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456 MABA
division of the village population into four age grades beginning with circumcision
between the ages of 10 and 12. Young girls submit to clitoridectomy at
the same age and become marriageable. After circumcision, the boys usually
attend a village Quranic school until the age of 18, helping their teacher with
farm labor. Thereafter, the young men serve as shepherds or become migrant
laborers. Formerly, this second grade supplied the recruits for the sultan's armies.
Full maturity comes with marriage, and from this group the village chief is
chosen. At 50, one becomes an elder and spends most of the day under the
shelter in the village square. The elders settle local disputes according to traditional
law. Centralized authority in the sultanate and later colonial reforms
have altered local administration, but age grades continue to function. Despite
Quranic injunction, the local millet beer remains popular, and its consumption
marks all festivals. Those at harvest undoubtedly had earlier religious significance,
but Islamic prayer, fasting and holidays have largely superseded them.
A good deal of the credit for the increased Islamization of the Maba must go
to the local teachers, or fuqura (singular,/a