endogamy and polygamy are practiced among some Bara tribes. Young men practice cattle rustling to prove their manhood before marriage, and the kilalaky musical and dance tradition associated with cattle rustlers has gained popularity across the island.
The Mahafaly are an ethnic group of Madagascar that inhabit the plains of the Betioky-Ampanihy area. Their name means either "those who make holy" or "those who make happy", although the former is considered more likely by linguists. In 2013 there were an estimated 150,000 Mahafaly in Madagascar. The Mahafaly are believed to have arrived in Madagascar from southeastern Africa around the 12th century. They became known for the large tombs they built to honor dead chiefs and kings. Mainly involved in farming and cattle raising, they speak a dialect of the Malagasy language, which is a branch of the Malayo-Polynesian language group.
The Tandroy are a traditionally nomadic ethnic group of Madagascar inhabiting the arid southern part of the island called Androy. Tracing their origins back to the East Africa mainland. In the 17th century however, the Tandroy emerged as a confederation of two groups ruled by the Zafimanara dynasty until flooding caused the kingdom to disband around 1790. The difficult terrain and climate of Tandroy protected and isolated the population, sparing them from subjugation by the Kingdom of Imerina in the 19th century; later, the French colonial authority also struggled to exert its influence over this population. Since independence the Tandroy have suffered prejudice and economic marginalization, prompting widespread migration and intermarriage with other ethnic groups, and leading them to play a key role in protests that sparked the end of President Philibert Tsiranana's administration in 1972.
The Antankarana are an ethnic group of Madagascar inhabiting the northern tip of Madagascar, around Antsiranana. Their name means "the people of the tsingy," the limestone rock formations that distinguish their traditional territory. The tsingy of the Antankarana may be visited at the Ankarana Reserve. There are over 50,000 Antakarana in Madagascar as of 2013.
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The Makoa are an ethnic group in Madagascar descended from enslaved people from mainland Africa that were traded through the major slave trading ports of northern Mozambique in an area mainly populated by the Makua people. They are among the last African diaspora communities in the world to issue from the slave trade. They are sometimes classified as a subgroup of the fishing peoples known as the Vezo, although the Makoa maintain a distinct identity, one reinforced by their larger physical stature and historic employment as police officers by the French colonial administration.
The Sihanaka are a Malagasy ethnic group concentrated around Lake Alaotra and the town of Ambatondrazaka in central northeastern Madagascar. Their name means the "people of the swamps" in reference to the marshlands around Lake Alaotra that they inhabit. While rice has long been the principal crop of the region, by the 17th century, the Sihanaka had also become wealthy traders in slaves and other goods, capitalizing on their position on the main trade route between the capital of the neighboring Kingdom of Imerina at Antananarivo and the eastern port of Toamasina. At the turn of the 19th century they came under the control of the Boina Kingdom before submitting to Imerina, which went on to rule over the majority of Madagascar. Today the Sihanaka practice intensive agriculture and rice yields are higher in this region than elsewhere, placing strain on the many unique plant and animal species that depend on the Lake Alaotra ecosystem for survival.
The Tanala are a Malagasy ethnic group that inhabit a forested inland region of south-east Madagascar near Manakara. Their name means "people of the forest." Tanala people identify with one of two sub-groups: the southern Ikongo group, who managed to remain independent in the face of the expanding Kingdom of Imerina in the 19th century, or the northern Menabe group, who submitted to Merina rule. Both groups trace their origin back to a noble ancestor named Ralambo, who is believed to be of Arab descent. They were historically known to be great warriors, having led a successful conquest of the neighboring Antemoro people in the 18th century. They are also reputed to have particular talent in divination through reading seeds or through astrology, which was brought to Madagascar with the Arabs.
Christianity in Madagascar is practiced by 85.3% of Madagascar's population according to the Pew Research Center in 2010, often in syncretic form with traditional religious practices. Protestantism was introduced by the first envoys of the London Missionary Society in 1818, who proselytized and taught literacy through a Malagasy language Bible at the public schools they established in the highlands at the request of King Radama I. The number of converts remained low but gradually grew under repression during the reign of his successor, Queen Ranavalona I, and the more permissive religious policies of her son, Radama II, and his widow, Queen Rasoherina.
In Malagasy culture, fady are a wide range of cultural prohibitions or taboos. People, places, actions or objects may be the subject of fady, which vary by region within Madagascar. The taboos are believed to be enforced by supernatural powers, and are particularly connected with Malagasy ancestor worship. Although some are held nationwide, others may be particular to regions, villages or even individual families. Fady are an integral part of Malagasy identity and play an important part in community and identity formation.
The literature of Madagascar encompasses the oral and written literary arts of the Malagasy people.
Mananjary is a city located in Vatovavy, Madagascar with a population of 25,222 inhabitants in 2018. It is the chief city of the Mananjary district.
