Vezo
Vezo fisherman
|
|
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (1,200) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Madagascar | |
| Languages | |
| Sakalava Malagasy, Vezo dialect | |
| Religion | |
| ancestral religion | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Masikoro |
The Vezo is the term the semi-nomadic coastal people of southern Madagascar use to refer to people that have become accustomed to live from sea fishing. The Vezo speak a dialect of the Malagasy language, which is a branch of the Malayo-Polynesian language group derived from the Barito languages, spoken in southern Borneo. They currently populate most of the littoral zone along Madagascar’s west coast between Toliara and Mahajanga.
"Vezo" literally means the people who fish, but also has been known to mean 'to struggle with the sea'.
Vezo do not identify with a particular Malagasy ethnic group but instead with their way of life. They currently populate most of the littoral zone along Madagascar’s west coast between Toliara and Mahajanga. Like most other Madagascan ethnic groups, their origins can directly be traced to Asia. They have been known to state emphatically that they need have no common origin or shared essence with one another. Their identity is contextual and achieved by doing, embodied in learned skills such as fishing or swimming and the callouses they produce, rather than in blood, genes, or skin color. Because of their semi-nomadic marine migrations, their population is difficult to determine and has been estimated by counting the dugout canoes called pirogues (lakanas in Malagasy language) around Madagascar.
There are two parts to this history which are relevant to the Vezo view of the environment – how and why the original clans of Andavadoaka left their former village and how they came to choose the site that is now Andavadoaka. The three clans that established Andavadoaka relocated to avoid the regular invasion by bandits. Marauders from inland tribes regularly attacked the old village a few kilometres north. As pacifists, the Vezo rarely defend their property and are often attacked by others. The villagers wanted an end to these attacks so used their knowledge of local fish to catch poisonous lionfish and gobies, which they cooked and scattered around the village just before the expected attack. After preparing the poison trap, the villagers sailed in their pirogues to the outlying islands to hide from the bandits. Expecting an empty village, knowing the Vezo always flee from attacks, the unsuspecting bandits arrived and ate the food that had been left behind. Many of the bandits died. On returning the villagers saw the corpses of the poisoned bandits and referred to them as those who had died from eating lionfish (moroy), and from then on referred to the village as the ‘dead of moroy’ or ‘Tratna amy moroy.’ The name of the village to this day is Antsatsamoroy.
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Wikipedia