Popular wisdom Madagascar
Popular wisdom Madagascar
Popular wisdom Madagascar
Elaborated from immediate knowledge, experiences accumulated in the course of time and transmitted orally, Malagasy popular wisdom is expressed in particular through the proverbs. In the center of this structured thought the man (olona) is, physical being whose spirit (fanahy) determines the personality (travan’ olona). The man cannot achieve himself except in an harmonious relationship with his surroundings (the invisible one, nature, the society) and the stability of the group which relies on solidarity (firaisan-kina). The Malagasy people say: Only one person cannot build a house and only one finger cannot seize a louse, only one tree cannot constitute a forest, in other words a society formed by individualistic elements is only one “sandbank without consistency”.
The principle of solidarity applies first and especially to the immediate neighbourhood. The house of the neighbors, known as the proverb, can be used as your shelter when yours must does not protect you anymore from rain. According to this principle of mutual aid, the population exchanges goods and services, in the medium or long term, according to the needs. Any individual who implies himself in this network of exchanges enjoys thus a kind of “social security” in the event of difficulty. The construction of a house and the tilling of the rice plantations appear among the activities which expressly claim the assistance of the parents and the neighbors. Community work, the profit of time and effectiveness count however less than the harmony and the solidarity which appear during these collective works.
Popular wisdom Madagascar.
