" ' vy- v- -- - 15 Sisala Marriage Among the Sisala, as among other tribes of Northern Ghana (cf. Goody 1969), marriage ceremonies are not elaborate but rituals of birth are. Between the two main divisions of marriage prestations, the Contingent Prestations (haalakiaa) and the Prime Prestations (hajarikiaa), there is a similar stress in that custom {kis inga) explicitly dictates norms and sanctions concerning the latter payments. Since the Prime Prestations deal with genetricial rights, it appears that descent is more important to the Sisala than affinity, which is established and main- tained by the contingent Pre.stations which are not so strictly outlined by custom. Completion of the haalakiaa payments allows the groom to collect his bride to his natal village. The payment of the ha*ja- rikiaa establishes legitimate descent ties for the offspring of the union. Thus, rituals of birth and payment of the Prime Prestations take precedence and are emphasized by Sisala culture over actual marriage ceremonies and exchanges which establish affinal links between groups. In this paper I am primarily interested in the rearrangements of social structure brought on by marriage (cf. Radcliffe-Brown 1950:43) and not in marriage as an event in the life cycle of the indivi- dual (cf. Fortes 1962). With regard to marriage pres- tations, it is necessary to view marriage not as an event, but as a developing process (Radcliffe-Brown 1950:49) because these prestations transpire over a long period of time and serve a variety of functions.' Their payment provides a rigidly defined means of symbolizing and institutionalizing the changes in social structure, that is, relationships and the dis- tribution of rights and duties which are brought on by marriage. These changes take place in stages over time and hence so do the marriage prestations. Marriage is ideally polygamous and residence is patrilocal in most cases. When a man sees a girl who is attractive to him he approaches her with a small "love gift," (helating). It is necessary for him to [••*# 16 pay for this himself and hence it ts usually a small monetary payment or gift of between a few pesewas to a few cedis, depending on the desirability of the girl. Once the girl accepts the "love gift* and reciprocates with a similar gift the couple become lovers (helaa) . Normally a man giveB out many such gifts and a girl may accept multiple "love gifts" until a union is formed which is sufficiently stable to induce the man to approach her father with the first instalment of the haalakiaa. After paying the haalakiaa the man travels to the girl's village with a part of agnates and collects his new wife.2 The Prime Prestation (hajariklaa) is not paid until after the birth of one or more children and is normally not called for by the father of the girl until he has a similar claim placed on him. Sometimes exigencies such as funeral expenses or a crop failure may also force a father to call for the hajarikiaa sooner, but never before the birth of offspring, however. Marriage prestations are paid and received by the jural gardian of the groom and bride respectively. In a segementary lineage system, as exists among the Slsala.| the duty to pay and the right to receive suah prestations does not lie with the lineage head (jechi- kintina), but with the immediate jural elder subject to the authority of the jechikintina, who is the supreme lineage authority (cf. Fortes 1970:104). In fact sometimes the jechikintina performs the ceremony of transfer while the immediate jural guardian, the father if he is alive, provides or receives the actual wealth. Residential propinquity is a strong determinant of marital choice. While clan exogamy rules prohibit a man from taking a bribe from one of the clan villages, there are no prescribed marriage jsatterns. in such an open or proscriptlve system one tends to marry a spouse from a geographically and socially close group. This may be at the base of the fact that although it is ideally improper for a man to take a wife from the clan of his mother or his mother's mother, such practices do occur.This ift partly due to the" frequency-and faci- lity of meeting persons from such groups but it also serves the function of facilitating the performance of the rights and duties inherent in the affinal relation- ship (cf. Fortes 1962:5-6). 17 According to Fortes (1962:2) there is an anti- thesis between affinal and kinship bonds but both are created by marriage. Both, then derive from a necessarily non-kinship situation. TheSisala say, La jaa la lul hiring ne, la ne tl la biting we la si tl la ne jaa ba ha naang ba, meaning, "We marry to give t>irth to children, and we own the children because we have married their mothers." The im- portant question becomes, "What is a legal marriage among the Sisala?" The answer is that it is one which involves the transfer of both haalakiaa and haj&rlkiaa from the lineage of the groom to the lineage of the bride.3 The haalakiaa payments are necessary for the establishment of the affinal tie between the two descent groups and the hajariklaa payment, which is delayed until after the birth of children, reinforces and maintains that tie and establishes that the children are the jurally reco- gnized offspring of the pater, that is, that they have socially recognized claims of descent. An illegitimate child {mengmoixribie) is one which has no such claim because no jural relation has been established between the descent group of his mother and that of his genitor. Sisala marriage, then, largely concerns the pay- ment of certain prestations by the groom's lineage (jechlklng) to the bride's lineage. These prestations serve to establish a relationship of affinity as well as creating legitimate union from which legitimate children may result. The different parts of the total series of marriage payments serve different functions in that some initiate, establish and reinforce the affinal tie while allowing for the transfer of uxorial rights, and other parts establish the legitimacy of the marriage and hence the descent claims of the off- spring. It is therefore important to precisely deli- neate which structural elements in the marriage insti- tution perform these various functions. The Contingent Prestations Once a man has decided that he wishes to marry a certain girl, or a marriage has been arranged for him, and his jural guardian has consented to supply 18 the haalakiaa (lit. "wifa-things"), he sends a xipatoro (go-between) to inform the girl's father or jural guardian that he wishes to begin making the haalakia* payments. These are normally spread out over a year, but may be completed sooner or take up to two years time to complete. However, a father that causes such protracted negotiations is considered "greedy". Onc» the time is set for the first instalment, the young and a group of his agnates, including the sipatoro to his future wife's village, set out for a meeting with the girl's father and the other sipa- toro.4 when the party arrives at the girl's lineage settlement •(jechlktng} they are given water and food and they present the hai laklaa instalment to the pro- per lineage representative, normally one of the girl'.e brothers. The father avoids receiving any of the pay- ments directly in order to avoid the appearance of selling italic) daughter. The actual amount of each instalment varies, as does the total number of instalments and each is open to bargaining. Although such bargaining is allowed, it is not of the order of market bargaining and the father must avoid the appearance of a sale. The following is an accounting of the fifth and final instalment of haalakiaa: of of tobacco. males of the girl' passed Outside of s lineage and none of the payments the bounds of the lineage (jechiking) Fifty kola nuts, one bottle (akpeteshi) (native g i n ), and a large container These items were distributed among the On the following day the groom's party is re- quired to perform brideservice by journeying to the father's farm to perform tasks of weeding, hoeing etc. This is repeated the following day as well and normally on the third day the groom begs his leave and returns home . In addition to the payment of the haalakiaa instal- ment and the performance of brideservice, the groom is required to provide fowljs to be sacrificed to the girl's ancestors. The meat of ithese scarifices is shared by the members of the gjlrl 's lineage but the groom's party •" mm -y 19 is expressly forbidden to partake of it. The sacri- fices are said to be necessary in order to inform the girl's ancestors of her betrothal and impending marriage. Similar sacrifices are required of the husband all throughout the marriage and they serve as a ritual link, not only between the living members of the tyo descent groups, but with the ancestors as well. Similarly, the ancestors must be informed upon the death of the wife as to whether the hajatiklaa has been paid. This must be done before the ancestors will consent to allowing the funeral to be performed in the husband's Village. » Once the giro's father has consented to receive the final payment of haalakiaa, the groom's party is allowed to take the bride. After the normal mock battle and show of hostility between descent groups, the groom's party retreats paying each of the girl's clansmen they -meet along the way with cowries and kola nuts. Any clansman has the right to extract' such a. payment and failure t•*,», 24 hajarikiaa. If he cannot, then the Dolbizan people should honour their agreement. If you cannot pay it is not a good thing. "The mother's brother {niera) cannot pay it for him (Kajia-Ben is Siafu's mother's brother). If he does not pay the hajarikiaa for his wives and his mother, he will not be able to pay later hajarikiaa for his wives and his son's wives. The first obligation makes all others black (Kwabeni i.e., "bad"). If this woman had died in Dolbizan* then we (elders) would have come with the sipatoro to her funeral to collect the hajarikiaa. It is only proper to do this. If we were to go to Dolbizan and were given water to drink and were able to collect the hajarikiaa, we would leave without mourning. Or, if the Dolbizan people were to pay the hajarikiaa, they could tell us to leave. But if they have not paid it, they have no rights. After this opening speech, three distinct groups of people formed, sitting apart, talking in quite tones. They were the Dolbizan people, the Bujan people, and the Tafiasi people. This situa- tion lasted a few minutes and then Natii announced that he would pay his grandmother's hajarikiaa . • because his father had no money or cows at that time. Natii reasoned that since he and his brother were going to pay the hajarikiaa and did not actually live in Dolbizan (they live on their farm at Naver- wise), it would be all right to hold the funeral in Bujan rather than "carry" it all the way to Dolbizan (about 10 miles from Bujan). To this Kajia-Ben then replied that it was Natii's decision to make. The only important thing, he said, was that the proper thing be done. Kajia-Ben then turned to the Tafiasi people and informed them that Natii had promised to pay the hajarikiaa and that since they were clan brothers they should take note of the fact. He emphasized that all the Crocodile Clan (Nyivara) are one people and that the most important thing was that the hajarikiaa be paid. He then called for comments from the Tafiasi people, but they replied that they had nothing to say, 25 Badina, an elder of Bujajv, then rose and said that Natii should not have to pay the hajarikiaa because he was only a classificatory son to siafu (of the same jechiking). Badina said that Wenhi was the real son and that he should pay if his father (Siafu) could not. He noted the fact that Wenbi was not even present at the palaver and said this was a bad thing. He also added that the haja~ rikiaa should be one cow in any case. Natii then rose and said that Siafu is a father (nyimmci) to him and that he had therefore decided to pay the hajarikiaa. He said that he would inform Siafu of the payment and went on to say that since he (Natii) was paying his father's hajarikiaa, his father (Siafu) would become' a son (nanuala) to him. He said the real reason he was paying the hajarikiaa instead of Wenbi, was because it was not paid and one of his wives or his brother's wives fathers decided to collect their daughter's things (tokokiaa), it would be taboo (kising) to make that payment" with one outstanding. Badinia then said that if he (Natii) said he was going to .pay the hajarikiaa, he should do so and not return to tell Wenbi to pay it, because this would lead to complications. He said that when Kowie (the jechikintina of Kpejang) went to Dolbizan the previous year he had told them that he would be coming the following year for the hajarikiaa, but then the woman had died. Natii then turned to Kowie and asked him why he had not come. Kowie replied that it was not because he (Natii) had refused to pay the hajarikiaa, but that he (Kowie) had not come as he had said., he' would. Kajia-Ben then interrupted and said that the man who is to receive the hajarikiaa can collect it at any time. It is his prerogative.,, "He can do with it what he wants. He can even climb a tree with it. It is no affair of the person who pays it when it is collected or what is done with," He went on to stress that only after the hajarikiaa was paid would the Dolbizan people have the right to collect the funeral to their village. He then summarized all that had 26 been saidi The Taffiasi people have come because I have Informed them that we were about to mourn for our sister. They have heard that Natll says he will pay the hajariklaa for his grand- mother. Natii and his elder brother are liv- ing in Naveriwie which is on the land of the Crocodile people and so if any trouble comes to them, it also comes to us. if either of them dies, we can bring the funeral here to Bujan and mourn. Natii says he can tell the Bujan people not to mourn but we should know before we mourn if he is prepared to pay the hajariklaa. I am telling you, the people of Tafiasi, because we are all one. If you have something to say, say it. A Tsfia3i elder rose and said* What you say is true. When Natii said he would pay the hajariklaa the first time, all the elders did not hear it and so it is only right that he should come here and repeat it. They should know all the facts of when and where the hajariklaa will be paid; whether now during the funeral or after it. Will it be paid at Bujan or will fehe Bujan people have to travel to Dolbizan to collect it? If they (the elders) don't know they should find out. Natii rose to speak saying that the people of Bujan should come after the funeral to collect the hajarikiaa and that they should come to Dolbizan. Kajia-Ben said that he did not care how it was paid. The important thing was that it be paid. Then Natii produced two bottles of native gin (akpeteshi) which he gave to the Bujan elders and the tension of the palaver was broken. Everyone began to drink in preparation for the funeral which b/egan that night and lasted only two days because •. -'•- <• '."-. r it was- hold during ha.rve.s;t~tfcme. About four months later, a party of men from the lineages of Kpejang and Yeliwiejang of Bujan set out for Naveriwie to collect the hajarikiaa. They went to Naveriwie rather than to Dolbizan because Natii was still living therein his farm- land, tipjon arriving, the Bujan people were given water mixed with flour and honey to drink, one calabash was given to the men; and another to the women of the Bujan party* They were also given tobacco and pito beer in the same fashion. Fo6d was brought out for them and a cock was killed for the men and a guinea-fowl for the women. On the second djty, beer was served and then Natii brought a goat and showed it to the woweh for their inspec- tion. The women said it was too small and that the Dolbizan people should get a larger one, which they did, and it was sacrificed on the ground, its meat and the back thigh of an antelope were used in pre- paring soup for the guests. While this was being done, the hajarikiaa, in'the form of a female sheep> was brought out for inspection. Normally the haja- rikiaa consists of one cow, but if the wife dies before it is paid, it' is reduced to oft% sheep. There was some discussion about the sheep being too small, so a goat and a chicken were added and these animals were collected to be taken back to be sacri- ficed on the lele (ancestor) shrine of the dead woman's natal lineage.8 After the presentation of the hajarikiaa, money distributed by the Dolbizan people ttaa seen in Figure 1. [M. 28 FIGURE 1 PAYMENTS RECEIVED BY RUJAN PAKTY BY SEX: MALES FEMALES* Eldest Male .. ..... Second eldest .. .. ., Third eldest .. ., ,. Fourth eldest ., .. Pifth eldest ... .. Sixth eldest %. .. . . ., A Crocodile clansman . ,, A Crocodile clansman . ,, A Bujnn man of Navoriwie, Three small boyn @ 5 p. ., One Unmarried male ., One Kpejang male . .. . A Head-toacher (friond) 1 Senior male child .. , Junior male child ., . Dead woman's hou.se owner 50p 30 30 30 20 20 10 10 20 15 10 10 10** Eldest Bujan woman .. . Second eldest ., .. Third eldest ,. ., . Eldest unmarried girl . Unmarried girl .. ., . Unmarried girl . . .. Bujan woman Bujan woman ,. ,. , ,, . 50jr . 30 . 20 . 20 . 10 . 10 . 10 . 10 fti Male Total . f 2.8 r. 1.60 Total r.xpcnditure *In addition to the money the women were presented with a medium-si zed basket of mi 1 let. **The dead woman's house-owner was also given some tobacco and a hen. 29 When the presentation of the money was completed, the final transaction called purung (bag) was performed. Natii brought out a skin-bag f i l l ed with pesewas and cowries which was tied with a string at the top. He handed it to the senior male of the Bujan party who opened it and men- tioned to the dead woman's eldest son to put his hand inside and draw out a handful of money.9 The rest of the, money was divided among the men of the dead woman's natal lineage. This marked the end of a ll marriage prestations. performed, as is required by custom, in the pre- sence of both slpatoro. Once they have observed this transaction, no further claims can be made by the woman's people. It was Hajariklaa which is paid before the death of the wife must be paid with a cow. If the wife's father desires a cash payment it is usually about $40.0010 This is why the Sisala keep c a t t l e, not for meat or milk, but primarily as a source of wealth with which to secure wives. Not only does (lineage elder) have the' duty to the jechikintina pay out hajariklaa from the lineage herd, but he formally receives the cows for a daughter. actual fact,, the immediate jural guardian has the duty to pay. He gives it to the jechikintina who "pays11 it to the g i r l 's jeckintina. In this way the herd swells or shrinks, depending on the sex composition of the generation of marriage-age. In Once the jechikintina receives a cow, two mandatory sacrifices and one optional one are per- formed, First, the cow is bred, and when the first offspring is fully grown, it is sacrificed on the lineage l e le (ancestor) shrine to the grandfather (nabalma) of the g i r l. The cow is then bred again and the second offspring, when fully grown, is sacrificed on the lele shrine to the father of the. g i r l, if he is deceased, which is most likely. These two sacrifices must be performed or it is . thought that the ancestors will a f f l i ct the lineage in some way. A third, optional, sacrifice may be performed to the g i r l 's father's mother as well. 30 The meat of all the sacrifices is shared by the living lineage members, so that all share in the receipt of the hajarikiaa even though the actual cow received cannot be sacrificed, according to custom. It remains in the "pool of wealth" to be used for the payment of the lineage's hajarikiaa obligations. The.impdrtant point is that the obligation to pay, or the right to receive the prime presta- tions, lies with the jural guardian of the woman, even though the Jechikintina may make the formal presentation. This is reflected in the case of an illegitimate child (mengmuoribie), When a daughter bears a child out of wedlock, it becomes an offspring of her father. Even if she was to marry later, the child stays in her father's com- pound. If the child is taken to be reared by the mother's husband, it often returns at a later date, since it is the mother's father who holds jural authority over the child. If the child is a boy, the haalakiaa and hajarikiaa for his marriage must be paid by the mother's father. In turn, if it is a girl, the mother's father has the right to receive all marriage payments. The mother's father retains jural authority over the child because the child was born in his house while he still held the genetrical rights over this daughter. This can be changed if the girl marries before the child is born, that is, if the payment of haalakiaa creates a proper relationship of affinity which "set the stage," so to speak, for the later payment of the hajarikiaa. gmaorlble legitimizes the child and person who so pays becomes the child's social father. However, the legitimate claim to descent links with this "father" is * n ot complete until the full sequence of marriage prestations have been made in proper order. Without the payment of;these customary prestations, a bastard has no tights in any house except his mother's father's house, not even if his mother subsequently marries. The Sisala say that a bastard's ancestors remain in his mother's father's house. If.he lives with his mother's subsequent husband "even until he is as tall as a Payment of the haalakiss for a men- 31 tree" (u Jchuo . u va u ma/ca tiaj , he will never be allowed to sacrifice at his foster father's ances- tral shrines. One informant said, "Even if the mother's husband's real son (nanuala titi) is just a small child, he has the right to sit with his father before the ancestral shrines. No matter how large the mengmuoribie becomes he can never do that because he has no ancestors there." The same is true of a slave-child lyomobie). A slave (yomo) has no ancestors and cannot own an ancestral shrine, therefore, his son cannot inherit one or succeed to the ritual roles connected with such shrines. The jural guardian of yomo and his children is the slave-owner iyomotina). If a slave- child wants to marry, he must secure the marriage payment from the slave-owner rather than his father, who is merely the genitor. The slave-owner is the jural guardian', and therefore, entitled to pay and receive the marriage prestations of his slave- children. The slave-child remains a jural minor all his life and passes this inferior position on to his children. This hereditary inferiority lasts forever because a slave is "one who lacks kinsmen or ancestors," and cannot (ideally) acquire them. In reality, however, slave origins are* forgotten in time. Even if remembered, they are not openly discussed and only become a matter of importance when inheritance of succession questions arise, A slave or his child cannot succeed to a kinship status or become the owner (-tina) of an ancestral shrine.11 The kind and amount of the prime prestations have apparently changed over the past sixty or seventy years, Rattray (1932:501) claims that before the Colonial Era the hajarikiaa was 10,000 cowries and a sheep, but he recorded payments as high as 30,000 cowries and a sheep. Tauxier (1912:238) says that before the slave-raiding, the payment was 20,000 cowries plus a basket (20 kilos) of millet and some salt for the girl's mother. After the inflation caused by the introduction of large quantities of cowries by the slavers, the payment rose to 50,000 cowries plus 3,000 cowries •i 32 worth of goods for the girl's mother. He esti- mates, however* that the former payment of 20,0 00 cowries would have been worth about 12 0,000 cowries by post-slaving exchange rates. He shows that the amount actually lowered during this time. Former- ly a cow was worth 10,000 cowries, thus, the price actually dropped from two cows to one. Cowries are no longer used in marriage payments except as tokens, but th'e hajarikiaa remains one cow or its money equivalent of a.bout forty cedis, plus the sacrifice of a goat and small amounts of money and gifts in kind. Normally when the wife's people come to get the cow, the husband's people kill a goat for meat and brew pito beer. Several chickens are also killed to be eaten with millet porridge. These expenses are variables which depend on the genero- sity or financial condition of the husband's line- age. The amount of the hajarikiaa, however, is not a variable, being fixed by custom at one cov?. Once the girl's people have taken the hajarikiaa it cannot be reclaimed for any reason. Informants said that in former times the ha,javlkiaa was paid directly after the'birth of the first child, but that today it is paid after the birth of several children. Often it is not paid until the woman is past the age of child- bearing, or even after her death. The wife's parents may decide to collect their "daughter's things" (tolokiaa) after consulting a diviner since in the diviner's assemblage of code-objects, several relate to the collection of hajarikiaa, Or, they may be faced with a similar payment themselves without the funds to cover it. One also hears references and stories all the time about greedy fathers who rush to their daughter's husband shortly after the birth of the first child to seek the hajarikiaa,while the .woman is pregnant. Theoretically, if the wife dies before the payment of the hajarikiaa, her spirit inedima) will return to her father's village to be incorporated 33 into her natal group of ancestors, but in actual fact, this is not allowed to happen,12 The prac- tice is that the wife's patrikinsmen come after her death, but before her funeral, to collect the hajarikiaa (e.g., the case 6f Haluri cited before). When it is paid after her death, the hajavikiaa is reduced to one sheep and the appropriate sacrifices, food and gifts. In fact, as the case of Haluri pointed out, thp funeral cannot be performed until the hajarikiaa has been paid or a firm promise of payment has been made in the presence of both the sipatoro. The offspring of a woman whose hajari— kiaa is unpaid are affected by this fact. Such a woman's daughter's hajavikiaa cannot be collected before her mother's. To do so will bring certain death to the daughter. Until the hajarikiaa has been paid the couple is not "completely" married since the husband's lineage cannot bury the wife's body or incorporate her spirit into their collectivity of ancestors. The question arises as to whether the haiavi- kiaa payment is returnable or not. Jack and Esther Goody (1967; in 1969t 209) postulate that the Sisala are a Type 1. society like the Tallensi or LoWiili who have "patrilineal descent groups, high (return- able) bridewealth, low fostering, 'social' paternity, increasingly stable marriage, high ratio of conjugal residence, and widow inheritance." They are correct, I feel, in placing the Sisala in Type 1 rather in Type II, which has the mirror reverse of these cri- teria. However, two things are happening which may be transforming the nature of marriage payments? later payment of the hajarikiaa and the feeling, apparently not held in the past (of. .Tauxier below), that hajarikiaa cannot be returned for any reason, even sterility. One informant put it like this: Generally, women bear children, ranging^ from one to any number, before, the hajarikiaa is paid. But there are instances where th« 34 flajarikiaa is paid even before the girl is of age, let alone called a wife. This may happen when your in-laws are poor,or also need the hajarikiaa to pay for another of their wives, or the cow involved in the hajanikiaa needs to be used in the funeral of one of the girl's parents. Apart •from some of these cases, j kiaa is not paid out when the woman is sterile, gives still-births', or is divorced for being sterile. Nowadays many prestations are not made until after the child-bearing functions have ceased, or until the wife's death, and therefore, the return- able vs. non-returnable distinction does not apply. Informants said that in former times one could ask for the hajarikiaa as soon as the wife had given birth to her first child. Tauxier (.1912s 344-5) says s J-d We note - a case of the return of the woman fcjT. the husband /tou€ we have not noted•with regard to the other Grunshit It is when,they take the leaves of the donkola or n'taba trees which are sacred. The Sisala women*, it appears, in their spitefulness purposely take off these leaves (use for pubic coverings) when they ! wish to be returned. Or the husband may put them at the door (as a sign for his wife to leave), and in this case, if the woman has been sterile, does not reclaim the bridewealth him- self, but reclaims it through his sister's son, who returns it or on the other hand, may retain it for himself. When the woman has been returned for something else the husband reclaims the bridewealth himself, always under the pretext that the woman has been sterile. In other places (Zamouna, Nadion) when a husband returns his wife, he does not reclaim it in any case, whether his wife has beeri fruitful or not (my translation). It appears, then, that some Sisala reclaim the hajarikiaa while others do ' not. Since early pay- ment is infrequent nowadays, it has become highly 35 unlikely that its return would be involved in a case-of divorce.1^ Since the Sisala have in- creasingly stable marriage, most divorces tend to occur in the period prior to the birth of the first child. Therefore, most divorce is a simple matter of the woman being returned to her parents, or more commonly, the woman run- ning away from her husband. Normally, at this point, only the haatakiaa has been paid, and in no case can that ever be returned, involving as it does, perishable and consumer _ goods. The Sisala explicity state that haalakiaa can never be reclaimed once it is given. One informant expressed it like thisi The haalakiaa are not given back because it may make later marriages diffi- cult. They may refuse to give you their daughters when next any suitor does. It will be a stain,.and as such, it is hardly done. So it is with the hajarikiaat not even in part, except on very, very rate occasions. In most cases both villages may have girls from the other village and as such you can imagine the discord caused. Once the woman has children in the husband's house you cannot even think of doing it (asking for the return of the prestations) because it is not done. When children are born to the union, the hajarikiaa payment becomes mandatory.. This is clearly seen in the case of a wife who bears children in one lineage and then, upon the death of her husband, chooses to marry into a different lineage. The first lineage must pay the hajarikiaa because they have received child- ren. One informant put in this way: It is a rule that the first husband (be he dead or alive) poses as the genuine husband. If he dies and the woman is married to lineage "B" and even bears more children there than she did in lineage "A", the first 36 husband pays the hajav£kiatQ a,lw.ays. This is only true, however, if the woman marries* into a different lineage {janbale} within the origi- nal village. Further hajariktaa will only have to be paid if she marries into a different village. When I asked informants what would happen if a man refused to pay the hajavikiaa for a wife who had born, children, they always said that he could not refuse. After being prompted to answer this hypothetical question, most informants said that his wife and children should be taken away from him. I asked, "How can you take away a man's children like that?" One informant replied, "They are not his children; the hajarikiaa is unpaid." This link between hasarikiaa and legitimacy can be seen too in the following "true story" (Hamaka)^^ told met There lived a man from the village of Pulima called Balu who went to Kong and married a wife. In about three years* time the woman's people came to collect the hajarikiaa and the husband told them that they should go and come another time because he had not had time to collect;all the necessary things for the payment. So they returned to Kong. ' The next time they came the husband in- formed them that his wife was pregnant and, by custom, he could not pay the hajarikiaa. When the woman had brought forth the party from Kong returned a third time to collect their daughter's things. Still the husband refused to pay and the Kong people grew annoyed with him. They collected their daughter and .her children and took them back to Kong. They did this because by not paying the hajarikiaa the husband had shown that he did not want his wife and children. However, the husband went to Kong in search of them, but his wife's parents refused to give them up. He demanded the children, at least, but they refused saying that he had no right to them until ••hd *»- 37 he paid the hajarikiaa. He was furious and went to the police with the matter. The affair resulted in a court case and a ll parties had to appear before the magistrate and explained the situation. After all was heard, the magistrate informed the husband that he must pay the hajarikiaa before collecting his children. In the end the man was instructed by the court to pay twice the normal amount of hajarikiaa.5 Summary and Conclusions It can be seen that* Sisala marriage prestations fit well into Fortes' paradigm'of prime prestation© and Contingent prestations, Whereas the latter, the hajarikiaa prestations, comprised consumable goods and services beginning with the "love gift" to a hela (lover) and ending with the haaljasung presta- tions, the prime prestations {hajarikiaa) consists mainly of a payment in cattle. These cattle are exclusively raised to constitute a "pool of wealth" for marriage purposes. Further, the cow used in marriage transaction has restrictions placed upon its use. It must not be used for any other purpose than a future marriage payment and must be bred to produce offspring to be used to ritually inform the ancestors of their "daughter's" fertility within the bounds of a legal marriage. Whereas the fta^ar-t- kiaa prestations are fixed in amount, kind and use by customary law {kieing)$ the Haalaktaa payments and services are variables and are open fco bargains ing. Rich men {kiaattna} are well aware that they have the advantage of being able to woo girls-w/ith. expensive "love gifts" and with m,any large HaQlQk$aa payments. Whereas the kbla nutSf bear, and drink used in the Contingent prestations are normally used in many contexts of exchange, cattle (neaing) are exchanged only for purposes of marriage or used in ancestral sacrifices.'16 Whatever the other uses of cattle, the actual cow which is used in a hajavikiaa payment has customary limitations placed upon its, —* 38 further use. No bargaining takes place in Haja~ vikiaa prestations but a shrewd father may hold out for manyhaalakiaa payments if he thinks the potential son-in-law is good for it. Lastly, the haalakiaa is seen by the Sisala as being symbolic of a man's right to the sexual and domestic services of a wife. Great ceremony is given to two necessary acts after the }ast payment of the haalakiaa is deli- vered) the sexual act and the act of boiling water for the husband. In the former> the new wife is often formally delivered to her husband's bed- chamber by the sipatofo to her village whereupon the marriage is consummated even though the man may have had pre-marital access to her by virtue of the "love gift".* In the latter act of boiling water, the new wife is expected to cook a fine meal for the groom, but "boiling water11 symbolizes the assumption of her domestic responsibilities.^ Taken as a whole, the haalakiaa prestations esta- blish a relationship between the two descent groups which is maintained during the betrothal period and in the initial phase of marriage by the requirement that the contingent prestations be presented over a long period of time. The payment of haalakiaa establishes the duty of the son-in-law with farming or housebuilding chores and the like. The girl's father, in turn, has duties as well e.g., providing his son-in-law with the customary "fairy medicine" {kantong lurung) which is necessary for the survival and continued health of "the couple's firstborn. The completion of the haalakiaa payments, culminating in the haaljasung payment and sacrifice, marks the establishment of the affinal tie between the two lineages involved. When one attempts to make an accounting of Sisala marriage prestations and to match them with the five functions listed by Radcliffe-Brown, with regard to prestations, it becomes apparent that there are functional clusters or episodes in the entire marriage process. However, the boundaries of these functional clusters are not sharply drawn by the people concerned. While most informants do not distinguish between, say for example, the haalakiaa 39 and the haaljaaung, in terms of the different functions performed by each, some insightful informants are able to do so, There are five distinct "clusters* or "epi- sodes" in the pattern of exchange between affinal groups>%the helating, haalaktaa, haaljasung, haja- rikiaat and the purung ceremony. These are episodes in both a nominal and temporal sense in the emic model. Also in this paper I wish to show that they can be viewed etically as being functionally distinct. The first exchange of valuables takes place when the man gives the he I at ing (love gift) and receives a reciprocal gift from the girl. This establishes an inter-personal relationship between the pair but in no way commits the two descent groups to an alliance. If the "lover" {hela) relationship blooms the man may decide to approach the girl's father with the ini- tial instalment of the second functional clusters of the marriage prestations; the haalakiaa. This pay- ment initiates the process of establishing a legal marriage, but its primary function is the establish- ment of a relationship of affinity. The formal trans- fer of goods and services from the descent group of the male to the descent group of the female in ex- change for uxorial rights, establishes a relationship of amnity. This is a formal amnity between affines, not amnity which grows naturally out of kinship. The third functional episode in the transfer of marriage prestations is the haaljasung payment which takes place approximately one year after the bride has gone to live with her husband. While the Sisala scrupulously avoids the appearance of the father seeking compensation for the loss of his daughter, the haatjaaung is a symbolic representation of com- pensation and could rightly be called a "placation gift". More importantly, however, it finalizes the relationship of affinity established by prior exchanges, While divorce can take place at any time during the. marriage, by bringing the haaljaaung, the husband in- dicates his willingness to continue with the marriage 40 beyond the initial year. Acceptance on the part of the father-in-law indicates his willingness to accept the arrangement and fulfil his affinal obligations. The fourth, and prime prestation, in the hajari- kiaa. It, more than any other single episode, com- pletes the* legality of the marriage thereby insuring the legitimate claims to paternal descent by the off- spring of that marriage. In other words, it is given in exchange for genetricial rights which are necessary to complete the establishment of the patrilineal des- cent of the children. At the same time, it serves to reinforce the affinal relationship established by previous exchanges. Also as Radclif fe-»Brown pointed out, the specification of cattle in this prestation establishes a symbolic link between the ancestor of the two groups. The creation of this ritual link is significant because nothing is real (titi) in Sisala society unless it is somehow tied to the earth (tin- teing) and the ancestors who reside therein. Ances- tral shrines (vene) are the material connection with the ocoult world (fa fa) (cf. Mendonsa, in press). The requirement to prolong the ritual link by breeding the marriage cow and sacrificing its offspring further protracts the affinal tie and ties it securely to the traditional past (fa fa). The final payment, purung, marks the end of the formal exchange of marriage prestations and finalises the relationship of affinity. Include* in the ceremony is an element of "compensation" as well, but this is compensation to the wife for her child-bearing over the years. This final exchange must take place in the presence of the two aipatOTo so that the entire exchange process can be terminated in the presenceof legal wit~ nesses from both descent groups. in summation then, the exchange of goods and services between the descent groups of spouses among the Sisala, can be broken down Into a number of func- tional parts, while the entire quantityof goods and services exchanged can be viewed as a total fund of 1. 41 wealth which is exchanged for certain rights over the woman's capacities, it is enlightening to further break down the exchanges into functional episodes which also have nominal and temporal separation. --:* 42 NOTES 1. The author carried out 10 months fieldwork in Northern Ghana in 1971-72 while a research student ftt the University of Cambridge. He wishes to acknowledge the financial support Of the British Universities Student Travel Association; the Ling Roth Fund and the Anthony Wilkin Fund of the Faculty Of Archaeology-Anthropology, University of Cambridge; and the Smuts Memorial Fund, Uni- versity of Cambridge. I also wish to thank my supervisor, Professor Meyer Fortes and also Professor Jack Goody and Dr. Esther Goody for their encouragement and support. 2. 3. One should not go alone to collect the hajarikiaa. The Slsala custom is to always take along a party •of lineage memtfers and anybody else that wants to make the journey for excitement, refreshment and gifts. It is said that a man who goes alone to collect the hajarikiaa will suffer an affliction or die. Since the collection of hajavtkiaa requires the gathering of a number of kinsmen and friends, it is often postponed till dry season when there is not so much work in the farms. It is not uncommon for a lineage to fail to collect their tolikiaa until the funeral of their daughter because of difficulties in gathering a party to collect the hajarikiaa. The Sisala have a aegmentary lineage system similar to other African systems. Beginning with the largest group* the sub-divisions are as followsi Clan (-viava)t village {jang)> reciprocal burial group (either vaidongo or nyinniaa), lineage (jeohiking), compound (kaala)» house (diaeung) and room (dia). The jeohiking, which means "a walled compound", is the most important kin group. It is the normal corpor- ate group acting in economic and ritual affairs «• one body with th& j64hikintina as the leader. 4. Both eipatovo (lit, "front-follower") must be present at all marriage prastations and transaction*. They serve as legal witnesses, one from each village, to the marriage. (They normally have matrllateral 43 5. 6. 7. 8. links with the other villages in question. Manoukian (1951: 39-40) saya that this placation gifts is divided into two parts? the hal-gya-ean (beer for seeking woman) and the hal-gya-mozvie (cowries for seeking woman). While cowries are " a customary part of the haljaeung payment, I found no. such division among the Crocodile people During the one haildaaung payment X saw delivered in Bujan, the girl's father made use of the occasion to lecture the girl on the virtue of being a good and faithful wife. These values were reinforced by others of her natal lineage who voiced similar advice, Bach village ie normally divided into two reci- procal burial groups, A burial group is made up of several lineages with genealogical links. A man calls his own group vaidongo and the opposite group nyinniaa* These groups are often simply referred to as the "up-people" (nyungniaa)'and the "down-people" (bubuongniaa)» • ' • '* This is always done to inform the.woman's pater- nal ancestors that their daughter's hajcwikiaa has been in accordance with custom (kieinga). In this particular case, the animal parts were distributed in the following manners one front thigh went to the eipatoro from Bujan and the other vent to the ttyerbovo from Dolbizan. one back tbig» went to the jeotiikinUna of Kpejang and the other back thigh went to the woman's son's wife. If the woman is alive when this sacrifice is made, she receives this part. The chest went to the wives of the men who fetched the hajarikiaa and the neck went to the sister's sons Itolo biving) i.e., sons of women married into Bujan from Dolbiaan. The head and the skin went to the men of Kpejang. If the woman is alive at the time of the pivuna payment, she takes a handful of cowries in pay- ment for "her pain and suffering in bearing children." In this case, the eldest son acts in his mother's behalf. At the time of fieldwork, a cow was approximately Worth C40.00.( One cedi = about75c. There are 100 pesewas to a cedi. , A day's labor at making the mud brick brought a man 60 pesewas per 100 bricks, which amount he could make in one day. A slave is shrines wh which nre quali ti es They often when they tion, but b i o 1 o q i r n 1 father. only allowed to have daluno (medicine) ich can be purchased. They are shrines thought" to have magical or medicinal and are not Initially ancestral shrines. become ancestral shrines, for non-slaves, are passed on from generation to genera- a slave-child cannot inherit from his Thus, until the hojayiklaa is paid, the couple arc not "completely" married because the husband's lineage cannot bury the wife's body or incorporate her spirit into their collectivity of ancestors. While conducting a marriage interview schedule, I encountered many times a case where a man would not list all•of his wives. Upon further probing he would reveal additional ones and when asked why he had not mentioned thrm, he would inevitably state that they were not "really" wives since their hajarikiaa had not been paid. A marriage schedule reveals the trend towards late payment of hajavikiaa. Out of 486 women interviewed only 54 (11.1%) had had their hajarikiaa paid. Grindal (1973:173) makes the distinction between hamaka or "true tales" and sineoling or "folktales" The former is "any statement of absolute or sacred moral truth" while the latter "consists of fanciful stories involving animal and human characters." 1 10 1 1 1 2 13 14, 45 "Namaka include myths, legends, proverbs and statements concerning ancestral precedent. 15. I suspect that this last statement is an embellishment added by a storyteller to empha- size that the party in the wrong received his just deserts. 16. If a family Reaches dire poverty a cow may be sold to feed the lineage members. It also happens that cows are sometimes killed by farmers while trampling their crops and the owner sells the meat for cash. Of course, some men break the norms too and sell cows to purchase European goods such as a shot-gun or motorcycle. 17. The Sisala practise the levirate and when a widow wants to show which of her dead husband's brothers she desires to marry, she boils a pot of water and presents it to him. This act is sufficient and they are considered married, that is, the brother receives exclusive rights in uxovem ov«?r the woman, "9"' 46 BIBLIOGRAPHY Fortes, Meyer 1962 "Introduction" to MARRIAGE IN TRIBAL SOCIETIES. M. Fortes', (ed*) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. 1970 "Descent, Filiation and Affinity" in M, Fortes (.ed.) TIME AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND OTHER ESSAYS. Londom The Athlone Press. Origi- nal article in Man (1959) Goody, Jack 1969 COMPARATIVE STUDIES IN KINSHIP. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Goody, Jack & Esther Goody 1967 G r i n d a l, B r u ce 1 9 73 ?The Circulation of Women and Children in Northern Ghana." Man N.S. 2 (June) 226-48). "The Sisala Trickster Tale." Journal of American Folklore. 86. 3 4 0, ( A p r i l - J u n e ), 173-75. Manoukin, Madeline 1951 TRIBES OF THE NORTHERN TERRI- TORIES OF THE GOLD COAST. London: I n t e r n a t i o n al African I n s t i t u t e. Mendonsa, Eugene (in press) "The Divinatory process and Temporal-Spatial Concepts among the Sisala of Northern Ghana." Journal of Asian and African Affairs. • ? •- U-i 1 Radcliffe-Brown, A.R. 1950. "Introduction to AFRICAN SYSTEMS OF KINSHIP AND MARRIAGE, A.R. R a d c l i f f e - B r o wn and D a r y ll F o r de University Press, 1-85. ( e d s. ), London: Oxford 47 Rattray> RfS. Tauxier, Louis 1952, THE TRIBES OF THE ASRAHtl HINTERLAND. London? Oxford University Press (2 yols.). 1912. LE NOXR DU SOUDAN, Parisn Emtle Larose, Libraire* Editeur, •r