The Power of fertility in traditional African societies.
The African people put so much value in their fertility. If anything, they view their fertility prestigiously; it has a prestigious value to them. The women of the pastoralist Datooga of Tanzania even performed meetings and demonstrations against the people whom they claimed caused fear in their procreation rights. It is believed that it is the woman that determines the fate of her home by how fertile she is. Moreover, the man also has to perform to contribute to their procreation. There are various concepts that are used to describe the African fertility. For instance there has to be performance during the various stages of fertility such as conception stage, pregnancy period, and delivery and even to death. According to the African cultures and traditions, there are some aspects in a relationship that are more sensitive and serious than others. They believe that some of these experiences are contravention to the fertile body of the female and that if they happen they will destroy the procreative probability of the Datooga people at large. Fertility in the African traditional societies is very essential that rules have been formed to regulate the possibility of abuse to the female body. These rules have been named gadeemga.
Actions compromising fertility
Therefore the male counterparts are expected to respect these gadeemga rules. Such behaviors like abusing a pregnant woman by quarreling them or mistreating them is regarded as very grave offences and can contribute to infertility. Sexual abuse and offensive language or presence during a child’s birth requires cleansing and action according to the Datooga community. Negative reaction towards a midwife’s decision too was a compromising factor. Such issues are viewed as compromising of the African fertility. Moreover, mishandling anything related to the female is regarded as disrespecting the female body and is gravely harmful to the community. A woman’s bed should be treated with so much respect to avoid a compromising situation. Dairy products and any other objects that are within the woman’s jurisdiction were to be respected. Kicking them or destroying them would be compromising the Datooga. When a woman is barren, treating her inability to get children should never be disputed by anyone. Such a person is considered an enemy. Moreover, to the Datooga people, fertility is much more than just the themes of reproduction of the body. It is believed that other than the possibility of the reproductive body to procreate, the Datooga people also believe in the spirits of the dead. They believe that these spirits have no sins and that they give the blessings of life and fertility. (202) in addition, the fertility and sacredness in both the female and male body were so vital in the African culture that the women performed songs (dumda gadeemga) to the spirits for their wishes to be granted. The performance of the female is expressed through her procreativeness and her spirituality. As discussed before, the Datooga women hold meetings for the Datooga wives. In these meetings, they always emphasize on the importance of being fruitful all the time, everywhere.
The Datooga of Tanzania believes that a woman’s fruitfulness can make her attain sanctity. However, they believe that unless the Datooga moral values are followed, the spirits will not give blessings to the living Datooga people and the woman will not bear fruit. In case there is a violation of the values, purification of both the male and females should be performed and thereafter a new beginning should be put in place so as to recover the massive potential of fertility. The Datooga believe that infertility can be resolved by rejoining the male and female bodies. According to the Datooga an infliction of pain in the woman’s head is an infliction of pain in the womb.
Touching or disrespecting a woman’s sacred skirt is another act that compromises the Datooga fertility. A case was reported where a man was reported to have burnt a woman’s sacred skirt. In addition, pregnancy related illness and miscarriages were also treated as matters that put the African fertility to compromise and required action. The Datooga women also possessed hearth stones that they believed to have blessings to the woman. The woman generally represented her children too. The Datooga women demanded for respect from the Datooga men and were very strict about it. Moreover, the Datooga women believed that sharing of chores fairly was also a reproductive symbol. The relationship between husband and wife were considered sacred since it was the beginning point of procreation. This relationship was considered very delicate and was to be respected by other parties outside the marriage. The children represented the union between the two. Furthermore the relationship between the husband and wife brought together two different clans in the African setting.
The action
When any person tries to compromise the fertility of the Datooga, there are various actions that could be taken against him. Mostly, it is the men that try to make this mistake. This is why they are referred to as ‘enemies’ by the Datooga women. It is reported that a man in wandela that killed his dog that had a large litter, was summoned by the girgweada gadeemga and charged a bull and a joint consumption of food. Moreover, they could be given curses by the Datooga women who communicate with the spirits by wearing their sacred skirts (hanang’weanda). In the many cases reported of disrespecting infertility, the people involved were summoned by the girgweada gadeemga and given sentences. Moreover, the women could go to the offender’s home in possession of sticks. This was seen to be very serious matter that needed attention. The men therefore would offer animals to the outraged women who in turn would burst into laughter and demand for the scarce animals such as black oxen. The black oxen was the most treasured animal and the most difficult to find among the Datooga community. The women therefore punished the male offenders by demanding for the scarce animal since they knew they would undergo a hard time trying to get one or if they got one they would have to part with an excessively large amount of money. This stress alone was seen as enough punishment. The offering of animals was done to cool down the women’s tempers. When the offender gave an animal, it would be frightened back to the offender’s compound by the furious women who followed it and strangled it to death. The purpose of this ritual was to kill the bad spirits and proclaim life. It was a demand that children at school are given good treatment. Lack of that could cause the punishment of contributing of food stuff such as maize and beans. Others would even be punished by being given cultivation work.
The fines that the enemies were given were such as an annual fee on the animal herds and the people in the compound. In addition, they were required to pay taxes on the auction of animals. Other taxes were demanded for the reason of schools, roads and cars. These demands for taxes were a punishment to the offender. These taxes that were given contributed to the development of the Datooga community. Other than that, it also contributed to the appeasing of the angered spirits that give blessings.
Other actions that women could take included asking or pursuing for divorces. Children and men would suffer from these divorces. Even women could hurt at the end since their social lives are affected.
In conclusion, the Datooga women really valued their fertility to the extent that the woman was not supposed to be offended or mistreated by the man. Her children and the things associated to her such as her clothing and her bed and the kitchen ware were also not supposed to be disrespected. Dogs and cats with litter also fell under this category
Work cited:
Ardener, S. (1975) ‘Sexual insult and female militancy’
(ed.) Perceiving women (London: Malaby (J M. Dent».
Barber, K. (1990) ‘Oriki, women and the proliferation and merging of Barber, K.
Orisa·. Africa, 60: 313-3 7
