Sarraounia

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The Sarraounia ( Hausa : "Queen") is a traditional ruler and a religious head of the Azna in Niger . She lives in the village of Lougou in the southwest of the country and today no longer has any political power. She performs cultic tasks and is, for historical reasons, a symbol of Nigerien nationalism.

Functions

Sarraounia, who lives in a hut, still has the rights of a "queen". She is treated with great respect and nobody is allowed to see her face. In the Bori cult, Sarraounia has a counterpart in the spiritual world, to which its supreme priest Bawra makes sacrifices. The balance between masculine and feminine elements plays an important role in the beliefs of the Azna. Twice a week the Sarrouania speaks law at the sacred stone Toungouma . Supernatural powers are ascribed to the stone. The Toungouma ritual, held in the Hausa language, is an uncomplicated way for many to obtain legal decisions.

After the death of a Sarraounia, her body is carried in a procession through the village. The sudden stop of the procession, which is supposed to have a supernatural cause, in front of a certain house makes its inhabitant the next Sarraounia.

history

According to tradition, the first Sarraounia was a queen of the female-ruled house-state Daura , who was driven out by men and eventually settled in Lougou. The Bayajidda legend served to legitimize the transition from female to male rule in Daura .

Twelve of the 15 Sarraounias so far according to tradition are known by name:

  1. Yarkasa
  2. Dafada
  3. Gouzouri
  4. Lalma
  5. Dafaya
  6. Annaou
  7. Mangou
  8. Taba
  9. Konnaou
  10. Intaya
  11. Talokoyo
  12. Aldjima Gado (since 1983).

In the 19th century, the Sarraounia first had to fend off Tuareg and Islamic Fulbe . In 1899 the French military expedition Mission Voulet-Chanoine came to the area with the aim of subjugating this part of Africa for France . Sarraounia Mangou, who felt invincible, sent the mission an insulting letter, which was forced to respond to the provocation. On April 16, 1899, a battle broke out in Lougou between the well-equipped French troops and the warriors of the Sarraounia. Although the latter were able to kill several soldiers in French service, they eventually lost. The Voulet-Chanoine mission destroyed Lougou and the palace of Sarraounia Mangou, who managed to escape. The story of Sarraounia Mangou served as the template for a historical novel by Abdoulaye Mamani , which was filmed in 1986 as The Struggle of the Black Queen , directed by Med Hondo .

literature

  • Antoinette Tidjani Alou: Niger and Sarraounia: One Hundred Years of Forgetting Female Leadership . In: Research in African Literatures . Vol. 40, No. 1 , 2009, p. 42-56 .
  • Nicole Moulin, Boubé Namaïwa, Marie-Françoise Roy , Bori Zamo: Lougou et Saraouniya . With a foreword by Yvon Logéat. 2nd, expanded edition. L'Harmattan, Paris 2017, ISBN 978-2-343-10550-5 (first edition: Tarbiyya Tatali, Cesson-Sévigné 2007).
  • Aïssata Sidikou: De l'oralité au roman: Sarraounia ou la pure contre l'empire . In: Romanic Review . Vol. 93, No. 4 , 2002, p. 457-470 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bertrand Taithe: The Killer Trail. A Colonial Scandal in the Heart of Africa . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2009, ISBN 978-0-19-923121-8 , pp. 222-223.
  2. ^ A b Jean-Paul Labourdette, Dominique Auzias: Niger 2009 . Nouvelle édition de l'Université, Paris 2009, ISBN 2-7469-1640-1 , pp. 126 .
  3. ^ Antoinette Tidjani Alou: Justice from Below: Cultural Capital, Local / Global Identity Processes, and Social Change in Eastern Niger . In: Toyin Falola , Augustine Agwuel (Ed.): Africans and the Politics of Popular Culture . University of Rochester Press, Rochester 2009, ISBN 978-1-58046-331-7 , pp. 64-65.
  4. ↑ a b entry to Le site de Lougou in the Tentative List for World Heritage in French , accessed on 22 March 2012 found.
  5. ^ Antoinette Tidjani Alou: Justice from Below: Cultural Capital, Local / Global Identity Processes, and Social Change in Eastern Niger . In: Toyin Falola, Augustine Agwuel (Ed.): Africans and the Politics of Popular Culture . University of Rochester Press, Rochester 2009, ISBN 978-1-58046-331-7 , p. 67.
  6. ^ Antoinette Tidjani Alou: Justice from Below: Cultural Capital, Local / Global Identity Processes, and Social Change in Eastern Niger . In: Toyin Falola, Augustine Agwuel (Ed.): Africans and the Politics of Popular Culture . University of Rochester Press, Rochester 2009, ISBN 978-1-58046-331-7 , p. 66.
  7. ↑ Denise Brahimi, Anne Trevarthen: Les femmes dans la littérature africaine: portraits . Karthala, Paris 1998, p. 138.
  8. ↑ Bertrand Taithe: The Killer Trail. A Colonial Scandal in the Heart of Africa . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2009, ISBN 978-0-19-923121-8 , p. 23.