For many people, the only significant point of reference for the world’s fourth-largest island is the animated movie of the same name. There is also a certain demographic that may remember the grainy, black and white images projected in David Attenborough’s globetrotting Zoo Quest series of the early 1960s. However, for most people, Madagascar, not to mention the Malagasy people that inhabit it, remains something of a tropical enigma.
Early Settlers
It is thought that the first settlers to reach Madagascar only began to arrive around 2000 years ago which is considered recent among the establishment of the world’s indigenous populations. Despite its relative proximity to the African mainland, these first impressions in the sand were left by travellers hailing from the islands of present-day Indonesia. It was not until around the 9th Century that Bantu settlers from East Africa began to arrive in numbers. The Malagasy people that we see today are the result of centuries of interaction between these two groups, the physical features and language of both still evident in the inhabitants of today.
The earlier Austronesian settlers claimed the fertile central highland belt which was perfect for cultivating rice, brought with them on their outrigger boats, and which now forms the staple diet of the Malagasy people. The East African settlers favoured the lower-lying coastal areas however, in spite of these geographical and topographical differences, all of Madagascar’s indigenous peoples share the common and fundamental belief in the importance of ancestral worship.
Honouring the past
The reverence surrounding a population’s ancestors is manifest in the sizeable and often highly decorative tombs that punctuate the rural landscape. Villagers will adorn tombs with the horns of sacrificial Zebu (local cattle) and exterior artwork often depicts snapshots of the life or dreams of their occupants. Families will typically spend more on the construction of a tomb than on their own home, such is the importance assigned to this ‘second life’. Indeed, it is common for belongings to also be interred to accompany the occupant on their onward journey to the eventual afterlife.
Although decreasing in popularity, some communities continue the practice of Famadihana (turning of the bones) where families gather to renew bonds, celebrate with their dead relatives and to introduce them to new members of the family. The festival typically lasts several days but the key event sees the dead relatives exhumed, covered in fresh cloth before stories and drinks are shared with them. The remains are then carried several times around the tomb before being reburied.
The prominent role of taboo
Perhaps the most common shared belief among Malagasy people is that of fady which can be loosely translated as an act that is taboo or a location that is sacred. People, locations and actions can all be deemed fady and individual fady can vary between and within ethnic groups. Eating a particular food may be fady or bathing in a sacred lake or river. Perhaps the most widespread fady in Madagascar is using a finger to point at a tomb. Pointing with a clenched fist or a spread palm is instead acceptable and you will not risk angering the ancestors. In Ankarana in northern Madagascar, home of the Antakarana people, it is considered fady for people of the Merina tribe to enter the Antakarana’s burial caves. This stems from a historical period when the Merina Kingdom attempted to drive the Antakarana from their land and the Antakarana were forced to retreat into the caves.
Observance of fady is less diligent in large cities where urban populations view it more as a set of guidelines. Usually, when you visit more rural parts of Madagascar, a guide would accompany you and they can enlighten you or enquire about local fady and how best to avoid them.
Is Madagascar on your future travel list? It really should be, if not for the unique wildlife, then for the fascinating culture of the Malagasy people alone! Or if you have already been, we’d love to hear about your own experiences of local fady that you might have encountered.
