Tammari people

Link to the land

After years (or maybe centuries) of wandering, the Batammariba settled in the valleys, a way of existence they preferred to their former history of conflict with law-imposing warlords and chieftains. Their name implies a close connection to the land where rituals are practised.

The underground region is the domain of dead spirits to whom the Batammariba owe their very existence with nature and the ability to generate.

The Batammariba do not consider themselves landowners, but caretakers. Their settlement could not have happened without the intercession of the Babietiba, (first settlers), who belonged to a highly culturally evolved group of foragers, then introduced them to the “true owners of the region”: underground forces incarnated into a source such as a rock or a tree. These ancestors of the Batammaribas concluded an alliance with the forces, swearing to respect some agricultural rules and the pieces of land that belonged to the forces. In exchange, the forces allowed the ancestors to build houses and to harvest the soil. Initiations or rituals are meetings with underground forces. This link to the underground forces demanded bravery, self-mastery, and discretion, essential qualities by which the Batammaribas are formed from a young age.

The Takyenta

The Takyenta (also spelled Takienta) traditional dwelling, including the famous Tata Somba, is typically built of mud and surrounded by towers that support garrets, evoking medieval citadels. The dwellings each have a masculine (south) orientation and a feminine (north) orientation. Models of takyentas differ from village to village. The storied construction with its solid walls acts as a protective fortress to keep out invaders and repel fatal spear attacks on its inhabitants. It also serves as protection against leopards who, according to the village elders, roam freely in the overgrown bush. Building the fortress takes several months and requires much skilled labor. The upper floor is a living space and a safe haven.

Up until 2000, parents and their children slept in elevated box structures placed on the sides and center areas of the terrasse. These boxes were also designed to protect the inhabitants and their guests from the midday heat. Nowadays the fortresses are reserved for ancestral devotional ceremonies. The souls of the ancestors reside in the earthen cone-shaped altars. Strangers cannot enter the temple area without permission from the head of the home.

On the exterior south side of the fortress are the altars containing spirits of animals that were formerly hunted and killed. The altar can also contain underground spirits with whom those ancestors who possessed the gift of "sight" had made a pact. Therefore, the connection between the dwellings and the sacred altars of the village is extremely strong.

The uniqueness and sophistication of this architecture has been recognized since 2004 by UNESCO as a world heritage site, with the statement, "Koutammakou is an outstanding example of territorial occupation by a people in constant search of harmony between man and the surrounding nature". The residences of the Somba people have become an attraction in the fledgling tourist industry of Benin and Togo.

Traditional religion

The traditional religion of the Batammariba centers around one Supreme Deity, Kuiye, the sun god and creator of both gods and humans. Kuiye is believed to resemble a human in appearance, but is also considered both male and female, so that the deity is often referred to as "The Sun, Our Father and Our Mother". Like all living beings, according to Batammariba thought, Kuiye possesses a corporeal form known as Kuiye, and a soul, known as Liye. Kuiye, the corporeal form of the deity, is thought to live in the "sun village" in the west, above the sky, while Liye travels the sky each day in the form of a disc of light.

Butan, the goddess of the Earth and the Underworld, is Kuiye's complement as either Kuiye's wife or twin. Butan is the ruler of everything within the Earth or on its surface, including vegetal growth and agriculture, game proliferation, cemeteries, etc. Her corporeal form, invisible to humans, is said to resemble a mudfish, an animal that is thought to vomit up an infinite amount of water. Because of this, her main shrine is a village spring. Her complementary soul is called Bupe, and is visible as the surface of the Earth.

The third major Batammariba deity is Oyinkakwata, "the Rich Man Above", who is the god of the sky, of thunder, lightning and storms. His soul is visible to humans in the form of lightning, but his invisible body is said to be filled with air.

But the Batammariba world is filled with many more deities who are quite different than the three cosmological gods described above: initiation deities who select their worshippers according to various factors such as gender, martial prowess, ability for clairvoyance, etc. They include the Fawafa, the python deity of men's initiations, Fakuntifa, the lizard deity of women's initiations, Fayenfe, the god of war and death, Litakon, the god of twins and fertility, and Kupon, the deity of divination, etc.

These deities are better considered families of deities, or deity types, rather than unique deities: male and female Fawafa deities, for example, are believed to produce offspring of their deity type. The Batammariba may acquire these deities by inheriting them, hunting and capturing them in the wild, or by buying and selling them to and from their neighbors. The matriarch, and presumably most powerful, of each deity type is believed to reside in Linaba, the mythological first village where Kuiye first created humans and deities.

Founding of Batammaribas

This connection is a cosmic expression of Batammariba spirituality and they have shown themselves to be intractable concerning their foundation. They maintain a strictly age-based hierarchy between elders and younger residents, like all African societies, but oppose any form of centralized power, and reject hereditary chieftains. Two, four or six clans can form a "village" or, to be more precise, a "territorial groupement" centered around the rituals upheld by each clan. A ritual center is the foundation of the village and is organized around a cemetery, a large initiation house for the youth, and the head serpent sanctuary. The clans share and recognize certain family bonds as they all descend from the same founding fathers. Another important pillar of the Batammariba is an exceptionally well-preserved system of funeral rites and initiation ceremonies. Those responsible for the rituals are imbued with authority and are chosen following rigorous ethics, notably discretion and self-mastery as, for example, if one is threatened with a knife, prefers to be killed than to kill. Nowadays the Batammariba accord the same importance to their rituals.

The youngest amongst them, whether schooled or not, whether they leave or stay in the village, will only very rarely not keep the cycle of initiation tradition.

Fidelity to tradition, like caring for and respecting the land on which their survival depends, their natural pride, warrior traditions, and hunting skills are intensely revived with ceremony. This has permitted the Batammariba to resist outside influences that negate their determination to maintain the millenary heritage that makes their culture so remarkable.

From 19 to 24 October 2018, UNESCO organized an emergency mission to assess the damage allegedly caused by the August 2018 rains in Koutammakou on habitat and on the intangible heritage. The report was prepared by three international experts: Ishanlosen Odiaua, Dominique Sewane and Franck Ogou.

Traditional scarification

The Tammari people are known for their traditional body scarring rituals, starting between the age of two and three. These special marks are a form of lifelong identification marks (tattoo ID), which identify a person as belonging to one's tribe as well as more coded personal information. Additional marks are added at puberty, readiness for marriage, post-child birth as a form of visible communication. These scars range from some on the face, to belly and back.

Researchers

• Suzanne Preston Blier: American art and architectural historian. Her doctoral research in the town of Koufitoukou in Togo the 1970s led to various books and articles on related architecture, religion, cosmology, initiation, and funerals.
• Leo Frobenius: German anthropologist and archaeologist (1873–1938) whose work is in the archives of the Institute Frobenius associated with the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main, including four scientific collections and a large image collection.
• Paul Mercier: He carried out solo research for a short period in 1950 in Natitingou concern the movements of the different tammariba subgroups and their neighbors and wrote numerous articles describe their social organization and land tenure.
• Albert Marie Maurice: Military Natitingou in 1950, Albert Marie Maurice (1913–200211) has conducted extensive research on this company. His photographic archives are in the Academy of Sciences of overseas.
• Rigobert Kouagou: Originally from Natitingou in Benin, Rigobert Kouagou is a specialist in the Tammari language. He is the author of poems and stories translated into French.
• Dominique Sewane: French ethnologist Dominique Sewane: since the 1980s, her research, publications, and reference works have focused mainly on the funeral and initiation rites of Batammaribas of Togo.