Sikidy

Sikidy is a form of algebraic geomancy practiced by Malagasy peoples in Madagascar.^[1] It involves algorithmic operations performed on data generated randomly from seeds of the fano (Entada chrysostachys) tree, which are ritually arranged in a tableau called a toetry^[2] and interpreted after being mathematically operated on.^[3]

The divination is performed by a practitioner called an ombiasy, mpisikidy, ny màsina, or ambiàsa (derived from the Arabic anbia, meaning 'prophet').^[2] who guides the client through the process and interprets the results in the context of the client's inquiries and desires. Problems and questions for divined resolution via sikidy include the selection of a day on which to do something (including taking a trip, planting, exhumation of ancestral corpses), whether a newborn child's destiny is compatible with its parents and thus whether it ought to be cared for by another family, the finding of a spouse, the finding of lost objects, the identification of a thief, and the explanation for a misfortune, including illness or sterility.^[1] Among the forest-dwelling Mikea people, sikidy "may be used to direct the timing of residential movements to the forest (mihemotse)".^[4] Some mpisikidy are considered specialists, dealing only with areas of inquiry and resolution within their expertise.^[1]

History[edit]

The origin myth for sikidy "links [the practice] both to the return by walking on water of Arab ancestors who had intermarried with Malagasy but then left, and to the names of the days of the week"^[1] and holds that the art was supernaturally communicated to the ancestors, with God giving it to Ranakandriana, who then gave it to a line of diviners, the last of whom terminated the succession by giving it to the people, declaring: "Behold, I give you the sikidy, of which you may inquire what offerings you should present in order to obtain blessings; and what expiation you should make so as to avert evils, when any are ill or under apprehension of some future calamity".^[2]

The practice is several centuries old, and derives from the influence of Arab traders.^[1]^[2] Though the etymology of sikidy is unknown, it has been posited that the word derives from the Arabic sichr ('incantation' or 'charm'). Sikidy was of central importance to pre-Christian Malagasy religion, with one practitioner quoted in 1892 as calling sikidy "the Bible of our ancestors".^[2] The early colonial French governor of Madagascar Étienne de Flacourt documented sikidy in the mid-17th century.^[2]

Ritual[edit]

As part of an mpisikidy's initiation, the initiate must gather 124 and 200 fano seeds for his subsequent use.^[1]

To "awaken" the seeds in his bag, as well as his own verbal powers, the mpisikidy incants to the gods or earth spirits in attempt to constrain the gods/spirits to tell the truth, with emphasis on "the trickiness of the communicating entities, who misle[a]d if they [can]", and orates the practice's origin myth.^[1] One incantation quoted by Lars Dahle reads:^[2]

Awake, O God, to awaken the sun! Awake, O sun, to awaken the cock!
Awake, O cock, to awaken mankind! Awake, O mankind, to awaken the sikidy, not to tell lies, not to deceive, not to play tricks, not to talk nonsense, not to agree to everything indiscriminately; but to search into the secret; to look into what is beyond the hills and on the other side of the forest, to see what no human eye can see. Wake up, for thou art from the long-haired Mohammedans from the high mountains, from [Anakandriananahitra, the almost mythical founder of the art in Madagascar, whose name is followed by those authorities who passed the art on to the people and their present diviners, thereby establishing an historical line of legitimacy] ... Awake! for we have not got thee for nothing, for thou art dear and expensive. We have hired. thee. in exchange for a fat cow With a large hump, and for money on which there was no dust [i.e. good value]. Awake! for thou art the trust of the sovereign [the ruling house of pre-colonial Madagascar used court diviners literally dozens of times a day to decide the advisability of even the most everyday actions, from matters of state to the timing of matters of personal hygiene] and the judgement of the people. If thou art a sikidy that can tell, a sikidy that can see, and does not [only] speak about the noise of the people, the hen killed by its owner, the cattle killed in the market, the dust clinging to the feet [i.e. uninteresting commonplaces) ,awake here on the mat!
But if thou art a sikidy that does not see, a sikidy that agrees to everything indiscriminately, and makes [false statements, as if] the dead [were] living, and the living dead, then do not arise here on the mat.

He then takes a fistful of awakened seeds from his bag and randomly divides the seeds into four piles. Seeds are removed two at a time from each pile until there is either one seed or two seeds remaining in each. The four remaining "piles" (now either single seeds or pairs) become the first entries in the first column of a toetry (tableau). The process is repeated three more times, with each new column of seeds being placed on the toetry to the left of the previous. At the end of this, the array consists of four randomly-generated columns of four values (each being either one seed or two) each. The generated data represented in this array is called the renin-sikidy (mother-sikidy). There are 65,536 possible renin-sikidy arrays. From the renin-sikidy data, four additional "columns" are read as the rows across the renin-sikidy's columns, and eight additional columns are generated algorithmically and placed centrally before the four original columns.^[1]

Each column has a distinct divine referent:^[1]

The client
Material goods
A male evil-doer (lit. 'the third')
The earth
The child
The bad intentions
A woman
The enemy (lit. 'the eighth')
The spirit (lit. 'the ninth')
Nourishment
Ancestors
The road
The diviner
The people
The creator
The house

Mathematics[edit]

The mathematics of sikidy include the concepts of algebra, symbolic logic and parity.^[1] The mpisikidy performs algorithmic checks to verify the toetry's validity throughout the sikidy process.^[1]

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k Ascher, Marcia (1997). "Malagasy Sikidy: A Case in Ethnomathematics". Historia Mathematica. 24 (4): 376. ISSN 0315-0860.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Skinner, Stephen (1980-01-01). Terrestrial astrology: Divination by geomancy (PDF) (1st ed.). London ; Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul. ISBN 978-0-7100-0553-3.
^ Boiteau, Pierre (1999). Dictionnaire des noms malgaches de végétaux (in French) (Editions Alzieu ed.). p. 196. ISBN 978-2-910717-41-4.
^ Rabedimy, Jean-François, et al. “I.IV.8 The Mikea of Madagascar.” The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Hunters and Gatherers, edited by Richard B. Lee and Richard Heywood Daly, 1st ed., Cambridge University Press, 2006. Credo Reference, https://search.credoreference.com/articles/Qm9va0FydGljbGU6OTAxNjYy?aid=237298.

[:0-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k Ascher, Marcia (1997). "Malagasy Sikidy: A Case in Ethnomathematics". Historia Mathematica. 24 (4): 376. ISSN 0315-0860.

[:1-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Skinner, Stephen (1980-01-01). Terrestrial astrology: Divination by geomancy (PDF) (1st ed.). London ; Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul. ISBN 978-0-7100-0553-3.

[3] Boiteau, Pierre (1999). Dictionnaire des noms malgaches de végétaux (in French) (Editions Alzieu ed.). p. 196. ISBN 978-2-910717-41-4.

[4] Rabedimy, Jean-François, et al. “I.IV.8 The Mikea of Madagascar.” The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Hunters and Gatherers, edited by Richard B. Lee and Richard Heywood Daly, 1st ed., Cambridge University Press, 2006. Credo Reference, https://search.credoreference.com/articles/Qm9va0FydGljbGU6OTAxNjYy?aid=237298.

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