Tarbiyya Tatali

Three Ceremonies in Lougou (1984)

2024-06-10T11:51:48Z

In Lougou, women pound millet every day. This ritual sets the rhythm for three important ceremonies throughout the day.

Becoming Saraouniya

Saraouniya is the queen. In 1983, a woman named Aljimma was designated by the body of the deceased Saraouniya Gado. Until then, she was like any other woman, a wife and a mother. Once chosen, Aljimma ceased to be an ordinary woman and became the vessel of transcendence. For the Azna people, she embodies fertility and represents a link in a lineage that ensures the alliance between the earth,… spirits, and men.

The three ceremonies mark the end of her year of apprenticeship and the beginning of her reign: she becomes the new queen, Saraouniya Aljimma.

Available here. The mobile version here.

Dakan tururuwa: Pounding for the Anthill

The women prepare gumba, an uncooked millet porridge. Outside the village, Saraouniya sprinkles the anthill with gumba, to ask for good rains and an abundant harvest. Once the alliance with nature is reaffirmed, the children can enjoy the gumba.

Dakan dabi: pounding for sacrifice

The Dakan dabi, or pounding for sacrifice, always follows the Dakan tururuwa. The community gathers around Saraouniya, who spins the gumba. Everyone recalls traditions, honors their ancestors, and shares wishes for peace and health for all. The priests also issue warnings for potential enemies. Saraouniya then leaves the assembly, as the sacrifice is being prepared and she cannot see the blood. A goat is killed, this sacrifice honors the dead.

Dakan Saraouniya: pounding for Saraouniya

This ceremony takes place a year after the death of the previous Saraouniya, in front of what used to be her hut. It marks the end of Godo's cycle by closing his funeral and thus beginning of Aljimma's.
The spirits that inhabited the late Saraouniya's hut leave to join the new queen. Saraouniya now resides in her large hut where she will remain cloistered, guaranteeing peace and prosperity for all groups from Lougou.

Saraouniya Mangou

2024-05-28T08:30:40Z

History

Saraouniya (queen in Hausa) Mangou is especially known for the resistance her community in Lougou showed against the Voulet-Chanoine mission. At a time when many West African kingdoms surrendered to the French without a fight, the community of Lougou, under the leadership of Saraouniya Mangou, battled the colonial troops commanded by Captains Voulet and Chanoine in April 1899.

Saraouniya is described by Lieutenant Joalland as an “old witch” who deliberately defied the French as they approached her village, sending them an insulting message promising to block their path and boasting about the invincibility of her warriors. On April 16, 1899, the French troops arrived at Lougou, where the Azna warriors confronted them. The battle, pitting bows against cannons, was uneven. Due to the resistance of Lougou's warriors, the encounter proved costly for the colonial troops, resulting in four deaths, six injuries, and the loss of about 7,000 cartridges.

The Aznas retreated into the forest but reclaimed Lougou after the French left, having burned and ruined the village. Saraouniya was reportedly taken away by her warriors during the battle and was later buried in the Saraouniya cemetery in Lougou.

Myth and Fame

The memory of Saraouniya Mangou has been preserved for decades in local oral tradition.

Her fame spread widely from 1980 onwards, thanks to Abdoulaye Mamani's book, “Sarraounia: The Drama of the Magic Queen,” a novel that highlights her resistance to the colonial troops. The book portrayed her as a young warrior, even though Lougou tradition holds that a Saraouniya is always an elderly woman who does not partake in battles and whose only weapon is her distaff.

The book had a tremendous media impact, turning Saraouniya Mangou into an icon of resistance against colonization, widely known in Niger, Africa, and beyond. Films, ballets, plays, children's books, school textbooks, songs, documentaries, and more have been dedicated to her. Schools, radio stations, TV channels, hotels, and restaurants bear her name.

On May 23, 2024, the “Saraouniya Mangou” Sovereignty Medal was established to honor individuals or organizations “who have particularly distinguished themselves through acts of patriotism, commitment, and/or sacrifice for the cause of national sovereignty.”

Saraouniya Mangou is highly celebrated, but few people know that the tradition of the Saraouniya continues in Lougou today, and Saraouniya does not receive appropriate recognition within the traditional chieftaincy.

Tarkama

Marie-Françoise — 2023-07-29T16:26:12Z

Tarkama The Tarkama is the rite by which the body of the deceased Saraouniya de Lougou designates her successor. Saraouniya Aljimma, appointed by the Tarkama of Saraouniya Gado in 1983, died on January 7, 2023 after nearly forty years of rule.

The Tarkama of Saraouniya Aljimma was organized very quickly, on Monday, January 9^th. The rite requires the participation of nationals of several of the many villages from Lougou. The body of the deceased is prepared in its large hut, which will be destroyed soon after. The new Saraouniya will have its new large square, the location of which will be chosen by the Tarkama.

The body is wrapped in a mat placed on a platform carried by four carriers, one at each corner. The four porters are from Darei, a village in Dankassari commune and Bagagi, a village in Matankari commune. The man who holds the ax and who strikes the ground when he questions the Tarkama came from Guilme, in the commune of Dogonkiria, he is accompanied by a woman who regularly strikes an overturned calabash on another calabash which contains water as well as a musician with his drum.

Outside a whole crowd is present, the women and girls watch rather from afar, the men and boys come closer. Officials are seated in armchairs, including the Kona of Dogondoutchi, the Prefect of the department, the Mayors of Dankassari and Dogondoutchi, representatives of Sarkin Arewa and the canton chief of Tibiri as well as members of RAEDD. The gendarmerie is present to ensure the maintenance of order. Azna priests are seated on the ground, they can be recognized by their costumes and their white cotton caps. More than ten women were gathered, those who live close to Lougou and meet the criteria to be designated.

Once the preparations are complete, the Tarkama leaves the large box. The whole rite now takes place in public. She first goes to the bush around the village, her task is to find a needle that has been hidden there. This step verifies that the Tarkama fulfills its function. Back in the village, she greets the officials and then the Azna priests.

The man with the ax strikes the ground and names one by one the women gathered. If the Tarkama chooses one, she must manifest it by coming over her head. This is how Aljimma was chosen in 1983, to her surprise. But this time she does not designate any of these women.

After greeting the Azna priests, the Tarkama leaves for the village to identify the claim of the future queen. Once the house is found, she is questioned to designate the woman from this family, who will now reign. She chooses Kambari who, born in Lougou, lives in Toudoun-Barewa, where her now deceased husband was. She is not present in Lougou. We warn her sons because they have to say goodbye to her, they will no longer have the opportunity to see her. We pick her up by car, she arrives in Lougou and now lives in the village (see more details in the Portrait of Saraouniya Kambari at the end of the Magazine).
Lougou has a new queen, Saraouniya Kambari.
The Tarkama has finished its work. Encouraged by musicians, young people dig the tomb of Aljimma, at the place that the Tarkama has identified. His body will be buried surrounded by the skin of an ox. She will now rest in Lougou in the Saraouniya cemetery.

Tarkama was photographed and filmed by Aziz Soumaïla whom Tarbiyya Tatali sent to Lougou as soon as we knew he would be welcome to document the rite. A short film was then edited by Culture Plus in collaboration with AECIN. To our knowledge, this is the first time that a Tarkama has been filmed in Lougou. Many thanks to the population of Lougou for their welcome and to the municipal authorities of Dankassari for their support.

Tunguma

Marie-Françoise — 2020-10-30T11:02:08Z

It was after a clash with her brothers that, guided by the Tunguma stone, Saraouniya Yar Kasa, the queen who had come from Daura, north of the present day Niger, settled in a region then inhabited, now called Arewa or Maouri country, founded her village, Lougou. The date is unknown, it was in the XVIth or XVIIth century.

Tunguma's role

Tunguma, famous all over Niger and beyond, is often called justice stone and regularly consulted. It would be fairer to call it divination stone, as it is probable that official tribunals limited the stone's traditional role to the field of justice proper.
Tunguma is not considered as a stone, but as a spirit and it belongs to Saraouniya of Lougou. Tunguma is linked to the baobab, as it was found under a baobab, and laid down under another. The tree is the abode of spirits and a sign of fertility, owing to its bountiful fruit, all over West Africa. Lately, there wasn't a baobab to shelter Tunguma. All the baobabs, which abounded in the region, were gradually disappearing owing to drought. In the recent Tunguma rites, a sapling is substituted to the original baobab.

The rite of Tunguma

This section describes the rite that we have witnessed over and over again in Lougou between 1983 and 2010.
The stone is to be found three or four kilometers east from Lougou, on the plateau. The yan Tunguma, those who come to consult it, but also nomads, hunters or interested visitors wait around the stone for the arrival of people from Lougou.
Maitunguma, the dignitary in charge of the ceremony, alone, pours water on Tunguma three times, reciting ritual words, while the attendance greet each other and settle down. “Tunguma, doucin Tounguma na Katsina na Bornu, a zo da dariya, a koma da hushi”. Which means : ‘Tunguma, stone of Daura, of Katsina and of Burnu, we come laughing, we leave, heart-broken (because the culprit has been found).” The officiant deposits the gourd next to the stone. He drops a thin net next to the stone, then lifts the stone three times before putting it down, three times again in the net, then leaves it there. Two bearers arrive who are called the stone horses. The bearers are boys from Lougou, diya maza (men's children), coming from the village on the men's side.
Like the officiant, the bearers wear white clothes, they are barefoot. The stone is in a net, tied to a stick. The bearers lift it. They carefully balance the stone, which is always held in the same way, facing east. That face is called the nose. After lifting and depositing the stone three times, they carry it on their shoulders.

Meanwhile someone brings a heap of sand near the officiant, some 8 meters from the stone, the audience staying behind him. He sprays the sand. Maitunguna starts greeting: « Ina gaisuwa Tunguma, ina gaisuwa. Hail Tunguma, three times, while the celebrant sprays his head four times with sand laid in front of him. The bearers are drawn backward by the stone. The stone must answer the greetings, meaning they are accepted, returning three times toward the celebrant : Greetings carry on in an unbroken chain, to the beat of sprays of sand thrown, until Tunguma moves ahead. Then Maitunguma three times “I have seen and I thank you”. Then three times : “Diya maza mou na Lugu, kwana lahiya, tashi lahiyaè” “Mougou men's children have slept well, they woke up in good health.” And four times: "Diya matan mu na Lugu ; kwana lahiya, tashi lahiya : The Lougou woman's children have slept well, they woke up in good health.''
“Where are the applicants ?... Give me kola (a few nuts of the bitter fruit, but sometimes money too), lay it down for them”. The applicant deposits money. He states his problem to the celebrant, who says: “Well, Tunguma, is that (he states the problem) a matter for Allah ?“, three times. If Tunguma says yes, one must be patient, as it means nothing can be done, which is seldom. Otherwise, the matter is checked :”There is something? – Yes". Then it is asked if man caused the problem, if it is a spirit… etc. The matter is treated by a process of elimination, followed by search for a remedy. Tunguma says yes by moving forward three times, and says no by staying still. For each question asked, the celebrant throws a fitful of sand toward Tunguma. He puts his word in the sand then wipes it out by taking the sand again.
The closing phrase will always be repeated four times to a female entity and three times to a male entity. “Kasa Saraunya, kwana lahiya, tashi lahiya” : land of Saraounia, sleep well, wake well. “Kasa Magaji, kwana lahiya, tashi lahiya” : “Magagi land, sleep well, wake up well”, then, “Tougouna land, sleep well, wake”. After several greetings of that sort, the conclusion is: "Your front horse, sleep well, wake well. Your back horse, sleep well wake well', for the bearers.
In 1984, in two meetings, the questions bore on the unexplained death of an animal, the loss of an object, the choice of a spot to build one's cabin, or premature delivery, for which the stone advises the choice of a healer, or a forgotten promise to a spirit, for which a rook (request, prayer) to Saraouniya is prescribed, a wife's illness, due to a missing sacrifice to a spirit. It is also asked :“Is a field under a spell ?” And also : pain, illness, lack of news from family, child's fear.
In 2005, two wives came to consult, one accusing the other, through witchcraft, to cause her miscarriages. The accused vehemently asks Tunguma to disculp her. Tunguma literally leaps ahead, jostling on his way those who came to hear the verdict, to assert the accused's innocence.
Tunguma is open to any question. The style of the consultation is not at all formal, it isn't stiff. Everyone can talk as they like. The celebrant who always seems to be accompanied of a double : if he is tired or doesn't manage to ask the right question himself, he can hand it to his double. But in that case, the audience also can voice their ideas on the possible cause, or ask questions so as to clear up the situation. Some will ask questions themselves, throwing a handful of sand. It is allowed particularly to the people of Lougou. Others try to whisper to Tunguma. But given the stone's silence, they are reminded loudly that they must speak up.

Tunguma can't be found

Early in 2020, X who lives close to Lougou, boasted of destroying Tunguma with an iron bar. Photos of the debris were shown. X was arrested and charged for “destruction of cultural and religious property”. After six months'imprisonment on suspicion, X was granted conditional discharge, in October 2020 the sentence had not been passed. He has admitted the facts, and stated that he had been motivated by evidence shared by many concerning faulty judgments and corruption, and also prompted by a spirit.
For the azna of Lougou and Bagaji, the photo of the debris doesn't fit the destroyed Tunguma. Tunguma is a spirit who dwelt in the stone only when consulted, it can't be destroyed because of the destruction of the stone used by the spirit to appear. For them, Tunguma isn't there because it has gone away to join other spirits who inhabited the seven stones of Daoura. A further proof of Tunguna's departure, in their opinion, is that Makera who officiated for consultations has recently died.

Tunguma is said to have chosen to go away for fear of accepting a growing wrong management because Saraouniya was very old, as well as Baoura and Magagi, some people dared help themselves without respecting the spirit of the rite.
For others, Tunguma was no longer necessary as Niger is now a lawful state with modern justice.
Tunguma wasn't the only of her kind, but she was said to be the only still active one of the seven stones of Daoura. Anuway, the rite no longer exists, a page is turned.

In Lougou and Bagagi, Tunguma is said not to be found.

Chronicle of the Kwanana

Marie-Françoise — 2015-01-08T07:05:19Z

You can buy ‘Chronicle of the Kwanana' at our shop or at l'Harmattan.

Chronicle of the Kwanana. Memory of the Elders.

Published jointly by L'Harmattan and Tarbiyya Tatali, this work presents the history of the kwanana community, in the Dogondouchi region in Niger. It is rooted in oral tradition, gathered from numerous informants. Going back to the origins of the alliance between humans and nature's forces, relating the legendary epic leading to the organization of various institutions with the help of the Queens of the Daura and of the Lougou, the colourful narrative flows, unbroken, through the days of colonization and independent Niger, until now. In the concluding chapter, the voices of the elders enable us to capture the personalities of three of the informants, and the rich and complex relationship between them and the author. The book ends on an appeal to representatives from other communities to undertake the same research.

The author

Born in 1952, Dangaladima Issa-Danni Soumana attended primary school in the Boys' Mission School in Dogondoutchi. After his secondary and university studies in Burkina Faso and in Niger, he taught French and English in Niamey and in Dogondoutchi, and was the headmaster of secondary schools in Tchintabaraden and Bilma. From 1984 to 2006 he was director of the Examination Board in the Ministry of National Education, and later of Secondary Education, in Niamey. He retired in 2006. An active member of the kwanana community, he has discovered many secrets, puzzled out many mysteries, thanks to their trust. He generously imparts to us the fruit of his research.

School Mission in Dogondoutchi

Marie-Françoise — 2012-06-17T21:53:23Z

The brochure presents the results of Antoine de Leocour's fieldwork. It is a valuable contribution to the knowledge of Niger, and of the education of the country's elite.

The enquiry consisted mainly in three interviews of old pupils of the Mission School of Dogondoutchi. Antoine had initiated a thematic interpretation which was completed in 2011 by Dominique Berlioz and Françoise Roy, members of AECIN.

What the Mission school was.

In 1941, Father Constant Quillard, a missionary from the Redemptorist Fraternity, arrived in Dogondoutchi : “ I experienced extraordinary joy and peace. I felt that somehow this would be the first mission outpost, that I would build there my first straw hut”. Founded in 1947 by the Redemptorists, the Dogondoutchi Missionary School is still now famous all over Niger for contributing to the education of the first generation of the country's graduates and leaders. Contrary to state schools whose pupils were at the start either the village chiefs' sons or children living close to the school, the mission school recruited its pupils in rural areas, without discrimination. None of them would have benefited from any schooling if they hadn't attended the Mission. It was the Mission School that enabled them to get on. Most of them opted for a teaching career, but some became journalists, administrators, government officials, university lecturers.

Every one of them insists on how lucky they were to have attended that school quite by chance. The so-called Bearded Men (objects of the children's curiosity and of their parents' fear) recruited by force, helped by the colonial administration, the young bushmen whose parents did not understand the school's goals. Many children ran away, others stayed, adjusting willy-nilly to their new environment. Quite soon, observing the success of the first generations of pupils, the parents who at first had been worried and had often protested, became aware of the benefits of schooling. Back in the village, on days off or holidays, the so-called white men's children were made much of and often excused from the toughest tasks.

In the interviews, the ten old pupils fondly recall their days at the school. The boarders' regulated schedule, their difficulties in adjusting to community life, the teachers' stern discipline, the fights, the outings to the backwater, the coin given by parents and shared with friends, the whirliwig, football games, film shows, Sunday dinners, catechism, … What links the mission school old pupils is far more than mere comradeship, they form a brotherhood. Even now, any observant outsider can bear witness to the strong link that unites them.

Plunging into the exciting and instructive stories of their lives, one understands why up to this day Michel Hamma Issa, Jean Maïdabo, François Daoura Waho, Ousman Dan-Lélé, Joseph Seydou Allakaye, Luc Maïdagi, Marc Elo, Karimou Jean-Marie Ambouta, Maïno Bétou, Serge Guero Bida, have maintained such a strong brotherly feeling.

The topics of the brochure

The 30-page brochure covers the following topics :

The first contact with the Whit Fathers, the enrolment

Le Père Sage rend visite au Baura Ganda Kassomou, 1954

Father Sage visits Baura Ganda Kassomou, December 1^st 1954

First arrival at the school
Catechism
Back to the village, and relationships with friends and family.
Studies, career, personal involvement
Questions about religion and culture.
The future of Niger.

To conclude, ten biographies sum up the interviewees' lives.

The brochure can be downloaded here. It is also possble to buy it all printed, see here.

Antoine de Léocour

Antoine made a solidarity stay through Tarbbiya Tatali in Niamey and Dogondoutchi during the summer of 2008, as part of his Master's studies in ‘International Migrations , devising development cooperation projects', at the University of Poitiers (France). On that occasion, he collected the ten testimonies from old pupils of the Mission School, which provided the contents of the brochure.

His love for Africa led him to return to work in Africa, not in our association, but for international NGO's. He worked in humanitarian projects in CentreAfrique

Antoine was shot to death near the border between Niger and Mali on January 8^th, 2011, He had been abducted by Al Qaida in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the evening before in Niamey, at the Maquis Toulousain. He was 25 years old. His friend Vincent Delory had joined him in Niamey for his wedding, and the circumstances of their deaths are still unclear. What is known is that the Nigerien Army tried to stop the abductors' convoy, and lost three members , Aboubacar Amankaye, Abdallah Aboubacar, and Abdou Alfari, and that the French Army also took part.

In memory of Vincent and Antoine

A commemorative tablet for Vincent Delory and Antoine de Léocour was unveiled on Friday April 21^st in the garden of the Hotel National des Invalides' Senior Officer, in Paris. The State Secretary in charge of Aid to Victims, and their families and friends attended the ceremony. It reads:

In memory of Vincent Delory and Antoine de Léocour, victims of terrorism . They were 25 years old. Antoine and Vincent, childhood friends, were kidnapped on January 7^th 2011 in Niamey in Niger. They were killed the next day, January 8^th 2011, in Mali, during the operation launched to rescue them. Let us remember them.

Antoine de Léocour

Lougou and Saraouniya

Marie-Françoise — 2008-04-11T21:35:19Z

Lougou

Lougou village is located in the departement of Dogondoutchi, at 350 km from the capital Niamey. Lougou is an important historical and cultural site. It is the central point of the the Azna culture, an animist community. The Saraouniya, a queen who lost her power one century ago lives at Lougou.

Saraouniya

Saraouniya Yar Kasa, a queen coming from Daura, located in the north of present day Nigeria, left her country as a result of a conflict with her brothers, was guided by the stone Tunguma and settled down in an uninhabited region, named Arewa or the Maouri country now and founded a village named Lougou.

The Sarouniyas of Lougou exerciced the political and religious power of the Maouri country until the arrival of the French expedition Voulet and Chanoine in 1899. The village was destroyed during a great battle and the queen Saraouniya Mangou, named the “old witch” by the invaders, left the village.

Hope at Lougou

Lougou was a group of prosperous villages in the past and is now a poor and a depopulated place. Saraouniya Alijmma lives isolated in her hut, according to the tradition. She has no political power but has kept her religious authority which is recognized in the region and further.

The actions of solidarity and self development have been intensified since 2001. Hope returns and the influence of Lougou and the Sarouniya is growing with the development of civil society and the movement of women's emancipation.

In 2013, a modern drinking-water supply system triggered off the renaissance of the village, thanks to the Niger State, and the Decentralized Cooperation between the Dankassari rural village, which includes Lougou, and Cesson-Sévigné in Brittany.

The book “Lougou and Saraouniya” first edition

Written by Nicole Moulin, Boubé Naimawa, Marie-Françoise Roy and Bori Zamo, members of Tarbiyya Tatali in France and in Niger, the book was sold to provide for Lougou's community development actions, mainly access to drinking water. Currently out of print, it can be
downloaded free.

Lougou et Saraouniya

The book “Lougou and Saraouniya” second edition revised and augmented

The book is published jointly by Tarbiyya Tatali and L'Harmattan.

Written by Nicole Moulin, Boubé Noumaiwa, Marie-Françoise Roy and Bori Zamo, members of Tarbiyya Tatali in France and in Niger, the book is on sale in both countries. The proceeds of Tarbiyya Tatali's sales are devoted to financing development actions in the Lougou Community, particularly in educational projects.