Ndyuka
The Ndyuka , also called Aukaner or Okanisi , are a community of slaves who fled to the tropical rainforest and were formerly transported to Suriname from West Africa . Along with the Saramaccans, it is the largest marron community in Suriname living in a tribal association . Their traditional language is Aukaans .
Social structure
The trunk is formed by los . A lo is a unit of people who feel connected to each other, through their common historical background on the plantations and their common cultural and / or spiritual basis. It formed over time among the slaves on the plantations. While on the run, it finally developed and solidified at the moment the tribal was founded. A lo consists of one or more bees - also called bere (belly), a matrilineal kinship group. That is, from people with a common ancestral mother . The ancestral mother is the first woman who was transported from Africa to Suriname, and the "original mother" from which the group emerged. The Marron - or Businenge - parentage forms the root and bracket with Africa. The or the bees are again divided into osos (house), the families.
Political structure
At the head of a tribe is the gaanman (also: granman ), the head of the tribe. The gaanman is usually chosen for life from the lo of the maternal line of its predecessor. Further on from the kapten as the village head of a lo and the basjas who assist the kapten . If important decisions have to be made, krutus , assemblies made up of older men from the village, are called.
These social and political structures still apply to all Marron tribes in Suriname today. However, due to the so-called jungle war from 1986 to 1992 between the jungle command under the Ndyuka Brunswijk and the military rulers in Paramaribo, many Marrons grew up with rifles. Many of the already scarce social institutions were also destroyed in the fight. This led to massive emigration, a brutalization of customs and a break with old traditions. But the gold fever that broke out in the tribal areas, which resulted in armed conflicts with the Garimpeiros from Brazil, meant that many marrons no longer recognize traditional power, traditional values and norms. The traditional tribal law is therefore often no longer the legal norm for conflict resolution.
history
The tribe of the Ndyuka or Aukaner was formed with the first two los at the beginning of the 18th century from slaves from plantations in Suriname . The group had settled at the Ndyukakreek (also: Djoekakreek ). They were then joined by slaves from plantations in the Commewijne / Cottica area. In 1757 the largest slave revolt in the history of Suriname took place. Here slaves from six plantations on the Tempatikreek , a branch of the Ober-Commewijne, fled. They first united with a group of marrons south of Tempati. These two groups, together with the marrons who had settled in the Ndyukakreek , were to form the tribe of the Ndyuka. Since a path ran from the Auka plantation in Upper Suriname to the Ndyukakreek , the colonial powers also referred to them as marrons behind the Auka plantation.
The slaves who had fled had meanwhile become an increasing problem for the government, which could not be solved by military expeditions. This forced them to first conclude a peace treaty with one of the largest Marron groups. After an agreement was reached on a place to negotiate behind the Auka plantation, the first peace treaty was concluded on October 10, 1760 between one of the largest business tribes and the colonial power Netherlands, which from then on were considered the pacified Aukans or Ndyukas.
The first gaanman recognized by the colonial power , chief of the Ndyuka tribes, was Fabi Labi Beyman from Dikan-lo. As an outward sign and symbol of their rulership and recognition of their independence from the Dutch, the gaanmans were given a scepter , a staff with a silver knob.
The most important elements of the treaty for the ndyukas were that their freedom was recognized and given a certain degree of autonomy . The most important thing for the government was that it be freed from a domestic enemy. In addition, the Ndyukas' freedom of movement had been restricted and they had undertaken to hand over slaves who had fled in the future.
After the conclusion of the treaty, the Ndyukas moved to the Tapanahony and from the 19th century groups settled on the Sarakreek , a tributary of the Upper Suriname and later on the upper reaches of the Commewijne and Cottica.
The treaty was partially supplemented and newly confirmed in 1809 (under English rule of Suriname, 1804-1816) and in 1837. From 1857 the colonial administration awarded the gaanman a small annual allowance for the first time .
When slavery was abolished on July 1, 1863, the Ndyukas had been living as free people in Suriname for over a hundred years.
The tribe of Ndyukas consists of a total of 12 lots . Since 1836 the river island Diitabiki or Drietabbetje in Tapanahony has been the residence of the gaanman of the Ndyukas.
Their language is also called Ndyuka or Aukaans .
Gazon Matodja
The chief of the tribe, gaanman of the Ndyukas, was Gazon Matodja from the Otoo lo from 1966 to 2011 . Matodja was born around 1904, the exact year of his birth is unknown, in the village of Moitaki in the Marowijne area .
On August 23, 2011 he was offered a golden scepter and a golden crown by his tribesmen in his residence Drietabbetje. This special award was presented to him for his services inside and outside the tribe as well as out of recognition, respect and, above all, for the way he has been leading the tribe for almost half a century. With this, Gazon Matodja was raised to the rank of king. Although the gaanman institution remains, it is with this act that his followers have introduced kingship into their tradition. Such a ceremony took place for the first time in the history of the tribe.
Gazon Matodja died on December 1, 2011 in the Deaconess Hospital in Paramaribo. Immediately after his death, his body was transferred to the river island Drietabbetje. After months of ceremonial funerals on Drietabbetje, the king of the Ndyukas was finally buried on April 10, 2012 in the nearby village of Poeketi on Tapanahony .
With the wasi bakaman , a washing ritual and a libation , the period of mourning for the deceased King Gazon Matodja formally ended on April 21, 2013 on Drietabbetje.
Bono Velanti
On March 17, 2015, Bono Velanti was officially installed in Poeketi as the new tribal chief, gaanman , granman of the Ndyukas. Hundreds of guests were present at the ceremony, including ministers, parliamentarians and representatives of other Marron tribes from Suriname and French Guiana . The swearing-in by the President of the Republic of Suriname will take place on February 3, 2016 in the Presidential Palace .
monument
On October 10, 2006, a Marron monument was unveiled on the “Platz des 10. Oktober 1760”, corner of JA Pengel (formerly Wanica) and Henck Arron (formerly Graven) straat in Paramaribo . The memorial was designed by the artist Marcel Pinas and shows an upturned dugout canoe with Afaka symbols (Ndyuka's characters) and a paddle. The boat stands for the marrons' means of transport. With the paddle the artist wants to show that the Surinamese people with all their ethnic groups now control and move the community themselves.
Since 2010, October 10th has been formally a public holiday as "Marrons Day" .
The Marron Monument,
December 2007
October 10, 2011
literature
- André RM Pakosie: Gazon Matodja, Surinaams stamhoofd aan het einde van een tijdperk . Utrecht 1999, publisher: Stichting Sabanapeti, ISBN 90-805186-1-1 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ StarNieuws, March 17, 2015 Dutch, accessed April 2, 2015
- ↑ StarNieuws, February 3, 2016 in Dutch, accessed on February 4, 2016