SEED Madagascar

Before any building work begins in Madagascar, be it a house or a school, the Malagasy cultural tradition of ‘ground-breaking’ needs to take place.  In April, SEED visited Beraketa fokontany (village) to attend the ground breaking ceremony, after which our team began the construction of Beraketa Primary School. 

The ground-breaking ceremony holds great cultural significance in Malagasy society. It is a spiritual ritual where the eldest male in the community communicates with the razana (ancestors), and asks them to bless the ground before construction can start. In Malagasy culture, it is believed that after community members die, they continue to occupy the land where they lived in the form of spirits, referred to as the razana. These spirits can either be benevolent or hostile, and asking for their blessing to build a new school on the land they occupy ensures that construction will run smoothly. After communicating with the razana, the eldest male pours a drop of toaky gasy (traditional homebrewed Malagasy rum) on a rock positioned on the north-eastern corner of the future school building. He then buries the rock with the help of other community members - at Beraketa this included the Chef ZAP¹ and the Mayor of Ranopiso (the commune where Beraketa is situated). As part of the ceremony, 15 mounds of sand were placed on the site of the future school, each of them representing and honouring a female descendant of the founding families responsible for establishing the community of Beraketa. Completing the ground-breaking ceremony is a good omen for the community, creating a sense of familiarity and security during the construction period.

A ground-breaking ceremony is performed not only prior to public events and construction projects, but also in everyday life. According to Malagasy astrology, the most sacred place in a traditional house is zoro firarazana (inner northeast corner) and it is dedicated to the razana. It is customary to honour them by pouring a drop of alcohol in this corner before celebrating any festivity.

The Razana

The belief in a Creator God, commonly called Andriamanitra Andriananahary, is widespread across all 18 Malagasy ethnic groups, and is combined with the worship of other spiritual entities, including the razana.² The razana serve as intermediaries between the Creator God and humans on earth. They bless, protect, and guide people in everyday life, and ignoring or disrespecting them is believed to engender disease and misfortune. According to Malagasy beliefs, the more one shows respect and devotion to the ancestors, the more they will bless their descendants with health, wealth, and happiness.³ For these reasons, some Malagasy people devote themselves to worshipping the razana, and to practising rituals such as the ground-breaking ceremony, asking them for their blessing and protection.

An Ode to the Ancestresses 

Interestingly, the ground-breaking ceremony at Beraketa weaved together both matriarchal and patriarchal elements; the mounds of sands representing female descendants are a central aspect of the ceremony whilst men hold the authority to communicate with the razana. At present in Madagascar, positions of public leadership and representation are typically assigned to men,⁴ and it is therefore unsurprising that they lead the ground-breaking ceremony and communicate with the razana. Women on the other hand, hold positions of power within the home, leading household decision making. Recently, however, this dynamic has started to shift, as women are slowly becoming more represented in the public sphere. The current Mayor of Ranopiso is female; an exciting and important step for the development of the Anosy region. The aforementioned contemporary patriarchal arrangements have not always underpinned the fabric of Malagasy society, and prior to the 19th century, women were seen as equal, even superior, to men. In Madagascar, the first matriarchal systems were established potentially as early as the fifth century, before being considerably reduced during French colonisation.⁵ Matriarchal values from this era remain a part of today’s society through ceremonies such as the ground-breaking at Beraketa, where the representation of female ancestors with sand mounds is of central importance, showing that a traditional matriarchy is still embedded in Malagasy culture.⁶

Matriarchal Beginnings 

The matriarchal systems established potentially as early as the fifth century were shaped by the social organisation of early ethnic groups in Madagascar, which had specifically defined gender roles.⁷ In these groups, the role of women involved settling and occupying land to engage in agricultural practices, while men undertook more nomadic activities, such as hunting and fishing. Women were seen as the nurturers of the community, exercising authority over the sedentary societies that they were part of. Leading these established settlements meant women held the means of wealth and production, therefore the nomadic men had to rely on women for resources.⁸ Likewise, the sporadic presence of men in the villages – due to their nomadic nature – led to the social order being based on maternal descent and authority, which constitutes the definition of matriarchy.⁹ This maternal descent and previous centrality of women in Malagasy society was celebrated in Beraketa’s ground-breaking ceremony, bringing a rich history into the present day.

SEED’s Approach

For the SEED team, of which two-thirds are Malagasy, adhering to cultural traditions is a key element across all our programmes. Participating in ground-breaking ceremonies is essential for building trust and ensuring a close relationship between SEED and the communities we work with. For the Sekoly (school) Programme specifically, this relationship is foundational for maximising community participation throughout the construction period and delivering an impactful project. Another key element of SEED’s work is advancing gender equity. For the Sekoly Programme, achieving gender-equitable education in Anosy is a core objective which shapes project design. The Sekoly Programme is continually evolving to further improve schooling for girls in particular, whose education is often deprioritised. In 2011, SEED began including Menstrual Health Management (MHM) facilities in all Sekoly projects, enabling students to manage their period with privacy and dignity whilst at school. More recently, SEED added reusable menstrual pad-making sessions along with MHM education to the programme. Working alongside the community, SEED is continually striving to balance tackling negative gendered taboos whilst honouring and respecting Anosy’s rich cultural history.

1. Chef ZAP stands for Chef de Zone d'Administration Pédagogique, the person who is responsible for the administration of all primary schools in a specific commune.
2. Kevin Ebelle, (2016). Le Culte des Ancêtres à Madagascar. https://generationvoyage.fr/culte-ancetres-a-madagascar/
3. Ibid
4. Suzy Ramamonjisoa, (1993). Empowerment of Women & Democracy in Madagascar Author(s). http://www.jstor.org/stable/4006114
5. Koloina Andriamanondehibe, (2020). Déconstruire l'Antagonisme Entre Féminisme et Société à Madagascar 3/3 (Ré)concilier Féminisme et Société, le Nouveau Défi Militant à Madagascar. https://igg-geo.org/?p=2153&lang=en
6. Ibid.
7. Mouvement Matricien. Bantous Matriarcaux (Groupe Ethnique) : un Grand Courant Civilisateur de l’Afrique Noire. https://matricien.wordpress.com/geo-hist-matriarcat/afrique/bantou/
8. Paul Jean-Luc, (2009). Au-delà de Femmes, Greniers et Capitaux. https://doi.org/10.4000/jda.325
9. REEVES SANDAY Peggy. Le Matriarcat Comme Modèle Socioculturel. Un Vieux Débat Dans Une Perspective Nouvelle. http://endehors.net/news/le-matriarcat-comme-modele-socioculturel-un-vieux-debat-dans-une-perspective-nouvelle