Katab

By Ian Skoggard

Atyab, Atyap, Kataf, Netzit, Tyap

The Katab are cluster of ethnic groups who live in Niger, Nasarawa and Kaduna states, and the Abuja Federal Capital territory of Nigeria. They were identified by colonial British ethnographer C. K. Meek as a “cultural complex” based on their common language and some shared traits such as wife-abduction, wearing of lip plugs, houses with peaked roofs, and headhunting. Katab subgroups include the Ataka, Ikulu, Jaba, Kachichere, Kagoma, Kagoro, Kaje, Kamantan, Katab and Morwa. They are popularly known as the people of Southern Zaria, which was a part of the former Zaria Emirate and later Zaria province, now Kaduna state. They also refer to themselves as Netzit.

Katab is also the name of one of the ethnic groups within the cultural complex, who reside in the Zangon Kataf district of Kaduna state and refer to themselves as the Atyap. This summary focuses on the Katab subgroup, and on the neighboring Kagoro of the Kaura district in the same state. The geography of the region varies from flat fertile plains to rolling hills and high plateau. The Zangon Kataf district is described as undulating savannah grassland.

A colonial census for tax purposes in Zaria province (now Kaduna state) in 1947 found 89,813 Jaba, Kaje, Katab, Kagoro, Morwa, Ikulu, and Kamantan. By the 1990s combined population estimates for the Kaje, Katab, Jaba, Ikulu, Kagoro and Kagoma indicate a minimum of 655,400.

Katab peoples speak a number of Plateau subgroup languages of the Benue-Congo subsection of the Niger-Congo family. Among these, the Tyap language alone includes the Atakat, Kagoro, Kachichere, Morwa, and Katab dialects.

The origins of the Katab lie in the Jos Plateau from whence they migrated to escape Hausa slave raiders operating out of the city-state of Zaria. Their new homeland was claimed by a Hausa chief and vassal of the king of Zaria, though control was limited and various Katab tribes managed to maintain relative independence, especially the Kagoro, who lived on top of the 2,000 foot high Kagoro Massif. In 1807 the region was conquered by the Muslim Fulani, except for the Kagoro on their rocky redoubt, and Fulani emirs carried out military operations in the region to obtain slaves and plunder. In the 1880’s the Emir of Zaria attacked the Kagoro Massif, but suffered a defeat, leaving the Kagoro unmolested until the arrival of the British in 1905. The British appointed Hausa administrators over all the Katab, but taxes among the Kagoro proved hard to collect. After several punitive military expeditions, the Kagoro finally succumbed to British rule in 1925 and were resettled on the plains. Scottish missionaries arrived in 1926 and the colonial government anthropologist, C. K. Meek in 1928. In the colonial economic order, the Katab tribes became laborers on groundnut and cotton plantations or in the mines. Heavy taxation, undeveloped infrastructure, and restrictions on use of groundnut and cotton seeds prevented the Katab from developing their own industries and farms. Politically, there was much resistance to the Hausa chieftainship imposed by the British. When the Kagoro put pressure on British administrators to appoint a local teacher from the mission school as the new chief, a political transformation occurred. The new chief reestablished tribal courts and village councils that decided on local legislation. Such wide participatory political experience and a growing economy supported the rise of a petty bourgeois political class. The Katab proved to be effective politicians and leaders in the new post-colonial government, working through their own political party and movement: the Middle Zone League.

Once characterized by compact, walled villages, settlement patterns became more dispersed by the 1950s. Settlements range in size from one to two hundred people, living in compounds with an average size of seven individuals. Homes are made of mud-plastered stone, with thatched roofs that have a distinctive, jutting peak in the front.

The Katab are overwhelmingly farmers. Historically they have grown sorghum, dauro millet (Pennisetum glaucum), acha (fonio; Digitaria exilis, beans, groundnuts, yam, cassava, cocoyam, sweet potatoes, garden eggs, pumpkins, peppers, okra, benniseed (Sesamum radiatum), and kuud (karkashi in Hausa; Artemesia spp.). They also cultivated tree crops such as guava, pawpaw, mango, banana, oil palm, and raffia palm. Livestock included goats, chickens, dogs, and later horses, sheep and ducks. Millet is the staple food crop, and corn is grown for beer. Farms are owned and worked by individual households. Meals are eaten mid-day and after sunset, with a snack in the early morning usually made up of leftovers from the night before. Porridge and soup is the evening meal. Men and women eat separately. The agricultural season begins in April when the first rains appear; vegetables are planted in the household gardens (titam) and guinea corn in the fields. Millet is sown in the beginning of June, followed by acha, potatoes, cocoyam and risga (or rizga; Plectanthrus esculentus). The rainy season lasts from June to September, when yams are cultivated and other vegetables harvested. Grain crops are harvested, dried and stored at the start of the dry season which begins at the end of November. Dry season activities include house construction, road clearing, and hunting. Game included antelope, hare, rabbit, monkey, bush pig, baboon, and leopard.

Some families specialized in different aspects of iron work, with some mining the ore, others smelting it, and still others specialized in making implements such as hoes, axes, arrows, spears, sickles, and anvils. Woodworking included the making of beds, hoe and axe handles, mortars and pestles, carriers, spoons, and musical instruments such as pipes and drums. Women wove mats, robes, waterproof capes, and baskets from raffia. Stone was used for grinding and in house foundations. Pots were made for cooking, food storage and beer making.

Simple trade and barter occurred among women in the same household and between several households that differed in production of livestock, grains, and domestic handicrafts and implements. Trade also took place in village markets, both by barter and cash purchases. External trade between people from different villages and tribes occurred in large regional markets inside and outside the tribal area. The Hausa dominated long-distance trade.

Women gather fire wood, fetch water, prepare meals, and make beer. They also help to clear land for farming, plant seeds, thresh grain, harvest groundnuts, and process oil. Men plough the fields, harvest crops, build and repair houses, hunt and fish, conduct rituals, clear roads, and make iron implements.

Land belonged to the lineage and could not be permanently alienated. Lineage heads allocated land for household use. The amount of land allocated depended on the size of the household and available labor. Households could loan or exchange land between themselves. Among some groups, land was pledged for a specified period of time, until the pledge token was returned. The clan had rights over bush land for hunting. Three types of land were cultivated: house gardens, primarily for vegetables; “bush farms” (abim ayit) for growing fonio, millet, guinea corn and potatoes; and nyan where a variety of grain and vegetable crops were grown.

The Katab are organized into patrilineal clans and lineages. Some clans have moieties, each constituting a wife-stealing unit (e.g. the Minyam clan is composed of two politically independent moieties, Fakan and Aswen). The main clans are further divided into separate sub-clans, e.g. the Agbat clan is divided into three sub-clans: Gbar Kokwak (Kwak), Kpaisa, and Nje. Sub-clans are further divided into lineages (kwai or bin) that are unilateral groupings of a number of families related through the father (e.g. the Aswen sub-clan is divided into five lineages: Amurum-Alan, Yagofo, Awai, Magamiya, and Kofo). The Amurum-Alan and Yagofo were the original moieties; the other three were immigrant groups adopted into the clan.

The Katab have a kinship terminology system similar to the Omaha system, except that only male parallel cousins are equated with siblings.

"secondary marriage." Betrothal most often occurs between members of different lineages living in the same community, and involves a bride payment and bride service. Girls were often betrothed when only a few years old. A man may inherit the wife of his real or classificatory deceased brother, or the wife of his deceased maternal or paternal grandfather. A unique form of secondary marriage occurs when a wife deserts her husband to live with another man. In this case, the first marriage is not annulled and the wife may in fact return to her former husband at some point, or go live with yet another man. Such marriages are forbidden between members of the same lineage or community. Another form of secondary marriage practiced by the Kagoro is wife-abduction, which occurs between but not within communities or confederacies. The Kagoro distinguish between three types of marriageable groups, those that one can intermarry (niendi), those that cannot intermarry (bin), and those that cannot intermarry but for whom wife abduction is permitted (nendwang). The Katab practice clan exogamy, marrying outside the clan or tribe. Male suitors must pay a bride-price, which might include agricultural service. The marriage ceremony involves a mock bride capture. Elopement with married women is not uncommon; however, bride-price is required. The woman may return to her original husband. Junior and senior levirate are practiced.

There are three types of marriage: betrothal, widow-inheritance, and so-called

The size and composition of the household unit varies from a simple nuclear family to larger groupings that can include parents, sons and daughters, and son’s wives and their children. The unit may also include paternal cousins or nephews, and even sister’s sons, even though they are members of a different lineage.

Inheritance is patrilineal. Property is divided equally among the deceased’s sons or, if there are no sons, to paternal nephews, brothers or paternal cousins. If sons are underage the property is held in trust by a brother or paternal cousin. Titles go to the eldest surviving brother or paternal cousin. Young children are cared for by the deceased’s brother or cousin until they are of age to return to their original compound under the guardianship of the oldest son. Widows are inherited by brothers or cousins. Grown sons can inherit their father’s widows.

In a relatively simple initiation rite for boys between the ages of four and eleven (depending on the tribe), initiates are warned to be obedient to their parents. Among some tribes, the boys are blindfolded and beaten by the ancestral spirit, then released and told the true identity of the spirit, sworn never to reveal the secret under pain of death. The Kagoro have an age-set system.

The Katab are organized into localized exogamous patrilineages. Large lineages can have members residing in several villages. Several unrelated lineages can live in a single village. A group of villages formed a community, or "confederacy," that shared a set of religious activities, called ci, based on the agricultural cycle. The Katab are comprised of four patrilineal exogamous clans. Sub-clans consist of localized lineages under the authority of a chief. Each village is comprised of several compounds of polygamous families.

The basic political unit was the individual village. Authority lay with lineage elders in the village, who mediated disputes over land and between people. The highest authority lay with the chief priest and clan leader who presided over the village ancestral shrine. Confederacies of several territorially contiguous villages with shared ancestry existed under the leadership of a senior lineage for the purpose of defense and ritual functions. Tribal meetings including several confederacies could be held under the auspices of a chief priest of a major clan in response to clan disputes, wars, or natural disasters. Informal leaders had influence over their areas of expertise whether it was farming, hunting, or warfare, and were referred to as "chiefs" when leading such activities. The Hausa extracted tribute from each village in the form of slaves, horses, corn, or cash. The Hausa appointed a headman who swore fealty over a sacred sword. Prominent chiefs were given swords as emblems of their loyalty and authority.

Heads of household held some authority over household members and village chiefs over village members. Men held power over women. Elders had the power to bless, or curse a person’s actions. Sickness might follow a curse and the cure depends on an act of atonement. Under Hausa or Fulani rule, anyone caught committing a major crime such as murder or burglary was sold into slavery. Petty thieves and adulterers were only fined.

Disputes within communities over farm boundaries and loans of land were mediated by lineage elders. There were also disputes over paternity, a common problem because of the wide practice of secondary marriage. Tribes fought between themselves for rights to land, access to women, and for prestige. Lineages organized their own fighting groups and villages had war shrines. Only clubs, stones, and blunt weapons could be used in fights within confederacies, whereas spears, slings and arrows were used in fights between confederacies. Headhunting was a means to gain prestige. Severed heads were put in a bag and carried home to great rejoicing and feasting, followed by a rite of purification. Heads were buried in the mud and later uncovered and stored in a skull hut presided over by the village priest. The Hausa and Fulani raided the Katab for slaves.

In general, all Katab peoples shared beliefs and practices, including the belief in a creator god (Gwaza), ancestral spirits (obwai), nature spirits, and witchcraft. Common ritual practices included headhunting cults, and ci rites that organized the seasonal round of farming and hunting activities. A stark difference is that the Kagoro did not believe in ancestral spirits, or an afterlife.

Each clan has its emblem and taboos. For example, the Aku clan had the nickname "flying ants" and could not burn the wood of the male shea tree. The Agbat clan respected and swore oaths to the crocodile that, according to myth, helped fleeing Agbat ford an impassable stream. The Shokwa clan respected a lizard called tatong, that originally appeared to a lone Shokwa and promised him many offspring, which came to pass. The Aswen sub-clan of the Minyam clan respected a single tree called "the husband of Aswen," under which they held rituals.

Living or dead, the father is considered one’s protector, imbued with magical powers. When things go wrong, one consults his father for words of comfort and assurance. After a father’s death, one visits his gravesite to pray and make offerings to his spirit. He may bring his whole family as well as male relatives and the relatives of his wife to the gravesite to offer beer, benniseed and chicken, afterwards returning home for a feast. Women petitioned ancestral spirits through their male relatives.

Each lineage had a lineage priest. The lineage priest of the largest lineage in a village or community was the chief priest, and presided over the village ancestral shrine and cult. Each lineage also had a rain-maker who presided over rites involving sacred objects and prayers to the creator god Gwaza for rain.

Three religious complexes—obwai rituals, ci festivals, and headhunting cults—were not shared equally by all Katab groups. The obwai cult was a male-only cult that, according to anthropologists, was used by men primarily to frighten and control women. The cult involved the use of masks and noisemakers, such as bullroarers, whistles, gourds, drums and rattles. Boys were initiated into the cult at a young age, the timing of which varied between tribes. The obwai were also the center of the ci festivals that took place at various times of the year, with the main festival occurring at the first planting before the first rains.

In the past, Katab tribes marked their foreheads and cheeks with distinctive tattoos. The anterior area of women’s bodies was also marked. The Katab played a variety of musical instruments. Bands performed at festivals that also included dancing and singing.

Illness is attributed to soul loss, or to witchcraft. Smallpox was considered the fate of witches. The Katab use leeches for fevers and inoculate against smallpox. A decayed tooth is split apart and extracted using a red hot arrowhead.

Both men and women are honored by funeral rites. The Katab are buried in bottle-shaped graves and, depending on the tribe, the grave is sealed by a large stone, logs, or mud, and covered with the excavated soil to create a mound. Interment occurs within a day of the death. A widow will mourn by growing her hair and smearing herself with ochre for a period of two months, after which she is shaved bald and washed clean in the river. Secondary burials occur several years later. Some tribes believe in reincarnation. Witches were buried in the bush in open graves without ceremony.

Most Katab believe in life after death; the Kagoro are an exception. Souls can turn into ghosts or are re-born into a descendant. Ghosts inhabit sacred groves where they are propitiated and consulted. Souls of dead enemies or game animals must we warded off with purification rites.

This cultural summary was written by Ian Skoggard in January 2013. Leon G. Doyon updated population figures in November 2013.

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