Lafiky or Lafika which translates into French by support is a culture practiced by many human groups in Madagascar during the precolonial period. In fact, it is a question of executing a person member of a family of domestic slaves when a sovereign or a nobleman dies. In some regions, the Lafiky is buried at the foot of the tomb of ” His magnificence »… According to belief, the soul of the enslavement accompanies the mind of its king in the world of the dead. Even in the afterlife, the first follows the orders of the second. Malagasy legend says that being Lafiky of an ampanjaka is an honor for those who are designated. Most of the time, the choice is made on the children of servants, the tradition requires this because young people are considered a cane on which the king relies by walking in the other world. But in reality, it is far from being the case. This culture has been established to ensure the safety of the monarch and his family. For their part, the servants act in this way to keep their master alive so that they can also exist. Anthropologist Masy Bezaha explains, ” Lafiky is a strategy. Andevo (slaves) do not want to die. And when the king is sick, they bring together healers so that he is quickly on foot … not out of love, nor by conviction, but by instinct. This is what is happening in the palace ». From another angle, this customary law was applied to establish the monarch, as long as possible on the throne. In 1896, the Grande-Île was annexed by France. General Joseph Simon Galliéni abolishes slavery with the intention of having more workforce. According to historians, more than 500,000 slaves have been released from their chore. Although the social structure was turned upside down, this practice has persisted in the remote areas of the country. Indeed, use has a more or less softened form. On the other hand, the new generation questions this ritual which it deems inhuman. Having experienced a social ascent during colonization, the descendants of the servants firmly opposed it. In other words, western education subtly revealed to them the misdeeds of the custom that almost decimated them … during the postcolonial era, the Lafiky was assimilated to a myth. The fact remains that the word remains anchored in the heads of prisoners of the distant past. Nowadays, deemed moved by time, this rite is the subject of a joke. The customs and the us-and-customs were established not only to transmit a message, but also for the interest of the one who set them up, even the confirmation of his grandeur.
ISS HERIDINY
