Tokmaleta
Konso · mortal · Konso traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Tokmaleta is the founding ancestor of one of the nine exogamous patriclans (kanta) of the Konso. Like the other clans it is headed by a poqalla, a hereditary priest-chief whose ritual blessing underwrites the fertility of people and fields and whose office descends within the founder's line. The Konso clans are ranked and paired within a segmentary order documented by Hallpike, and their elders help regulate the generation-grade system that structures Konso public life. The clan name is recorded in several orthographic forms in the literature.
Domains
- ancestry
Powers
- Bless the lineage and its land
Sources
- Tokmaleta is the eponymous founding ancestor of one of the nine Konso patriclans (kanta), an exogamous descent group headed by a poqalla priest-chief.: Hallpike, C. R. (1972). The Konso of Ethiopia. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (secondary)