TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................... 0

MEANING OF GLAVDA.................................................................................................................... 1

 FOOD AND WEAR........................................................................................................................ 2

 COURTSHIP.................................................................................................................................... 2

 BRIDE PRICE................................................................................................................................. 3

 MARRIAGE..................................................................................................................................... 3

 BIRTH/NAMINNG........................................................................................................................ 3

 ANNUAL SACRIFICES............................................................................................................... 3

 WIDOWHOOD/WIDOW............................................................................................................ 4

 DEATH AND BURIAL................................................................................................................. 4

 INHERITANCE AND CIRCUMCISION............................................................................... 5

 FESTIVALS AND YOUR ETHNIC GROUP........................................................................ 5

1. VLINDMA.................................................................................................................................... 5

2. UTVA.............................................................................................................................................. 6

3. HYAHYA...................................................................................................................................... 6

4. THAKALA JAGHUVAYA...................................................................................................... 6

5. GHUNA (GHUNA ZHIGLA)................................................................................................. 7

MORAL TRAINING/TABOUR RESPOND IN BIBLICAL PERSSPECTIVE.................7

CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................................ 8

INFORMANTS/ORAL SOURCES;.................................................................................................. 8
INTRODUCTION

We feel excited to introduce this paper (assignment) to everyone, especially to the people of this

class too know the culture of Glavda language. The research will not cover all the aspect of what

we are doing in our culture, but we are going to give out in summery. The Glavda people are

those people that speak the Glavda language (Amaitsa). They believe in the supreme Deity called

Dadama Zhigla, "the Lord above the sky." He is the creator and maker of all things He cannot be

seen, so objects of sorts are kept for worship. They are found in the eastern part of Gwoza Local

Government Area of Borno State familiarly known as Gwoza east or Bayan Dutse. There are

about fourteen (14) clans that speak the Glavda language. These clans include Bokko, Ngoshe,

Amuda, Arboko, Jibrilli, Agapalawa, Ganjara, Zamga, Attagara, Kwadalla, Halaghua,

Agamachiya, Anwurva and half of the people of Ashigashiya. They have cultural similarities, but

their dialects are different. They maintain their culture and ancestral worship and share some

cultural beliefs and practices. According to oral traditions, the Glavda people trace their origin to

Malgwa clan of Wagga tribe found in the northerm part of Madagali Local Government Area in

Adamawa State and also in Gwoza Local Government Area in Borno State.

MEANING OF GLAVDA

As our great country Nigeria got her name from the great Niger River, or the Chibok people from

Kibaku and the like, so also is the word Glavda. The word Glavda was brought about by

civilization and modernization. It was changed by the first missionaries that brought the Gospel

to Glavda land. Legend has it that, the man, Aga kuyara, the founder of the Glavda Tribe fed on

the gutta-percha fruits (Ghavda). Having fed on the gutta-percha fruits (Gla Ghavda) for many

years, he made it as a law that none of his descendants would cut and burn a gutta-percha tree as

firewood. When a woman was suspected of having loyal adultery or was being impregnated by
another man, the fruits of the tree were the solution. She was asked to swallow the gutta- percha's

fruits. When she was guilty, she would not give birth but would die at childbirth. Even when she

gave birth but successfully, the child will not live long. But if she confessed, before being given

the fruits, she would survive and also the baby. Glavda, therefore, came from the word Gla

Ghavda meaning fed by gutta-percha tree. When the white men could not pronounce Gla

Ghavda, they shortened it to Glavda. According to Gula Nghagiya.

FOOD AND WEAR

The kind of food that people of Glavda normally eat are; we usually mixed our sup with fresh

cow milk, dala thatha means cow borns, we also have apdazaza, gwazama, madkwa hiya, zare,

masakwa all these are guinea corn, we also eat madariya means millet and hiya babra means

maize. What Glavda people normally wear is ship or goat skin, they will just tie it in their west.

(Azhuga)

COURTSHIP

During this court ship, normally if you are dating a lady there were many ways of approaching

the lady among the Glavda people; if you ask the parent of the Lady, that you want this girl for

your son without the consent of their children if the parent agreed they don’t have choice. And

when dating a Lady if you go to their house before you enter you must remove your shoe

outside, is a sign of respect and the Lady will go and carry the shoe, and also the son will kept on

visiting the girl since from her tender age and sometime spent the night with her in her parent's

house but he will not touch her. As their friendship grew up, the boy worked in both the house

and on the farm of the girl parents. Body decoration (Tsudaha) was also done in which the boy

brought fresh cow's milk and a goat to be slaughtered for the quick recovery of the wounds.

Where a girl got sick or had a wound, the boy brought a goat known as agwakwanda. This goat
was to be used as a sacrifice for the quick recovery of the girl. He also supplies logs of firewood

to the girl's grandparents regularly, especially, during the harmattan season so as to keep them

warm and also repair their huts. Besides these, the boy must also be willing to take up any

responsibility for the girl's parents he might be called upon. (Duwara)

BRIDE PRICE

When the girl was of marriageable age, the boy's parents paid the bride price, which included

four (4) cows, two (2) goats (that’s couple goats) to be used by the girl's parents as sacrifices, a

piece of black cloth (Jampaya), ground tobacco, and ten to twelve jugs of locally brewed beer

(Kya). In the case where the woman left her husband for another man, the second husband paid

back the first husband's bride price. Some cowries were also included in paying bride price.

According to Gula Nghagiya.

MARRIAGE

There were many ways of engagement among the Glavda people. It was childhood marriage that

was mostly practiced and done by parents without the consent of their children. One way was

that when a man saw a pregnant woman, he would say that if the child in her womb would be a

girl, she would be his son's wife. According to Toma Duwara

BIRTH/NAMINNG

According to Tabitha Toma she says that: Children in Glavda culture were named after

circumstances that accompanied their birth or after their grandparents. Names were also given to

children for the days of the week on which they were born e.g. Talaka for a child born on

Tuesday. Yathuma for the one born on Friday and S'vda for the one born on Saturday. Some

names were given based on proverbs, and some expressed thanksgiving to God. Sometimes a
mother changes the name and gave a name that reflected the circumstances of her life e.g.

Gatuwa or Laruwa for children when the mother is being maltreated by the husband.

ANNUAL SACRIFICES

In annual sacrifice, normally the sacrifice was done during the harvesting time for thanksgiving,

after the harvesting, then you are going to slaughter either hen or goat in capacity you are. And

also if a child is growing up, if he has become a man then he is going to offer a sacrifice showing

that he has become a man. When a woman was a month pregnant, she consulted the seer to

ensure the safety of the child before and after birth. When something wrong was confirmed,

some sacrifices were prescribed for protection and safe delivery. According to John Aghuga.

WIDOWHOOD/WIDOW

Any woman that her husband die, if she have many children including male child nobody will

married her in the family, because she have somebody that will inherit her husband, but if she

don’t, then somebody from the family of her husband will married her, either his junior or senior

brother. And she is going to morn her husband for one year, she will not birth for two weeks, and

they will cut her hear, after the two weeks, she can birth but she will not wear a good cloth or

rope some cream in her body, after one year they will still cut her hear including her children

hear after that, then she is free to marry. According to Toma Duwara.

DEATH AND BURIAL

Death among the Glavda people is feared and considered an Enemy. According to Glavda belief,

death had eyes. One day God sent death to bring Him people from the world but death returned

empty handed. This was because when death told the old people that God had sent him to call

them, the old people told him that they still needed more years to live and would like to see their
children's children (grand children). When he (death) could not succeed, he went to the youth

and likewise to little children and they wanted to get married and to live a long life to see their

offspring. So God became angry and blindfolded death. When death went again for the second

time, he brought many people to God for whoever he touches, dies. This is how death came, to

the world according to Glavda belief. When he come whatever your standard or position is you

just go for there is no complain. Sickness is caused according to Glavda belief by witchcraft's or

because God wants something from the sick person. When a person falls sick, a traditional healer

is consulted and tells the victim what to sacrifice. In the case of witchcraft, a diviner is consulted

and the spirit of the patient is brought back from the witches by divination. This is known as

abiyabiya. Some people fall to the ground and into the thorned houses showing their grief and

anxieties. When the people go home in the afternoon or evening from mourning the dead,

especially, the women, they wash their faces signifying cleansing themselves against whatever

killed the person and also not to go with sadness to their homes. After burial, if they cook a food

they will not put salt inside the soup because they are in pain, and if it is a family man, the first

born and junior ones will go around the house crying and they will fall into turns. According to

Gula Nghagiya

INHERITANCE AND CIRCUMCISION

According to Toma Duwara says that: Inheritance in Glavda language, only the male child will

inherit his father; there is no any inheritance for the female child. And the house which the father

lived, it will be giving to the young child in the family. In the case of circumcision in Glavda

language, we are not considering that. If not because of Christianity there is no any circumcision

in Glavda language, even now some of the old men they are staying like that without

circumcision.
FESTIVALS AND YOUR ETHNIC GROUP

VLINDMA

There are festivals going all year round among the Glavda people among these is the vlindma

festival celebrated yearly in July or August to ask God for abundant rainfall, bountiful harvest

and also to ask God to protect the people through the farming season. It is usually done after the

first weeding, and celebrate it on Thursday evening and eaten in the morning the next day. There

is a lot of eating and drinking during the festival. (Nghagiya)

UTVA

Utva is an annual festival celebrated for two weeks in late September or early October when the

heads of guinea-com have dried. It is celebrated to thank God for His protection and guidance

during the farming season and also to bring back the strength wasted during the great toil.

A week to the festival, horns are blown from every corner of the village as the sign of the

approaching festival. On Monday the usual day of celebration, cows are slaughtered known as

bifagnuasa meaning slaughtering day. (Nghagiya)

HYAHYA

Hyahya is to do denote the approaching festival of women known as Thakala Jaghuvaya. It also

means the chasing of sickness away from the village. It is done after the heads of guinea con

have been brought home usually around December or early January.

On Monday, the usual day of celebration, all types of grain crops in the house are taken in small

amount and cooked in a pot outside by the side of the entrance of the house. People believe that

hyahya' resembles a snake and a snake-like club is designed on Sunday evening a day to the
festival. The chasing of hyahya starts with those people living on mountaintop down to those

living on the plain. There is no dancing and beer drinking. (Nghagiya)

THAKALA JAGHUVAYA.

Thakala jaghuvaya is a women's festival celebrated around February or March. Goats and cows

are slaughtered for the occasion. There is a lot of fresh cow's milk, beer and food during the

festival. The elderly women do their own a week or a month before or after the real celebration

day. (Nghagiya)

GHUNA (GHUNA ZHIGLA)

Ghuna Zhigla takes place around the beginning of the rainy season around the month of late

April or early may each year. It is a festival of rain and soil fertility, and prayers for the success

of the coming farming season.

Everybody in the house offers a chicken to the gods and alongside with this, he-goats are

slaughtered by some rich people. The heads and legs of these goats and hens are given to those

children that tend their father's and neighbor's goats. The children eat these in the bush and spend

the whole day wrestling with one another before coming home with the flock in the evening.

Broken pots and calabashes are carried away from the village to the outskirts of the village.

(Aghuga).

MORAL TRAINING/TABOUR RESPOND IN BIBLICAL PERSSPECTIVE

By moral training, we mean the expressing or teaching a concept of right or wrong behavior it

concerns one's character, how one behaves, or one's actions which are judged or considered by

people as being good or evil. In every culture, tribe, society or nation, good people are striving to

be morally sound spiritually, mentally, physically, socially and the like.

every culture, especially, in the Glavda land. The Glavda people teach their children right from

childhood to adulthood how to earn better living both within and without their localities. They

are taught how to respect the grownups, especially, those that are aged. Girls are taught to greet

people by kneeling down and not to give or receive something from people with left hands.

Doing so is a sign of disrespect. Helping older women with carrying their water jars, heavy

loads, filling their water jars at the well are a few among the many moral training that are being

taught to girls. Boys on the other hand help the people that are of age to split firewood, carrying

some heavy logs and not talking to their parents while standing was required of them. They were

taught not to refuse to go when sent by an older person. They were also taught to fold in the

leaves whatever meat they caught in the bush that is why the slogan let not a pregnant woman

see it, lest you give it to her is common or popular among the Glavda people. They try to teach

their young ones to live a life of purity, unselfishness, honesty and loyalty. These were the

qualities that were demanded from every child in the Glavda land. Even in the Bible, God

commanded the Israelites to teach their children His laws (commandments) and decrees. He said

that when the children grow up, they will never turn away from it, either to the left or right, some

of the practices they are taboos in Christianity: Inherit your brother’s wife, when you are

married, eating the death animal.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion the research of the cultural and traditional of the Glavda people was done

successfully. The writer’s wants to tell the readers, especially the people of this class, including

sons and daughters of Glavda speaking tribes that Glavda people are rich in both culture and

traditional practices as were the Israelites in the Old Testament.

Rev John D. Azhuga 7th October 2021

Rev Gulla Nghagiya (D.D Kunda) 13th October 2021

Rev Toma Duwara 15th October 2021

Mrs Tabatha Toma Duwara 16th October 2021