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98-463: The postal code for Tandale ward is 14106. The ward is divided into the following neighborhoods ( Mitaa ): The ward, like every other ward in the country, has local government offices based on the population served. The Tandale Ward administration building houses a court as per the Ward Tribunal Act of 1988, including other vital departments for the administration the ward. The ward has

196-923: A Bantu ethnic group native to the central eastern coast of Tanzania , particularly Dar es Salaam Region and Pwani Region . They are the largest ethnic group in and around Dar es Salaam , the former capital of Tanzania and the 7th largest city in Africa. Estimated to be about 0.7 million people, over 98% of them are Muslims , more specifically the Shafi'i school of Sunni Islam. Zaramo people are considered influential in Tanzania popular culture, with musical genres like Sengeli originating from their community in Kinondoni District. Their culture and history have been shaped by their dwelling in both urban and rural landscapes. The original Zaramo language, sometimes called Kizaramo ,

294-464: A liwali . The British first established a Township Authority made up of selected Europeans and Asians before experimenting with a number of "native administrations." The town was made into a separate district and divided into six wards, one under each elder. Finally, in 1941, the Township Authority received a native affairs sub-committee and its first African members. These measures included making

392-411: A Zaramo headman the chief of the entire township, establishing a council of six elders, each of whom represented a grouping of tribes from one direction, and making the town a separate district. Population increase altered Dar es Salaam's entire character. Many Zaramo settlements, particularly Buguruni, were subsumed by the shanty cities the immigrants established. Magomeni had a population density that

490-478: A crucial part in defining people's identities and providing the idiom by which membership in Digo society is claimed or demonstrated. Digo people believe that paternal lineage links are important, despite the fact that maternal clan relationships are the most significant kinship ties. The Digo distinguish between the fuko , the family of the mother, and the mbari , the family of the father. Digo began converting to Islam in

588-458: A girl's female power and her fertility. A girl has a reproductive cycle within society-one that starts with her first menses, continues to her initiation, marriage, birth of her children, and finally ends with the puberty of her grandchildren, at which point her reproductive cycle is over. The girl novice, also called mwali, is secluded in her mother's house for anywhere between two weeks and one year. Earlier documentation states that this process in

686-529: A guy traveled alone and cleared the forest to create a farm, that was the other sort of property ownership. He would clear the land, keeping a tiny bit for each of his wives and a portion for himself. He therefore owned a farm, and each wife was given a little plot of property. The wife's land was known as konho, and the husband's land was known as dzumbe. Regarding their konho, women enjoyed total control and freedom. They had complete control over this property and could cultivate and harvest whatever they pleased. On

784-928: A higher importance being placed upon sufficient grave marking. Traditional Zaramo grave figures have a variety of names: mwana hiti (no longer in contemporary use,) nguzo za makaburi (translated to "grave posts,") mashahidi wa makaburi (translated to "grave witness.") These figures are considered witnesses or representation of the deceased. Mwana hiti grave figures are separate from mwana hiti initiation figures, and were mainly used for headmen or chief graves. Sometimes grave markers are created as marionette-like, wooden puppets called motto wa bandia to become mnemonic honorary devices. Staffs, aside from their use as walking supports, are used as ritual aids, titular symbols, and representations of power. Specific staffs are usual signifiers of chiefs, diviners, and linguists. Literally translated to "small stick," kifimbo staffs are small staffs used mainly for military authority. It

882-554: A husband or lover. The majority of the kids were sold into slavery to nearby Swahili villages with nautical populations, giving them access to seafood. Famines were frequent during the British occupation, and other Mijikenda tribes also used this technique to alleviate them. Changes in marriage customs and the prominence of the father in Islam started to put the mjomba's authority under pressure. The rise in cases supporting patrilineal inheritance

980-475: A large number of homes. However, it is noteworthy that neither Shomvi nor Zaramo had much real estate because Dar es Salaam's explosive growth from humble beginnings had engulfed both native groups. Nobody took Shomvi and Zaramo seriously when they both occasionally asserted that they "owned" the town. Shomvi were primarily fishermen, while Zaramo, who came from a less developed educational region, were "very submerged"—a characteristic that set Dar es Salaam apart from

1078-641: A result of Zaramo's disregard. Resources for resistance were offered by indigenous religious organizations like the Kubandwa Cult and the Uwuxala Society. Long-established populations were not always opposed to Christianity, though. Only eleven of the 150–200 waalimu in Uzaramo were reported to be able to interpret the Koran rather than merely recite it in 1912, when it was claimed that students at Koran schools learned

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1176-592: A sense of social continuity conveyed through the material continuity of the fuko links Digo's identity to the ownership of land. Beyond its material value, inheritance of property becomes the preferred manifestation of this social continuity when ownership of fuko land (clan land) is disputed. This is demonstrated by tracing the usage of inheritance as a crucial symbol of defining meanings of land and social interactions. Conflicts and arguments over inheritance represent conflicts of meaning and identity since they are significant both materially and symbolically. The Digo economy

1274-597: A significant demand for labor. The colonial government implemented taxation and land access restrictions in order to produce a labor force that would be required to work for pay. The Digo were compelled to supply warriors to fight for Britain against Germany in neighboring Tanzania during the First World War. Due to the Kenyan Digo's proximity to the Tanzanian border, the British put more pressure on them to provide labor for

1372-414: A status like to the nearby Islamic communities. In metropolitan parts of coastal Kenya, where Islam has long dominated society, Swahili Islam enjoys a position of power and luxury. Dress, non-agricultural work, leisure time, and financial dependence on spouses for married women were among the newly included conceptions of status. In other parts of Kenya, urbanization and Christianization are also factors in

1470-488: A whole. Arguments over matrilineal and patrilineal inheritance, which are centered on proving one's affiliation with particular communities, reflect the shifting kinship relationships in inheritance patterns. As a result, the colonial attempt to regulate access to land as well as other components of Digo culture, such as individual power, upset ideas about kinship, law, and identity with ramifications for gender. The more individual conception of land and person under Islamic law

1568-535: Is Bantu , belonging to the Niger-Congo family of languages. However, in contemporary Tanzania, only a few speak it, and most speak Swahili language as their first language, as it is the trading language of the East African coast and the national language of Tanzania. Kizaramo is still used in many Zaramo rituals, such as the mwali rites, though they often appear alongside Swahili translations. By oral tradition,

1666-441: Is a physically strenuous task, which is the main reason a woman may retire from the practice. Good clay is the most essential part of Zaramo pottery, with many potters choosing to mix several types of clay to achieve maximum durability through the firing process. A pottery wheel is not used; instead, "pinch pot" techniques (generally for smaller vessels) and coiling methods (generally for larger vessels) are used. After being formed,

1764-421: Is a reflection of this change in marriage custom. The maternal uncle hasn't lost all of his significance or respect, either, as the mjomba still provides for fatherless children by paying the bridewealth. These kin relationships are a regular feature of how people are arranged in social relationships with one another. When two Digo people first meet, the question "whose people are you?" is frequently posed. Either

1862-434: Is continued into death, in which the spirits of the dead, mizimu , only bring misfortune upon the living. Illness, death, infertility, and poor agriculture can all be attributed to the spitefulness of mizimu. Tambiko are funeral rites where the family clean the grave and offer food and drink to each other and the deceased. Sometimes a temporary hut is built around the grave to act as a shrine. After Tanzanian independence in

1960-663: Is directly correlated to that of chiefs in Tanzania. By the early-mid-20th century, much of Zaramo pottery consisted of internal creations and imports from Europe, Japan, and India. Most of Zaramo pottery consists of ceramic water jars and earthenware cooking pots and dishes. Pottery is generally made for kitchen-use, thus resulting in two main types/uses: vessels for liquid (narrow-rimmed) and vessels for cooking and serving food (open and curved rims.) Cooking dishes may range from 5-12 inches in diameter and 2-3 inches in height, usually topped with an open, flared rim. General cooking pots are called chungu, while dishes made specifically for

2058-444: Is either held in the hand or tucked between the upper arm and the torso. Kifimbo hold no functional use, and are considered purely symbolic. Traditional kome staffs are tall staffs made from blackwood ( mpingo ) and are carved to possess animal and human (women) decoration. Mwana hiti were common top decorations before Tanzanian independence. Kome staffs are typically associated with chief power, and so their decreased presence

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2156-488: Is important to Zaramo agriculture because it can grow with very little rain. For Zaramo people who live on the coast, fishing is also popular for both personal consumption and trade. Some Zaramo may also choose to brew beer, make charcoal, or dig for copal for a living. Those with specialized professions, mafundi , or as healers and diviners, mganga , rarely work those positions full time, often working agriculturally to supplement. The independence of Tanganyika in 1961 and

2254-441: Is made up of all of your mothers' moms going all the way back, mbari is also primarily patrilineal and belongs to your grandpa. The distinction between fuko and mbari kinship, which affects membership and social continuity, is significant and frequently explained in terms of land inheritance. Despite being a family conflict, inheritance creates social links and obligations that further the process of creating meanings. I contend that

2352-539: Is made up of nine peoples, including the Digo. The Mijikenda share many cultural traits and speak mutually understandable languages. They made the decision to go by the name Mijikenda when they formed the cooperative political organization known as the Mijikenda Union in the late 1940s in coastal Kenya. The Digo have resided in the Kenyan coast's plains and hinterland ridges south of Mombasa and in Tanzania north of Tanga since

2450-456: Is present) or white beads as jewelry. Mwali hiti are meant to spark a "nurturing consciousness" within the mwali to instill a desire to have children. They also act as the main socializing for the mwali during her seclusion, measuring her skills as a future mother and teaching her the responsibilities of womanhood (i.e. taking care of oneself and children.) Mwali must treat the mwana hiti as her child, bathing it, oiling it, dressing

2548-425: Is seen as a job that complements the agricultural and domestic responsibilities assigned to women. Apart from most of Africa, Zaramo women do not sell their pottery in markets, instead operating on an order/commission system. While any women may choose to practice pottery, many women are taught by older relatives when they are mwali , a time when girls are secluded in the home and normally learn domestic skills. Pottery

2646-470: Is simpler to map out Islam's political stance by the 1950s. Not only was it growing almost as quickly as Christianity, but Muslims also appeared to be adhering to their religion more rigidly than before. However, a lot of cultural resistance endured. Few Zaramo Muslims frequented mosques, and their female rituals remained largely non-Islamic. Urban Islam was occasionally quite superficial, notably in Dar es Salaam. Even

2744-440: Is termed as nhulu or "growth." The initiation process takes place during the dry season and about once every three years. Each novice, mwali, have a designated instructor, mhunga, who guides the youth through the circumcision process, teaches Zaramo sex lore and practice. Once the mwali are circumcised, they are brought to an initiation hut, kumbi, where they are taught, and then are not permitted to bathe for two weeks. Once

2842-402: Is then carried to a mkole tree where is circumcised as well by an operator, or mnhunga. She is then returned to her family and she is celebrated with an mbwelo dance. Mwana Hiti figures may also be referred to as mwana nya kiti, mwana nya nhiti, or mwana mkongo. These names stem from mwana, meaning "child," and nya kiti and nya nhiti meaning "wood" and "chair." Mkongo refers to

2940-587: The Belgian Congo branch and the son of slave parents, was one of the committee members. He also had a significant home. Two notable leaders were from the Zaramo: Ramadhani Ali, the first vice-president and a trader, and Ali Saidi, a building inspector who served as the association's treasurer during the 1930s. Both later served as leaders of the Wazaramo Union, with Ramadhani Ali serving as King of

3038-496: The British occupation , the practice of enslaving nieces or nephews by the Digo in exchange for food or payment was abolished at the start of World War One . The colonial government forbade the enslavement of minors throughout the first decade of the 20th century in an effort to dismantle debt networks and end slavery. Both the industry along the coast and the settlers in Kenya's highlands had

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3136-571: The Indian Ocean coast between Mombasa in southern Kenya and northern Tanga in Tanzania . In 1994 the Digo population was estimated to total 305,000, with 217,000 ethnic Digo living in Kenya and 88,000 (1987 estimate) in Tanzania. Digo people, nearly all Muslims , speak the Digo language , called Chidigo by speakers, a Bantu language . The Mijikenda , whose name means "the nine kaya" or "nine cities,"

3234-510: The Liwali and Mudirs. The terms "Muslim" and "native" didn't actually apply to any particular group of people or to how the law or the land were used. By using both categories in land disputes, this false division between "native" and "Muslim" offered a forum for dialogue and the challenge of colonial authority. Although a small number of Digo people in the Kwale district and Swahili coastal cities along

3332-762: The Zaramo people . The ward evolved into an international community as the city grew. The ward was the most densely populated one in the nation as of 2012 with 54,781 residents. The ward is home to these educational institutions: The ward is home to the following health institutions: This Dar es Salaam Region location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Zaramo people Dar es Salaam Region ( Temeke District , Ilala District , Ubungo District , Kinondoni District , Kigamboni District ) Pwani Region The Zaramo people , also referred to as Dzalamo or Saramo ( Wazaramo , in Swahili ), are

3430-466: The fifteenth and sixteenth century . The Digo in Tanzania are the native inhabitants of the Mkinga and Tanga districts of Tanga Region and are the major cultural group there. Until the early 20th century, the Digo maintained their prosperous trade with the nearby Swahili communities during the colonial era. Due to Zanzibar's rising economic stature and the Digo people's tight ties to Swahili towns in

3528-463: The mwali are allowed to bathe again, their mothers in the village hold a village dance, mbiga. After eight more days the mwali return to the village and their instructors burn the kumbi and anything else related to the initiation. The mwali are now men of society and celebrate with mlao, a dance of emergence. Female initiation begins with a girl's first menses. The rituals associated with female initiation are performed to protect and enrich

3626-570: The mwana hiti can also double as a tambiko , or "sacrifice," as a means to create stronger ties with the spiritual world. Men are the carvers of mwana hiti , many creating reputations for their highly sought after figures. Mwana hiti are only commissioned, and there cannot be more than one figure commissioned by a family at a time. Carvers also cannot create mwali hiti if a family already possesses one. The carver creates mwana hiti out of one piece of wood (or gourd) that he picks out, though any decorations for hair or jewelry must be provided by

3724-453: The mwana hiti vary, the average being around 10 centimeters. They can be projections of a child, a woman with a child, or an mwali. Mwana hiti are cylindrical figures with depictions of a head and torso of relatively equal size and usually no arms, legs or genitalia. Breasts and a navel are often present as well as hair. Facial features are simple and abstract, occasionally not being present. These figures may be decorated with metal (if hair

3822-449: The "Swahili or Muslim Wedding"—the majority of women are now wed in Muslim weddings. Muslim marriages came to be seen as conferring the highest prestige on women while also placing the woman in a system of rights, freedoms, obligations, constraints, and reliance along the metropolitan coastal frontier. Following the conversion to Islam, Digo society developed new ideas of what it meant to have

3920-594: The 1960s, an increasing number of Zaramo people have requested to be buried in their home villages on private land or on church grounds. The influence of Islam and the increase of urbanization and literacy have been marked as responsible for the decline in traditional Zaramo figure grave posts. The majority of contemporary grave markers are slab markers with written sentiments and notifiers. Decreasing land availability in Dar Es Salaam has led to an increase in unmarked grave sites holding multiple bodies, which has resulted in

4018-492: The 19th century. Conversion to Islam among the coastal Zaramo people began in the 19th century. These historic events, states Stockreiter, have influenced the politics and inter-ethnic relations in 20th-century Tanzania. Initiation rituals are required for the youth of the Zaramo people to become full-fledged members of adult society. Theses rituals generally happen around puberty and the female's first menses. The male ceremony

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4116-546: The Kaguru, Kwere, Kutu, Kami, Sagara, Luguru, Ngulu and Vidunda peoples. The majority of the peoples of Tanganyika were patrilineal , but there are signs that many of them were once matrilineal . Some of these matrilineal peoples, like the Zaramo, Luguru, Mwera, and Makonde , were able to survive in the south-east where tsetse may have prevented men from acquiring cattle to pass on to their sons. The Zaramo society has been historically victimized by slave raids and slave trading by

4214-565: The Koran in Arabic without grasping its meaning. Magic and literacy frequently intertwined. It was customary to read the entire Koran aloud to honor ancestors or to purify a community. A passage from the Koran served as a standard amulet, and ink diluted in water served as a standard medication. A Zaramo Muslim immigrant worker named Abdulrahman Saidi Mboga is credited with introducing superior rice varieties and irrigation methods to South Pare . It

4312-502: The Marini and one of the most prominent Africans in Dar es Salaam. These men had completely different interests and unifying principles than Watts or Matola did. The organisation was split throughout the 1930s between proponents of a territorial alliance of educated men and supporters of harmony between the various social classes in the city. Africans in the town were governed by the Germans via

4410-605: The Shomvi could not meet his demands, they offered for him and his family to live with them on the coast, where they would receive an annual tribute instead. The war and its results were said to be the founding of the Zaramo. Undoubtedly after the Maji Maji rebellion, it was a period of significant Islamic expansion. Before 1914, the Ngindo , Zaramo, and Zigua peoples in the coastal hinterland had been heavily influenced by Islam. Since then,

4508-493: The Swahili-Arab traders of Zanzibar . To resist this persecution, they developed stockade-fortified villages. Many ran away from the coast, and would return during the daytime to farm and fish. Zanzibar Arabs, state William Worger, Nancy Clark and Edward Alpers, however pursued their slave raiding into the mainland, where they would seize pagan Zaramo adults and children, gag them so they would not cry out, and then sell them to

4606-615: The Zanzibar Archipelago in 1963 and their subsequent formation of the United Republic of Tanzania led to a significant shift in Tanzanian culture, as well as the Zaramo culture. In 1963, 132 chiefs and headmen were removed from their political positions as government executives. The decreased status of chiefs and headmen has led to the dwindling of their numbers and traditions associated with them. Zaramo people hold their dead with high respect and reverence. They believe that life

4704-483: The Zaramo are said to be descendants of the Shomvi people under the lead of the warrior-hero, Pazi in the early 19th century. The Shomvi, a mercantile clan living in what is present-day Dar Es Salaam were attacked by an offshoot group of Kamba people from Kenya . The Shomvi sought help from the warrior, Pazi, who lived in the hinterlands. When Pazi defeated the Kamba, he asked for salt, cloth, and other luxuries in return. When

4802-480: The act of frying are called kaango or kikaango (depending on size), with smaller bowls being referred to as bakuli. Chetezo or Kitezo are shallow dishes made to be placed on shrine pedestals to hold incense offerings. Mtungi are large pots, sometimes reaching 2 feet high, that are made particularly to hold water for bathing and drinking; a household generally has two of these vessels, one for each use. Sometimes mtungi are replaced with buckets or oil drums,

4900-424: The clan). Despite the fact that males inherit their mother's fuko, their children do not and are not entitled to any of the clan's land ( mashamba ya mafuko ). When land associated with social kin relationships, such as fuko land, is held by women or is passed maternally from the mother's brother to the sister's children, it materially reproduces these social links. A middle-aged Digo man named Kasim described how

4998-515: The coast have been Muslim for generations, the majority of Digo people only converted in the 1920s. Because of their habitational patterns, the Digo, unlike other Mijikenda, fully embraced Islam. Mijikenda converts who moved to Swahili towns rather than staying in the rural had formed a trend of urban Islamization . Digo Mijikenda converts, while, "south of Mombasa, beginning in the 1890s, remained resident in their home villages, while centering their social and religious life as Muslims in town." During

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5096-550: The coastal area's major religion. By 1913, Muslims were up half of the Zaramo population. Both from the coast and up north from the Rufiji, where Zaramo tracked the boys' jando initiation ceremony that contributed significantly to the spread of Islam, proselytizing had taken place. Zaramo started performing Islamic circumcision. Islam in the coastal region and its hinterland typically made it difficult for missions to be effective. The Benedictines relocated their operations inland as

5194-547: The coastal plains, agriculture was utilized, left fallow, and then utilized once again by various individuals, whereas coconut trees remained the exclusive property of particular people or clans. One woman recalls farming in the colonial era in the Kwale district's Kinondo neighborhood as follows: The land belonged to everyone, and while there was no set pattern or method for planting trees, individuals were familiar with their particular species. Annual crops were sown in particular locations. The area where each individual had to plant

5292-495: The colonial period. In addition to clearing land becoming a sign of tenure and ownership becoming retainable after a fallow period, land gradually came to have some intrinsic worth that could be used for trade. In addition to dzumbe (father's land) and konho (mother's land), which are typically self-acquired properties, the Digo also acknowledge mash amba ya mafuko (clan farms, matrilineal) and mashamba ya mbari (lineage farms, patrilineal), which are inherited properties. These are

5390-438: The deceased person's closest Muslim relative. These women were also protecting the rights of their offspring because Islamic law did not recognize marriages to non-Muslims and considered the offspring of such unions to be illegitimate and not eligible for inheritance. Officially, the child, niece, or nephew could not inherit if they were not Muslims. Both matrilineal and patrilineal systems of inheritance would be affected because

5488-496: The distinctions between these land holdings were that in the past, there were two different sorts of land ownership. If three brothers from the same mother walked out into the forest to clear it and build a farm (shamba). From the same fuko sprung these three brothers. Their sisters' side nieces and nephews, or the awa, would receive their inheritance. The fuko would own this territory. Since they weren't descended from that fuko, none of those three brothers' children would inherit. If

5586-407: The early 19th century. Islam soon spread further among the Digo and the majority were Muslim by the 1940s. This process involved close economic contacts with coastal Muslim traders and the use of Muslim healers who also acted as religious teachers. The conversion of elders and other influential leaders in the community had a significant impact for the future spread of the religion among the Digo. In

5684-673: The encounter between the African people, Arab-Swahili trader intermediaries and the European powers, but it broadly coopted the older slave-driven, social stratification model. According to Elke Stockreiter – a professor of History specializing on Africa, the slaves seized from Zaramo people and other ethnic groups such as Yao, Makonde and Nyamwezi peoples from the mainland and brought to the coastal Tanzania region and Zanzibar sought social inclusion and attempted to reduce their treatment as inferiors by their slave owners by adopting and adapting to Islam in

5782-534: The fact that Muslims participated in Digo religious ceremonies and sacrifices at home and observed the communal practices of Islam away from home." It became challenging to maintain this flexibility as mosques and Koranic schools erected in the Kwale district, as public acts of faith were now performed both at homes and among the faithful. Even the most fundamental components of daily life, such how people dress, eat, and conduct funerals, were altered by this process. Previously cordial family connections were torn apart by

5880-563: The family. The Zaramo people have borrowed from the general Swahili and the once-occupying Arab culture in terms of dress such as wearing a skull cap, Islamic festivals and Muslim observances, but they continue some of their pre-Islam traditions such as matrilineal kinship, while a few pursue the Kolelo fertility cult and the worship of their ancient deity Mulungu . The traditional practice of Mganga or medicine man, along with Muslim clerics offering services as divine healers, remains popular among

5978-506: The final two decades of the nineteenth century, the population of Digo Muslims gradually expanded. While other Mijikenda peoples also converted to Islam, it was typically an individual decision that involved settling in Swahili communities. The Digo are still the only Mijikenda group that have a majority of Muslims. Digo society was profoundly impacted by conversion. Initially, the distinctions between Digo converts and non-converts were "mitigated by

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6076-421: The following administration offices: In the local government system of Tanzania, the ward is the smallest democratic unit. Each ward is composed of a committee of eight elected council members which include a chairperson, one salaried officer (with no voting rights), and an executive officer. One-third of seats are reserved for women councillors. The ward and a sizable part of the district were originally home to

6174-412: The government, urging instead a paramount chief to guide the Zaramo toward progress. Urban ethnicity was not just a means of survival, but also a productive effort to forge groups that could work well together in colonial society. The term, "Zaramo," in scholarly studies also reflects a macro-ethnic group. The larger Zaramo group consists of Zaramo proper, but includes a number of related peoples such as

6272-411: The hair (of which the mwali wears the same style,) and feeding it. If she fails to complete these motherly tasks she may be denied fertility in the future. Fertility is prized in Zaramo culture as children are seen as economic and cultural goals for prosperity and legacy. If a woman encounters fertility after her initiation is over, she may choose to repeat seclusion and mwana hiti rites. This means

6370-469: The impoverished Zaramo communities. The Zaramo people are settled farmers who also keep livestock and fish. They also are migrant workers to Tanzania's capital city and tourist sites, considering business, or biashara, their job. They live in pangone or shanty clusters of villages. They produce staple foods such as rice, millet, maize, sorghum, and cassava, as well as cash crops such as coconuts, legumes, cashews, pineapples, oranges, and bananas. Cassava

6468-420: The initial plot of land and work land that once belonged to someone else. It made no difference who had previously held the land. Men made the decision to emigrate to a new nation as a group. Nobody could make a choice. The assignment of plots was also done by men. The guys initially sought guidance from the divine to see whether there was a good omen before moving. After making their selection, they would travel to

6566-638: The kaya and offer sacrifices to the Spirits, let them know about it, and ask to God for favorable signs for the fields. They would pray to God and the spirits for blessings. The men would go and draw lines of demarcation before going to the sea and relaxing. Women carried with the farming chores. The trees themselves, not the soil on which they were placed, were what mattered. It was remembered who owned certain coconut trees, but not who last planted fallow land. But with other shifting social and political interactions, land gradually became more significant than trees during

6664-419: The land of his grandmother originally transferred maternally from his mother's brother to his sister's child before remaining in the control of the fuko women. Despite the fact that her mjomba had five boys, Kasim's grandmother had received land from her mother's brother. Despite the fact that she had two boys and one daughter, she then handed her land to her daughter's daughters. The family's ladies were therefore

6762-574: The land would be given to the nearest Muslim relative. Due to the unequal number of conversions of men and women, the Chief Kadhi (an Islamic religious authority) decided to establish the right of inheritance for illegitimate Muslim children. A child ran the risk of not inheriting from either matrilineal or patrilineal Muslim male relatives if s/he was not considered Muslim. Due to their involvement in Muslim society, women are now more economically dependent on men, especially their spouses. Within households,

6860-540: The manufactured alternatives being more durable, though they keep the water less cool. Mtungi tend to have more fragile necks prone to cracking and chipping. There is not much distinction between pottery for everyday use and pottery for rituals, such as ceremonial mwali bathing, healing rituals, and grave offerings. Everyday pottery may be used, though many ceremonies require the vessel to be new. The majority of potters in Zaramo culture are women, who are called fundi wa kufinyanga or "masters of making pottery." Pottery

6958-508: The matrilineal modes of inheritance. For the Digo, British concerns about racial and ethnic segregation resulted in a paradoxical division of "native" and "Muslim." The Digo were viewed by the British as "natives" as opposed to "Muslims" since, as "natives," they were subject to the District Court and local Native councils, whereas the Muslims of the coastal area were governed by Muslim law and

7056-481: The matrilineal modes of inheritance. In the nineteenth century, children of both sexes typically did not inherit from their father but instead from their mother, grandmother, maternal uncles (mjomba), or their fuko. Instead, people acquired stakes in the land through use, clearance, and social ties that had developed over time with the land, such as debt (rahani), kinship, or patronage. These inheritance customs were also being fought at this time by systematic evasions of

7154-455: The mbari or the fuko are mentioned in the response to the query. Women are seen as crucial for continuity because men are considered dead ends in the fuko's propagation. According to the Digo, having daughters makes the fuko rich. The family to which one belongs, Mbari , perhaps dates back only as far as grandfathers. It is a smaller unit than the fuko, which includes the founder of the fuko as well as all ancestors. However, unlike fuko, which

7252-456: The mjomba's responsibilities and authority, including childrearing, paying for marriage and divorce, and having the authority to give away children as desired. The colonial government significantly strengthened Islamic conceptions of family by giving the father authority that had previously only been given to the mjomba. This put into question men's duties and rights towards their sisters and offspring, which posed problems for Digo kinship systems as

7350-560: The mkongo tree, of which many mwana hiti are carved from. All of these names refer to the mwana hiti as a "child of wood." Mwana hiti may be represented in other forms besides figures such as walking sticks, staff, stool, musical instruments, and grave posts among others. Mwana hiti don't belong to individuals, but to families, and they are passed down generations, sometimes up to 40 or 50 years. Mwana hiti are usually made of wood, however some Zaramo traditions say they should be made of gourds as gourds are symbols of fertility. Sizes of

7448-443: The nineteenth century, children of both sexes typically did not inherit from their father but instead from their mother, grandmother, maternal uncles ( mjomba ), or their fuko . Instead, people acquired stakes in the land through use, clearance, and social ties that had developed over time with the land, such as debt (rahani), kinship, or patronage. These inheritance customs were also being fought at this time by systematic evasions of

7546-427: The ones who passed on the land. The majority of scholarly research has argued that Digo inheritance is matrilineal and that historically, land only passed from the mother's brother to the sister's son. According to oral sources, judgment records, and past research, assessments of Digo land transmission focusing on men are deficient and do not fully depict the variety and size of Digo land holdings. The ownership of land

7644-621: The ostensibly Muslim Ngindo rarely performed Islamic marriage. During the British period, the founding members of the African Association included representatives from the three most influential African communities in Dar es Salaam in the 1920s: the Manyema , and Zaramo. Effendi Plantan, the former head of the ex-askari community, had raised its secretary, Kleist Sykes. Mzee Sudi, the Manyema leader for

7742-427: The other as a head scarf or veil) twice a month as fashion changes is crucial as well because being in style is prestigious. Being able to perform social duties like attending weddings and funerals, regardless of the distance or amount of time required, is an important aspect of status. Because social obligations vary and take up a lot of time, status is gained by flexible working arrangements, not working, or depending on

7840-445: The other capitals of East Africa. The trible associations of the 1950s were heavily focused on rural improvement in addition to urban welfare. The Wazaramo Union was the best illustration. The Zaramo did not require an association to bury or care for them because he lived so near to the town. However, the Wazaramo Union was home to about 3,500 of the 6,500 tribal union members who were enrolled in Dar es Salaam in 1955. Its main priority

7938-418: The other hand, Dzumbe was completely under the husband's control. He would make all the decisions, but everyone would plant it together. The children of the wife received Konho as inheritance. The husband's nieces and nephews would receive dumbe. Husbands did not leave their wives any inheritance. Kinship ties to the land vary by gender (defined by clan membership) and with time (defined by the proximity of kin to

8036-481: The past could have taken up to five years. The mwali's paternal aunt is usually assigned as her shangazi , or the one who takes over the mwali's teachings and ceremonies. The initiate is taught domestic responsibilities such as housekeeping, childcare, sexual and moral behavior, and mature interaction in society. During seclusion, the mwali is not allowed to speak, work, or go outside, to symbolize her death and put emphasis on her re-emergence as symbolic birth. She

8134-431: The pottery are left to dry out for two to seven days before being fired, not in a kiln, but a wood fire. The vessels are placed on top of a fire, and more wood and plant material are placed on top of the vessels. Firing lasts two to three hours. If the pottery is to be colored, they are colored directly after firing. Digo people The Digo ( Wadigo in Swahili ) are a Bantu ethnic and linguistic group based near

8232-556: The region has primarily become Islamic, with the exception of Maasai, some of Bonde (whom had a long history of missions), and to a lesser extent, Matumbi . The last barrier to the Islamization of the Digo in the north was eliminated by the destruction of Lutheran artifacts. When missionary work began in the south after many Mwera and Makua stopped practicing Christianity, polygynous marriages and other barriers made it difficult for many converts to return, which led to Islam becoming

8330-404: The roles of men and women shifted, giving husbands more responsibility for their wives and kids and giving wives less autonomy toward their husbands. The different types of marriage that Digo society has accepted and still recognizes serve as evidence of these developments in the family. Although there are three different types of marriage in Digo society—the "Digo wedding," the "Cattle Wedding," and

8428-436: The rules concerning what to eat, with game and pig being the most essential options. Ideas about a person's nature and relationship with God underwent a profound shift. For instance, deformities, once seen to be the outcome of sin or to be evil in and of themselves, came to be understood as the diversity of God's creation. In the 1920s, land was a significant factor in the conversion of the Digo people to Islam, particularly for

8526-732: The same significance or effectiveness. Women initially resisted conversion, and the District Commissioner Dundas even stated in 1920 that few Digo women were Muslim. However, the conversion of the Digo men would have a significant impact on the religion of the women. Wamahiu contends that because "women's conversion came largely through marriage" and was brought on by considerations of inheritance and status, women had more to lose materially. Many women are thought to have converted as men started applying Islamic law to inheritance disputes in order to secure their inheritance rights under this system, as these rights would have otherwise gone to

8624-447: The second half of the nineteenth century, it was possible for individuals to amass riches and power, frequently through affiliations. The Digo had previously dominated trade between the shore and the interior, but they eventually lost it to the Swahili and Arabs who were part of the expanding Zanzibari Sultanate . Later, the potency of this economic dependence on Zanzibar was undermined by colonialism . Due to constant famines caused by

8722-506: The shift to economic dependence on spouses. In stratified civilizations with a history of slavery, status is particularly significant. Social memories of slavery and the stigma attached to having slave heritage serve to elevate status. Digo women's status is influenced by issues of class, which are reflected in ideals like having free time (rather than money in general), but specifically freedom from agricultural work. The ability to afford new less (two cloth wraps, one worn as an outer skirt and

8820-502: The traders. Sometimes during famines, such as in the 19th-century rule of Barghash bin Said of Zanzibar , desperate Zaramo people pawned and sold each other to survive. The Zaramo society's history has long been influenced by the coastal encounter between the Arab-Persian and African populations typical of East Africa, since the 8th century. During the colonial era, the influence came from

8918-400: The war against the Germans. But even after the Digo acceded to these requests, the British refused to recognize a mjomba' s ability to enlist his nephews in the military. They demanded the sending of sons rather than the nephews that their maternal uncles had sent. This demand actually and visibly altered the father's control over his kids. Through Islam and colonization, the father took over

9016-426: The women. The majority of studies on Digo Islamization have focused on men and have discussed causes for conversion such as residential patterns, colonialism, resistance to colonialism, trade, and work. They have documented male conversion, presuming that female conversion had similar causes. These characteristics undoubtedly had an impact on women as well, but due to how differently they affected women, they did not have

9114-401: Was at variance with Digo concepts of clan land, in addition to altering authority within the family. The Digo are Muslim, unlike other Mijikenda peoples, and they have expressed and continue to express social continuity through ideas of matrilineal kinship and the persistence of matri-clans over time. There is only one group of named matri-clans among the Digo, known as fuko . The fuko plays

9212-467: Was based mostly on agriculture for a long time, despite the fact that the land itself was not particularly significant. The significance of the kaya was altered when the Digo were dispersed from kayas (towns and villages) to sub-kaya and eventually to individual homesteads in the coastal plains. They continued to serve as places for final dispute resolution as well as religious and ceremonial sites, but they lost some of their importance to Digo society. 16 In

9310-455: Was likened to two hands with their fingers extended wide. Every year until the land was deemed to have lost its fertility, this area was planted. The community then relocated to undeveloped land or land that had its fertility restored after being left fallow. Newly portioned rows were then connected to one another. The people would move to a new location and live next to their current neighbors. They can encounter new neighbors when they return to

9408-454: Was more than double that of Nyamwezi, although many Zaramo lived in Buguruni in the far west, which blended into the surrounding landscape. According to a survey conducted in 1956, the majority of homes were constructed using small business owners' or artists' money. It also revealed that several ethnic groups, like the Manyema, Yao, and Makonde who were among the town's first settlers, possessed

9506-512: Was not solely communal or privately held prior to the colonial era. In the nineteenth century, children of both sexes typically did not inherit from their father but instead from their mother, grandmother, maternal uncles (mjomba), or their fuko. Instead, people acquired stakes in the land through use, clearance, and social ties that had developed over time with the land, such as debt (rahani), kinship, or patronage. These inheritance customs were also being fought at this time by systematic evasions of

9604-549: Was to promote rural Uzaramo. The objective of the Zaaramo Union according to its secretary, was to construct the "UNITY, BESTIR LIFT UP", of the Wazaramo and their country in the essential matters. To this end, it purchased and operated two lorries to transport people and agricultural produce between towns and rural areas, established nine branches in the tribal area, and campaigned against "the old out-of-date Wakilis" recognized by

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