THE TANGALE PEOPLE OF KALTUNGO
"A PROUD HERITAGE"
ETHNICITY
My tribe, "the Tangale" is of the Tangale ethnic group and speaks the Tangale language, of the Chadic classification. They are mostly found in Kaltungo, Billiri, Ture, Shongom, Kwame in Gombe state and other parts of the country as well as Cote D Ivoire.
The Eastern Tangale, comprising Kaltungo, Ture and Shongom is my focus.
ORIGIN AND MIGRATION
The origin of the people of my tribe has several accounts, all of which are from oral sources. Of all the accounts, the one I prefer is that our forefathers came from the hills of Northern Yemen, through seven migratory stages. Naturally, religious adherents know that all mankind originated from the first created humans, Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden! In the beginning, only one language was spoken until men decided to build a tower that would reach heaven, and God was not pleased, so He split them by way of making communication difficult, through various languages.
Of all the oral accounts given, non was able to trace the link, or connection of the Tangale between the tower of Babel and Yemen.
The seven stages started from a place called "Mak" in Bornu of the Kanem empire. All the history of our people makes reference to this Mak, of which there is no trace whatsoever of it having existed! The places, not in chronological order are; Mak, Kubi, Hina, Pokwaka, Dikki, Tungo and Kaltungo.
RELIGIOUS PRACTICES
The people had no religion per se, but they had ceremonies and they performed certain rites that could be a form of worship. It might be proper to refer to such practices as African Traditional Religious Practice, but definitely not Idol worship, nor ancestral worship, although sometimes during prayers, references are made of dead relatives or ancestors.
The only distinct and highly revered deity among the people at that time is Yamba. There were no shrines or any specific place set aside for the worship of Yamba, but the Yamba whose attributes are ascribed to be feminine, due to the kind and tender nature inherent in the deities' interactions with the people, reference is always made to the She deity, assumed as the most supreme, during prayers. Every good thing that happened to the people is credited to Yamba.
However, there are shrines built to appease, "Shoro", an evil spirit of the same rank as Satan in the Bible, because it (the spirit), always visit the people with evil and various pestilence when wronged and so in order to avoid trouble with it, they often appease it with various forms of sacrifices, even before committing a wrong. Any bad thing that happened in the days of old is being blamed on the Shoro. There are no records of human sacrifice in all the rites of the Tangale people.
Certain celebrations that involves rituals are the "Eku" and "Tangra" festivals, which are observed before the planting season begins and to celebrate bountiful harvests. However, certain ritual like ceremonies are observed for marriage, birth, death and a lot of others.
It is said that the people had three books believed to be The Bible, Koran and Torah, as well as a mythical stone that guided them during the migrations. The stone was buried in one of the hills in Ture, to which the custodians often performed certain rites to protect and preserve it.
COMMUNAL ADMINISTRATION
The leader of the people, who is the Chief, is referred to as the "Mai" and he is the head of the cultural and general administration of the tribe. The Mai Eku is also a leader who oversees the various shrines and all it's activities. Each clan has a Mai Eku, but a particular clan always produced the overall Mai Eku. The "Mai Kambugut", is another important leader, who assumed full role in times of war.
Each clan has a head, who is the leader and all disputes or misunderstandings are taken to him to resolve. Because all disputes were taken cared of at the clan level, the overall Mai often had no functions except appearances during festivals, which are always not with royal pomp and gaiety. Because the Mai was never at the center of things, his office was not accorded much respect, the people see him as ordinary as any other indigene, such that Mai Kambidoks, and certain clan leaders were sometimes respected more than the Mai.
It was the coming of the colonial masters in the early nineteenth century that gave substance to and elevated the office of the Mai, mostly for the purpose of tax collection and slave trade.
DRESSING AND FOOD
In the earlier times, the men wore skins of animals they killed during hunting expeditions around their waists to cover their crotch, while the women wore leaves that covered only their crotch and occasionally, the breasts. Children and younger youths wore nothing.
In later times when they begin to interact with their neighbors, they bartered other things for fabrics and textiles with the people of the Waja tribe.
FOOD
Certain preparations of grains and meat was the only type of food the people eat. Mostly it's gravy and various soup preparations, foremost of which is the "ar bayo" ,which is prepared with a special type of daddawa(beanscake), called "dolding". The ar bayo soup is the ceremonial soup of the Tangale's of Kaltungo extraction. There are other food types like the "ed mammu", prepared with guinea corn and grounded beniseed. The "kwaksak" and "Shinga" are also enjoyed. Certain fruits like, landongdong, wulot, kwalak, La awe, sha we, tuji, etc, which are still common, formed part of the desserts of the people, then and occasionally now!
Dog meat is specially enjoyed, although from the beginning, dogs were not common. Pigs were introduced to the people by missionaries. The people like eating meat a lot, of which they make no distinction in the selection thereof.
INTERACTIONS WITH NEIGHBORS
In the first days of occupation, everything was about territory, which makes war obvious. The people of the Eastern Tangale, comprising of Kaltungo, Ture and Shongom, fought and pushed all their neighbors farther away, enabling them to have a large territory. Ironically, their worst enemies, to which hostilities still thrive, are their kin in the Western section, comprising of the people of Billiri.
It was the coming of colonialists that ended hostilities between the people of Kaltungo and all it's neighbors, although before then, some of the tribes made peace with the people of Kaltungo. Those were the Kamo, Awak, Pero, Bangwinji, Burak, and Shonge tribes.
FESTIVALS
As stated earlier, the foremost and most pronounced festivals are the Eku and Tangra festivals, the other to celebrate harvest and the other to prepare for planting. There are however so many other festivities like Marriage festivals, which the people enjoy a lot and is one of the two reknown social activities which the people don't take lightly. The other is observation of things related to death. There are hunting expeditions, which is also a major festival, but it is no longer pronounced.
Reference :
Religion Myth and Magic in Eastern Tangale by H. Jungraithmayr
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