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members of the Nine; but
on the whole proceedings were informal and open to the general public. If cases appeared to have no obvious solution there was recourse to various methods of divination or ordeal: ngu. A pepper seed placed in the eye of an accused man proved his guilt if it did not come out immediately; a chief’s servant might be sent to the forest to shoot the first squirrel or antelope he saw: its sex determined the innocence or guilt of the parties; a sheaf of leaves held in the hand of the diviner was manipulated in a certain way to answer questions put to it by the judges. Many of these practices were open to fraud and bribery, a fact recognised by most Bangwa, as most people preferred to make a simple oath at an oathing site found in the chief’s lemoo or in the sacred lefem copse. For serious cases such as witchcraft and adultery the fearful sasswood ordeal was conducted by the tro society. If the accused man or woman failed to vomit the poison their guilt was proven and the masked men beheaded the victim by the river’s edge. These
procedures for settling disputes were conducted at all levels of the
political organisation. Even within a tiny quarter, atshem were
held under the guidance of respected elders. This is the common way of
settling cases arising from divorce and the repayment of bride price. But
nowadays the general system of atshem has broken down as far as
civil and criminal disputes are concerned. A system of local councils was
introduced in the late ‘fifties mainly as a result of agitation on the
part of commoners who formed the Bangwa Improvement Union; they considered
that traditional methods were not in line with modern changes. In Fontem
there are twelve electoral units who provide a member each for the elected
council. It meets on Sundays and hears cases brought before it by
individuals not prepared to go to the Apart
from the palace hamlets a Bangwa chiefdom is divided into subchiefdoms
which have an important degree of political independence. The subchiefs (efwantö)
are of varied origin: some are conquered, formerly independent chiefs;
others are royal cadets raised to subchief status; others are descendants
of queen mothers, wealthy commoners, or great servants. In Fontem
conquered subchiefs include 22 mothers. In the past an important subchief ruled a miniature state with its own quarters and quarterheads, atshem etc. The subchief received the respect due to a chief, and services and gifts from his subjects. He had his own lemoo sacred lefem copse, sacred stone (mwo ala), his own tro society; the chiefdom had its own spiritual guardian residing in a huge rock or spectacular waterfall; and fertility ritual for the benefit of the subchiefdom was conducted by the subchief. Nevertheless the paramount chief imposed important restrictions on his independence. Political affairs concerning the whole country were settled by the chief in concert with his subchiefs and bakem. Subchiefs were forbidden to undertake private wars. No subchief could inflict the death penalty, even on a slave and cases of witchcraft, murder and adultery with a royal wife were judged by the chief. A subchief was only installed with the consent of his chief and after paying a stiff inheritance fee. Not infrequently in the past a paramount chief installed the heir of his choice against the wishes of the dead subchief. The Bangwa political system is clearly segmented. Governmental powers were delegated to several levels. Even the bakem or quarter heads had important governing and administrative rights. Succession
disputes at subchiefdom and chiefdom level appear to be the rule rather
than the exception although strenuous attempts are made to restrict the
effects of the quarrels to the palace. Until a chief makes his will
(orally in the past, but now sometimes written), which only happens on his
death bed, nobody but perhaps his closest advisors are aware of his
choice. It is rarely his eldest son. At The
ceremonies surrounding the burial of a chief and the succession of his
heir are elaborate. I witnessed the mortuary ceremonies of one important
subchief and the succession ceremony of the chief of 23 the corpse by his successor and the new queen mother, the tying of a white cock in his right hand (to counteract atmospheric disturbances caused by the death of a chief), and the actual inhumation by members of his tro society. The tro members dress in their masked costume, one of them hiding beneath its folds the tro ndi itself, the supreme object associated with tro and chiefship. The body is lowered into the grave, facing east; in the past a paramount chief was supposed to have been buried with one or two slaves, now he is wrapped in valuable cloths with a precious bead ( placed in his nose. When the grave is filled in the tro leader thumps the mound with a plantain stem, and the others give out weird shouts and shake the jangling tro ndi instrument over the grave. The unearthly cries and rattling indicate to the assembly populace that their chief is dead and buried; from this moment only they and his widows are allowed to show signs of grief. In Fonjumetor there is a variation in that a dog or sheep is beaten and beaten until it cries, whereupon the assembled mourners begin to wail. Among the Bamileke a poor slave or servant was beaten and hounded, crying, from the chiefdom at this stage. The widows mourn for nine weeks. During this time they neither wash nor cook food and sleep on dried plantains leaves in the lemoo. At the end of the mourning period they are shaven, washed and ritually oiled by an old woman specially deputed for the role. The
succession rites for the new chief follow immediately after the burial
ritual unless he is a child when the ceremony is delayed. The children of
the dead chief are assembled in one corner of the dancing area where the
mourners are gathered. Suddenly the tro members in their terrifying
costumes skip out of the palace precincts over towards the children
snatching one by one the successor and his titled brothers and sisters:
first the chief, then the mafwa (the queen mother), the nkweta
(the senior brother title), the asa’a, morfwa and angkweta
(another female title). Not all the titles may be given at this time but
the chief, Nkweta and Mafwa are essential. They are conducted to houses
erected for the use of the tro society where they are decked out in
special hoods made from the royal stencilled cloth. They are presented
thus to the people and then returned to the palace where they are secluded
for seven or nine weeks. During this time they are rubbed with oil,
medicine and camwood, and fed with the choicest foods. The chief cohabits
with wives specially married at this time and some selected widows; until
one of them conceives he can not be called chief: he is known as tanyi
nkö (the ‘child father of twins’ litt.). The woman who bears the
first child becomes ngwi nkem, chief wife. His first wife, if he
has been married before succeeding to the throne receives the title of ngwi
konge (favourite wife). During the new chief ‘s seclusion he is
visited by subchiefs, nobles and neighbouring chiefs. His titled
retainers, the Nine, tell him stories of his country. After the seclusion
period he may not necessarily take up the reins of government immediately;
frequently there is a long interregnum. A chief’s property goes primarily to his heir but an important part is divided amongst his children; in theory each son who did not marry during his father’s lifetime should receive one of his widows now. Unscrupulous sons often claimed more; 24 stories are told of pitched battles between sons (supported by their mothers and kin) and the servants and loyal relatives of the new chief who tried to keep the royal property intact. The bulk of the property goes to the successor (widows, marriage wards, oil palm groves, rights in the marriage payments of royal daughters and their matrilineal descendants); Nkweta also took wives and a portion of the property, often as much as he could; lesser title-holders took proportionate shares. Royal
brother and sister titles are a feature of the Bangwa political system.
Nkweta is the chief’s second-in-command: Asunganyi half-brother, Nkweta
Fondu, supported him throughout the sixty-odd years of his reign and was
rewarded with the title of subchief. Another title, There
are also two female titles, Angkweta and Mafwa. The word ‘mafwa’ means
‘female chief’ and in some respects she is considered as such. She is
given the respect of a chief and may represent him at almost all royal
functions; in Fontem she enters the tro society house with him and
sacrifices to the royal skulls. The mafwa and the new chief together rub
the corpse of their father. Her duties mainly concern women; she is the
‘mother’ of the palace, the Fon’s wives bringing their complaints
and quarrels to her. Domestic disputes throughout the country may be
brought to her. She organises women’s activities, either farming,
recreational and (today) political. In In Bangwa societies or associations (‘jujus’) organised for political, economic and social activities are still of great importance. Many of them, particularly the recreational societies, come and go according to fashion, but the two traditional societies tro and lefem will always have a vital part to play. Tro is a society linked with chiefship. It is divided into ranked sections: the great tro (tro ndi) consists of the chief and his mafwa (and sometimes the chief’s Great Wife, the ngwi kem) and the Nine. This section rarely meets nowadays except to play a ritual role at the death and succession of chiefs. In the minds of the Bangwa, tro, with its masked members and mysterious dances, is associated with fearful punishments, hangings and witchcraft ordeals. And its members indulged in spiritual exercises associated by their subjects with witchcraft. Another section 25 of tro includes subchiefs and nkem who have bought from the chief their own section of this society. This section is nowadays nothing but an ‘eating and drinking’ society; they are entitled to important prestations of meat and drink at the funeral celebrations of one of their members. Eating and drinking at the funeral of a fellow member is a common factor of all Bangwa societies, new or old; his successor is honour bound to provide these dues if he wishes to inherit his father’s status in the society. Membership
of the lefem society was also linked to status and rank but all
citizens could belong, if they could afford the initial payments; the only
taboo was that no one could join the lefem society while his father
was alive. The lefem of Aka is another society; it no longer meets in Fontem but it is still popular in neighbouring chiefdoms. It was a society for the rich; in the past a slave was paid to the chief by an aspiring member. It is associated with the beautiful embroidered bead masks made to resemble elephants with wide flapping ears and hanging trunk. The day aka met all a chief’s subjects who were not members were banned to their compounds and forbidden to utter a sound; even cocks were kept under baskets in case they crowed and incurred the owner a stiff fine. All of these societies had governmental and judicial functions; in all of them for example disputes between members were discussed and settled. Both lefem and aka had oathing sites associated with their meeting houses. Before colonial times
Bangwa warriors were organised into an association called afu ‘ka
(or manjong) with a central group of skilled fighters called alaling.
These societies were not, in Fontem, organised into age grades as in
Bamileke and parts of Bamenda. Instead each subchiefdom and quarter sent
their own recruits to be trained at the capital. They fought usually in
one body although different sections might be sent out on special raids.
The vigour of Fontem’s defence against the superior German forces was
even appreciated by their adversaries. Associated with these warrior
organisations were medicines they acquired from their Banyang neighbours.
This was ajia, a medicine which required a complicated seven-day
ritual known only to a few initiates. The end effect, it is said, was to
deflect the enemy’s bullets from the owner’s body. 26 Recreational
societies have been introduced from Keaka (Ekoi) and Calabar by visiting
Banyang and they are most popular at funeral celebrations (‘cry-dies’)
and public occasions. They include Angbu, Niyangkpe, and Alungatshaba
and are associated with elaborate costumes and masks and joyous dancing
and singing. In these societies, in contrast to tro and lefem
all men are free to join for a nominal fee, at least in the lower sections
and even the women are allowed to join the dancing. In some western Bangwa
districts Nyangkpe has an important political role, the elders of the
society settling most disputes. The traditional Bangwa anti-witchcraft society was ku’n gang. Its members possessed powerful medicine for preventing famine, and individual sterility and barrenness. Recently ku’ngang has suffered something of an eclipse but the images associated with the society are still considered powerful (they are supposed to walk and dance and go out at night hunting out witches). The Bangwa trace relationships through both parents. Inheritance of most property and succession to titles is derived through your father. Residence is to a large extent patrilocal. A chief’s successor worships a line of male skulls inherited from father to son. To this extent then the Bangwa are a “patrilineal people”. Nevertheless there are no wide patrilineal groupings, no clans or lineages with common name and marriage taboos, no regular meeting of patrikin for ritual, economic or social purposes. A patriline is primarily important to a man who succeeds his father the chief. Half-brothers, children of one father, have little in common after their father’s death. They co-operate in the mourning ceremonies, quarrel over the inheritance and then go their separate ways. Half-brothers own no property in common. Female links are important in the Bangwa kinship system. Ideally a woman’s property is inherited by her favourite daughter and her skull becomes the focus of an ancestral cult of which the daughter is priestess. A female line is sometimes traced back several generations to a founding ancestress or manengo to whom sacrifices are made. However a woman’s skull may also be inherited by her son and passed on to his daughter. It is rarely inherited by her sister’s daughter or a distant matrilineal relative. A woman’s property which accompanies the inheritance to her skull includes her personal effects and marriage payments due on her daughters and granddaughters. 27 Thus the Bangwa may be said to trace descent through male and female lines. The most important family relationships, however, are those of a person’s own kindred, his atsen ndia. This is an elastic grouping focussed on one’s mother, although if her relatives are few (or non-existent since she may be a slave) it may be one’s father’s mother. This grouping emphasises the solidarity of the children of one womb and their children; it runs counter to the half-sibling relationship within the polygynous family. It is this effective grouping on which a Bangwa man relies throughout his life. Its members form a core group at all sacrifices and rituals; they support a member in accusations of witchcraft; they contribute to marriage payments and receive a share on marriageable women; they help with school and medical fees. Once mother’s brother (i.e. the full sibling of your mother as opposed to the successor of the mother’s father, your mbe tetse, who in most cases is her half brother) may take you into his compound, teach you his craft, give you a wife. A sister’s son and lesser members of a man’s atsen ndia will receive some of the property left by a wealthy mother’s brother: a marriage ward, a widow or an oil palm grove. In the political sphere the title given to the chief’s full brother or sister’s son, mwofwa symbolises the importance of the atsen ndia. The Bangwa are a property-conscious people and very acquisitive. Each individual who is not heir to his father’s title and property attempts to accumulate his own wealth which he leaves with his skull to his heir. It is this strong notion of private property, as opposed to the merged property of a typical corporate lineage, which colours the Bangwa kinship and descent system. All property descends to a man’s son; it should not ‘go up’. Wills, involving an almost complete freedom of bequest are made to ensure this. Failing a son a man will bequeath his property to a daughter’s son, a servant or slave, in preference to a patrilineal collateral. A childless man may instruct his widows to cohabit with a lover in order to produce an heir to the property and a successor to his skull. The skull cult reflects this division among patrikin. The possession of a long line of skulls does not justify your authority over the patrilineal descendants of the first ancestor. Groups which sacrifice to two or twenty skulls are essentially the same: the chief who has twenty only has ritual authority over his father’s children and his own children and grandchildren. In Bangwa non-kinship relations are valued. A man’s friends, for example, are important to him as kin. Anyone born at the same time as another becomes his ‘friend by birth’ (the closest friends, of course, are twins) and a close relationship is forged which in later life serves social, ritual and economic functions. ‘A friend of the road’ is an acquired friend; this type, was, in the past, sealed by eating a minute portion of each other’s blood dipped in kola nut. Blood friendship rites brought a friend as close as your full brother. 28 |