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 and interpreted after being mathematically operated on.[2]
The divination is performed by an ombiasy or mpisikidy, 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. 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 it 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] The practice is several centuries old.[1]
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 the practice's origin myth. 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 tableau. The process is repeated three more times, with each new column of seeds being placed on the tableau 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 tableau's validity throughout the sikidy process.[1]
