o - Aceh Books website

854 WAYTO
mechanism around the Wayto which remains almost intact into the present, even
though it is impossible to eat hippo meat on a regular basis. The Wayto's
neighbors consider hippo to be ritually polluted. Accordingly, the Wayto are
considered as unclean pariahs by other people of their region. Until recently, all
non-Way to would not touch or eat with a Wayto. Today, this abhorrence of
contact is breaking down, especially on the part of Muslims who are not Wayto.
Nowadays, hunting yields little in the way of food, and fishing does not provide
enough of a return by itself to sustain all Wayto. Fishing is supplemented by
the making of craft goods and by cultivation. Women make items of basketry
from varieties of Tana swamp grasses for sale in local marketplaces. Men arduously
mine and hammer to shape flat lava stones used for grinding grain.
These are sold to and used by families throughout the region. Wayto men have
always gathered select papyrus reeds, bundled them, and formed and tied the
bundles into a small boat called tankwa. These boats are poled around and across
the lake in all kinds of Wayto activities. Some lake trips might take a week or
more. Of several millions of inhabitants of the greater Tana region, only the
Wayto have a native knowledge of boat building and of navigation. Fishing is
done from tankwas and along the shore using nets, hook and line, fish spears,
basketry fish traps, and specially blended herbal stupificants causing fish to float
to the surface.
Cultivation and some tending of domesticated animals are new to the Wayto
economy. Except for dogs and cats, the only animals owned by most Wayto are
chickens. A few have one or more sheep or goats. Significantly, no Wayto can
afford oxen for plowing. Although a few Wayto were given disputed title to
some cropland by the government in the 1960s, almost all of the Wayto who
now cultivate land must rent or sharecrop land among Amhara who control land.
Land rental rates are high, and sharecrop returns are low. A pair of oxen and a
plow are rented at the rate of two days of labor furnished to the owner in return
for one day of use. Sorghum, barley, maize and the Ethiopian small grain, teff,
are cultivated as cereal along with a number of legumes and garden vegetables.
Marriage is by contract between families of a prospective bride and groom.
Traditionally, each should be from a different band. The customary practice of
the bride's family contributing a modest dowry of household items and the
groom's parents paying a moderate amount of bridewealth in goods is now
waning. The wedding ceremony is one of the major feasting times of the Wayto
and includes song and dance and a das (large flat-roofed shelter for seating guests
at a ceremony). Ideally, marriage is with those separated by at least seven degrees
of kinship. A Muslim practitioner unites the couple in a simple ceremony in
which no vows are made by the bridal pair. If the bride is physically immature,
marriage is consummated when she comes of age.
Patrilocal residence of the newly married couple is the most common mode.
Birth of a boy is greeted far more favorably than that of a girl. Girls assist their
mothers and boys their fathers with the daily labors and thus, learn the economic
roles allotted to each sex. Boys learn craft, fishing and agricultural skills today,
but usually not those of hunting. The values and traditions of the hunting life
IKV*