Educational Videos about Madagascar by Students

This series shows a walking tour of Diego-Suarez as shown by
University of Antsiranana students.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfOY0SMMd3M

This series shows student speeches about the pros and cons of Tourism
in Madagascar as described by University of Antsiranana students.

http://www.youtube.com/user/mdyancey

Tribes: Vezo

The Malagasy people are generally divided into eighteen tribes. The
Vezo are people who live in the coastal villages of southwest
Madagascar. The Vezo refers to people who used to live from the sea
fishing and it is difficult to determine the population. They have
their own culture, dialect and society.

According to the history, Vezo does not often protect their property
and are often attacked by other tribes. The Vezo literally means the
people who fish or struggle with the sea. This means their life
depends of fishing. The people who inhabit the Andavandoaka are the
Vezo tribe in the north of the southwest of Madagascar. The fishermen
make use of mangrove to manufacture canoes for fishing. In their
society the family is the most important and the elders are greatly
respected in their community. Families afford to the young the
building of the boats. When they fish they use line nets.

An elder in the family called the Hazomanga who proceeds as an
intermediary between the family members and their ancestors. He takes
responsibility of overseeing the ceremonies and asks advice from the
ancestors. Sometimes they take a zebu and kill it to sacrifice
because zebu is an identifiable simple—it indicates wealth of statues
so that is why people kill the zebu to be sacrificed during some
ceremonies. This is culture of "fomba".

Tromba, or outside power, is very common to Malagasy people but each
tribe has a method for ceremonies. By Vezo tradition, the family of
the possessed person invites relatives and friends from surrounding
communities to be present in the ceremonies. It lasts for one day.
Men and women are separated during the ceremonies. Apart from the
Tromba, the Vezo also gives value to the circumcisions and exhumation
ceremonies. In that time the family member has to kill the zebu to be
sacrificed. After the child is circumcised, of the uncles holds the
child on this shoulder during the ceremony. His uncle should eat the
piece of flesh of the child with a banana. IT can last up to three
days. But exhumation takes one week.

The tribe of Vezo is very culturally interesting. They have
communication with the dead through dreams as well. They ask for help
from their ancestors and get a good response after a few days of their
request. They are easy going people and their life depends of
fishing.

Tribes: Tsimihety

Madagascar is a country which as 18 different tribes. Among these
tribes Tsimihety is one that I will discuss. According to me and my
research, Tsimihety culture is different than the other tribes. First
I will talk about exhumation and second I will talk about how people
get a fiancé in this culture. And finally, I will talk about their
music and the meaning of Valise Mena.

When a Tsimihety person dies and they are not in their hometown they
can be buried there. Most of the time, this is due to lack of money.
After three months, they do an exhumation and bring the corpse to the
place where they are from. During exhumation, they take the corpse
from a tomb and put it in a new small coffin. They burn the old
empty coffin. They bring the corpse and walk it around town.
Everybody is allowed to drink alcohol and nobody can cry.

About fiancé's. A man goes to a girls place with his elders like his
grandfather, mother and father, uncle, etc. The girl should always
accept it if the deal is OK. For them, a good day for taking a girl
to the man's place is Monday. Thursday is taboo. When the men head
back home with the girl she will bring with her all of her things.
When they get home, during the meal, she eats with her mother and
father in law for three days only and she cannot go to the man's place
unless it is night. After three days, she starts cooking at her man's
place.

Tsimihety music is called Malesa. They way of dancing is simple, man
stands behind a woman. When the music starts they move their left
feet together first and then follow with their right and put their
hands up. On top of that, Tsimihety, in one way, are called, "Valise
mena" which means red suitcase. This name is for women. They care
called valise mena when they bring all of their things from their home
with them. For example, when two lovers are apart the woman brings
everything with her such as her cows, cars, kitchen stuff and even her
mans clothes. In general, they do it when their relationship does not
last for a year.

To conclude, among other tribes, Tsimihety is one tribe which
practices exhumation. They also have their own marriage customs and
traditional music. All of these are part of their culture. Do
Malagasy tribes have anything in common?

Tribes: Sakalava of Sambirano

Sambirano is a region located in Northern Madagascar. Sambirano is a
river which flows through the town of Ambanja; it is the biggest town
in the Sambirano region. Most people in this region believe in
possession despite the Christian influences in Madagascar. Possession
is Tromba in the Malagasy language.

First of all, Tromba is a spirit of dead kings who comes to someone
and we call them possessed. That is to say, after many years of the
death of a king their spirit can incarnate. A woman is really sick
before she will be incarnated by the Tromba. And then, her family
will find someone to ask what causes her disease. If there will be a
Tromba embodying the woman, the predictor will know this. When her
family arrives at home they have to call someone who has the same
Tromba as the woman has. The Tromba tells them what he wants and what
is prohibited. Furthermore, her family will organize a big feast of
the Tromba. At that moment, the woman who is possessed by Tromba will
sit in front of the guests in between the Tromba. On her left and old
man will pray in order to call a new Tromba. Generally, Tromba
incarnate to women because they are boys.

Moreover, when Tromba comes, the woman trembles. When he embodies the
woman the woman has to wear new clothes (the clothes of Tromba). And
then, the Tromba takes a seat and introduces himself. If he doesn't
know his parents he is not a real Tromba. During his introduction his
grandparents and his parents are present. After that he can play with
the other Tromba. When a Tromba comes it is the say way as a king has
died.

Besides, Tromba gives rules to the possessed person. He gives
forbidden things depending on how the king died. For example, a
possessed woman is forbidden to drink coffee because the kind died
when he drank coffee. Tromba can heal and punish human beings.

To conclude, Tromba is a belief similar to Christianity. People
celebrate Tromba festivals during the vacation period (July-September)
because at that time people do not work the farms.

Tribes: Sakalava

Madagascar has different tribes. Each tribe as its specific customs.
These customs differ from other tribes. The Sakalava tribe is one of
the most famous tribes in Madagascar and has its own specific dialect,
tradition, music and characters.

From the beginning, let's talk about Sakalava traditions and dialect.
Sakalava are the people in the north of Madagascar from Diego, Nose
by, Ambanja, Vohemar and Ambatoboeny (in Majunga)—except Sakalava of
Menabe which are from the south of Madagascar, especially Lorondava
(in Tulear). Their dialect is Sakalava Dialect which has the most
words descendant from Africa. However, in Diego, the language is
heavily mixed with foreigners languages—influenced by French and
American tourists and visitors.

The Sakalava has their own way of dressing. For the women it is
kisaly and salovana but for the men it is kitamby. This kind of
clothing is the sign or honor or sadness. As an example, for the
women, they were "salovana and Kisaly" for a party or in their daily
routines. Also for funerals—but in this case they make it dirty (it
is a tradition).

Then, sometimes they mix it with "masonjoany". This is a natural
product which makes the fact sweet—in fact, it makes them beautiful.

Second, Sakalava is famous for their traditional music which is
Salegy, Trotrobe, Kaoitry—and the Menabe have their music which is
Killalaky. In this context, their same object is to help others know
that they are descendant from Africans.
Third, their character is also really different than the other tribes.
Most of the Sakalava people are hospitable, good in relationships and
respectable. They are not hypocritical and like to communicate with
others. That is why most tourists come to Madagascar prefers to go to
Diego and Nose Be.

To sum up, Sakalava tribe is one of the most famous tribes which exist
in Madagascar. Because of the tradition and the preservation of
Sakalava customs—it brings a high opportunity to Madagascar
financially.

Also, even if Malagasy tribes are divided into eighteen—people have a
national dialect which is "Malagasy official language" and each
language can understand the other.

Tribes: Mikea

Mikea is one of the most special tribes in Madagascar. It is a wild
tribe located in the south in the province of Tulear. This tribe was
born during colonization of Madagascar. To see more about what makes
this tribe special—let's look at the name Mikea, why they choose
wilderness, what is their cultures and how do they dress and eat?

During colonization, French people forced Malagasy people to work, to
pay money and do hard work like building big houses and roads. This
group of people tried to escape colonization and ran away from town.
They decided to live in a very thick forest where the French were
afraid to enter because this group of Malagasy people learned about
the forests and knew the secret of how to live in it.

While they were escaping from the French, they created a signal to
show each other if they are lost. They said, if you are lost while
you are escaping from French people, just "call"—To call means
"Mikeha" and after time it became Mikea without the H.

In order to hide from the other people, they did not build houses or
plant anything. The Mikea tribe lived by fishing, picking fruits and
hunting. Nowadays, the forest is disappearing more and more so they
do not get enough food from the forest. People have now started to
cultivate rice and other foods to survive. In the Mikea tribe there
are no schools or hospitals.

They still have a very wild style of life even now. We can see them
wearing nothing—children and older people alike. They put mud on
their face and have long hair and do not yet use toothbrushes. They
have begun to be more civilized because some people around them are
teaching them. Most of the time, people are afraid to visit the
forest of Mikea—a dry and thorny forest.

Tribes: Merina

Madagascar is an island and it has its own population, its own
language and its own cultures. This island is formed by eighteen
tribes which are different from each other. Each tribe possesses
their own way of life, some cultural rituals which make each tribe
unique. The Merina tribe is among the Malagasy tribes. To learn more
about this tribe, it is better to locate the tribe and the history of
it. So let's talk about the way of life of the Merina tribe and then
some cultural information and rituals specific to the Merina tribe.

The Merina tribe is among the two highland tribes in Madagascar. It
is located in the region of Tananarive. It is limited in the North by
the district of Ankazobe, in the south by the district of Antsirabe,
in the west by the district of Itasy, and in the east by
Manjakandriana. The Merina tribe is the largest tribe in Madagascar
and the people in it s area more closely resemble Indonesians people
with more fair skin and smooth long hair. Concerning the history,
"Vazimba" people were the first population living in the area. And
then came some migration and the Merina tribe was divided in different
sections or kingdoms lead by a king or queen. Some kinds and queens
are famous such as Andrianampoinimerina, Radama, Ranavalona, etc. And
some of them have tried to conquer some territories outside of Merina
territory.
To know a little more about the Merina way of life we can explore food
and clothing.

As all Malagasy people, rice is the main dish of the Merina people.
But many types of vegetables and fruits are found in abundance.
Merina people have specific ways of cooking rice which is "Vary
amin'anana" the rice is cooked with green leaves. It is very
delicious if it is eaten with "kitoza". Some ancient recipes make
their tribe famous, for example the "varanga" which is beef meat
cooked in a pot made by earthenware and conserved for a year. For
their clothes, the "lamba" is emblematic clothes for Malagasy
people—it is a piece of clothe which is used to cover most of the
body. For Merina people, women wear the Lamba made of silk and they
put it around their shoulders. For men, "malabary" is the most common
way of dressing.
Culture of the Merina tribe is based on respect of ancestors. Before
all acts, they first give honor to their ancestors and elders. Many
rituals differentiate Merina people from others.

For example, the way they celebrate marriage. They follow these steps:

1. "tampi-maso" which shows respect for the brides brothers
2. "Fisehoana" to make known the relationship between a girl and a boy
3. "Vodiondry" to honor the bride's parents

And the ancestor worship has an important place for Merina people; it
is expressed in a corpse turnaround. This ritual is done by offspring
several years after the death. The offspring will cover their
ancestor's corpse with new shrouds. A big festivity is done with
"toaka gasy" a home brewed alcohol. After doing it, the descendants
will hope to be blessed by their ancestor's spirits. Merina people
have their fady (taboo) and as an illustration, people should not work
on Tuesday.

As a conclusion, Malagasy people are divided into many tribal groups.
Each tribe has their cultures and their beliefs. We can see it
through the information concerning each tribe. In spite of all of
these differences, Malagasy people are still one. As our motto says,
"Unity Inside Diversity>"