Bobo-Dioulassoを後Lobiの人々が住んでいる事で知られるGaouaという町へ。Maison Soukalaと呼ばれるロビの伝統的な家に住んでいる家族の所にお邪魔しました。ここのご主人は奥さん3人子供18人の大所帯。小さな入り口をくぐると中は暗く幾つもの部屋に別れていて結構広く、奥さん達は子供達と一緒に個々部屋があり他の奥さんの所には入る事が許されてないそうです。元々入り口は無く近年まではハシゴ掛けて屋上に登りそこにある小さな穴からご主人の許可した人だけ家の中に入れたそうです。奥さん達は自分の台所の壁に食料や大事な物を入れる壷を大量に積んでいます。その中に特別な壷が一つあるそうで旦那とどうしても縁を切りたい時にそれを割ると離婚が成立。。
その後、車のタイヤがパンクしたので修理している間ミレットビールごちそうになりつつ子供達と遊んだりとリラックスな昼下がり♪
We drove to Gaoua where the Lobi people settled. I went to visit a traditional Lobi house know as “maison soukala”. A man lived there with his 18 kids and 3 wives. There is a single vast mud banco wall and a small entrance. An entrance to a Lobi house is relatively recent development. Traditionally, there were ladders constructed from notched branches leading up to the roof where there was a hole for entry at the top. Only the chief of the household can give permission to enter. The rooms inside are very dark and spacious. Each wife has a section of the house for herself and her children. Canaris jars (large earthenware jars) are often stacked up against the kitchen walls. I was told that each wife has a special canaris jar that she would break if she decided to leave her husband, It would be considered a sign of divorce.
Our car got a flat and we spent some time drinking millet beer and hanging with kids while the tire was being fixed. A nice, chill time♪
Gaouaは1770年頃ガーナの北西からロビ族の人々が移り住んで出来たと言われていますが元々はガン族の人々が住んでいたそうです。Lobiとはロビの言葉で"森の子供達"という意味があるそうで、農夫, 牧夫, 猟師の前に彼らは戦士としての誇りを持っているそうです。ロビの人々は何世紀も昔Mouhoun川を東から西に渡ってきて以来、Mouhoun川を現世と死後の世界の境目の象徴とし、故人の霊は川を渡りご先祖様の所に戻って行くという言い伝えがあります。三途の川みたいなもんですかね？川は聖なるもので岸では彼らの精霊信仰の儀式が色々催されます。
According to local myth, Gaoua was founded when the Lobi migrated across from northern Ghana in 1770. Gan people were already living in Gaoua. The name Lobi originates from two Lobiri words: “lou”, meaning forest, and “bi”, meaning children. Translated literally it means, “Children of the forest”. They were farmers, hunters, herders but above all, they were warriors. The Mounhoun river is important in Lobi myth and symbolizes a dividing line between this world and the next. The Lobi crossed the Mounhoun centuries ago from east to west and settled in Gaoua bringing with them their deep animist beliefs and superstitions. According to Lobi legend the spriits of the deceased must return across the river to rejoin their honorable ancestors in the ancient world.