The Sakalava are an ethnic or rather cultural group from Madagascar occupying most of the western coastal fringe of the island, from the Tulear region in the south to the Sambirano region in the north. In fact, the Sakalava are not really a homogeneous people but a group of diverse ethnic groups that were part of an ancient empire that appeared in the second half of the 17th century.
Sakalava society is matriarchal and polygamous. Men can have multiple wives. Women several husbands. Children being gifts from God, we can have many. In 1700, there were 1000 children in the royal family. To know who would reign, we had to limit ourselves to the children of the main husband and the main wife.
Malagasy national identity
Total submission to the husband is part of current Malagasy culture. There is a saying, “these are fragile pieces of furniture”. Originally, Malagasy society was matriarchal. In Madagascar, some communities traditionally lived under a matriarchal regime. It was the women who managed the entire house.
The Malagasy woman, because of the matriarchal nature of the original Malagasy society, was the bearer, but also the guardian, of traditional Malagasy values and it was up to her alone to transmit nationality by blood, that is to say the identity Malagasy, to his children and descendants.
In Sakalava society the child first belongs to the clan of the mother, and it is only after a ritual that the father must perform, that the child joins the clan of the father.
Guides 01/25/2021
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